Alabama
August 17, 2008 - Cretaceous - Dallas and Perry Counties, Alabama
Day 1 Friday Day 2 Saturday Day 3 Sunday
A weekend trip to the Cretaceous chalk gullies of Dallas County Alabama and a creek in Perry county turned up numerous fossils. Ancient creatures, including shark, turtle, mosasaur, ptychodus, fish, clam, and ammonite were found during the three day weekend trip.
DAY 3 - SUNDAY
After a good night's sleep, we headed off to a set of larger gullies early Sunday morning. A lot of fish bones, shark vertebra, shark teeth, enchodus jaw/tooth, nice piece of turtle shell, and even crocodile bones were found. As usual, we stayed in the gullies until darkness made it impossible to collect any more.
(photos courtesy Claire Smith and Vicki Lais)
August 16, 2008 - Cretaceous - Dallas and Perry Counties, Alabama
Day 1 Friday Day 2 Saturday Day 3 Sunday
A weekend trip to the Cretaceous chalk gullies of Dallas County Alabama and a creek in Perry county turned up numerous fossils. Ancient creatures, including shark, turtle, mosasaur, ptychodus, fish, clam, and ammonite were found during the three day weekend trip.
DAY 2 - SATURDAY
Finally, after a night of gentle rain, around 7am Saturday morning the rain quit, and James Lamb set off to find another site that the large group could access without damage to themselves or the fossils. After tracking down landowners for at least an hour, we were granted permission to collect in a creek in Perry county. And what a nice creek! Along with the adventure of exploring a creek we had never visited, climbing over strainers and up and down steep bluffs, everyone found numerous shark teeth, ptychodus teeth, gastropods, and even a small piece of belemnite with the iridescent sheen still visible.
After leaving the creek, we went back to camp, and once we arrived, we noticed the cows were quite interested in camp and the strange large metal boxes sitting all around their pasture. One was carefully examining a particular red car! After resting and filling our bellies, we decided to check out a gully near camp, to see if it was dry enough to collect. Fortunately it was, and a number of nice specimens were found, including whole shells, mosasaur vertebra, turtle shell, fish vertebra, and worm tubes.
That night at camp Claire took numerous pictures of spider webs, and we listened to everyone's tall tales and tales of past field trips.
(photos courtesy Claire Smith and Vicki Lais)
August 15, 16, 17, 2008 - Cretaceous Fossils, Dallas and Perry Counties, AL
A weekend trip to the Cretaceous chalk gullies of Dallas County Alabama and a creek in Perry county turned up numerous fossils. Ancient creatures, including shark, turtle, mosasaur, ptychodus, fish, clam, and ammonite were found during the three day weekend trip.
Day 1 Friday Day 2 Saturday Day 3 Sunday
DAY 1 - FRIDAY
On Friday morning, Jan, Becky and a co-worker joined James Lamb on a search for ancient bones in a set of gullies that had not been visited for a number of years. Very nice specimens of fish, shark, mosasaur, enchodus, and rudistid clam were found. To excavate shark vertebra which were scattered over a large area, an awning was erected to provide protection from the 100+ temperatures of the gully. Later that afternoon, other members of the group began showing up for the weekend campout.
That night we set up camp in a cow pasture, where we fended off curious cows and hungry fire ants that seemed to find every crack into anything. One could literally not stand still without finding several ants crawling up their boots. Beautiful spider webs and large cow patties were obstacles to dodge during the night. Then, about midnight, the rain started. A slow, gentle rain. And it continued through the night. Not good, since it would make the gully chalk as slick as oiled glass.
(photos courtesy Jan Novak and Vicki Lais)
08-08-17-vl-tooth-3050
Cretoxyrhina mantelli shark tooth (ginsu - ecologically similar to the great white shark).
