Alabama

November 20, 2004 - Mississippian Fossils, St. Clair Co, AL

Donning orange and blue, red and white, or...mud and well, a little more mud, the BPS explored a new site in St. Clair County, Alabama. The weather was just a tad misty after our outing but cool and comfortable during our adventure. Our fearless leader led us to a Mississippian age roadcut yeilding some of the largest horn coral that I have seen, with a perfect geologic example of "uplift". Several varieties of coral were found, and a number of whole brachiopods were collected from the layers around the Tuscumbia Limestone. There were also hollowed out molds in the Ft. Payne chert where archimedes or crinoids had once been.

We scoured an unused chert quarry and spotted another possible collecting site which we plan to survey once permission has been obtained. Our day also included a tour of sites important to the history of Alabama and the United States. Some good camping sites were also noted.

None of our members minded that our actual collecting time was shorter than on many of our trips, as most members were eager to put their orange and blue or red and white clothing to use as they "collected some radio and television time", because there was some important football game being played....tiny mumble...mumble...#*%...how did we manage to vote on this weekend for the field trip in the first place????????

MY TEAM WON!!! How 'bout yours?

--Edited by Vicki Lais

(Photos courtesy Steve Corvin and Vicki Lais.)

BPS members in front of strata
The group before playing in the red clay!

hunting fossils
Leisa and Nancy checking for fossils weathered out of the matrix.

fossil coral
Coral pieces covering the ground in this area.

examining geologic layers
Getting a closer look at the geologic layers.

fossil horn coral
Lee with her finds.

fossil horn coral
A closer look at the nice coral specimens found by Lee.

collecting fossils
Steve is determined to get that fossil!

hunting fossils
One of the better collecting spots.

tilted rock layers
Layers of limestone, shale, and mud tilted upward by geologic forces, and exposed at a roadcut. "Newer" rock is to the right, "older" rock is to the left. Rock layers were horizontal when they were initially formed.

hunting fossils
One of the muddier collecting spots!

November 15, 2004 - Meadowview Elem School, Dallas Co, AL

On November 15, 2004, Vicki Lais and Nancy Kenfield, members of the Birmingham Paleontological Society Community Education Committee, were the guests of Mrs. Woods' "gifted student" class at Meadowview Elementary School in Selma, Alabama. These are all third-graders and BPS had been invited to speak when one of the students told her teacher about seeing Nancy's collection. Vicki supplied the knowledge and experience and a LOT of samples to show and give away, Nancy supplied more samples, her own stories and a whole bunch of stuff "scored" from Ward Science, fossil books, and maps from the GSA office in Tuscaloosa.

An overview of the geological history of Alabama was given, including type of fossils found and why. We showed and passed around numerous fossil samples, including corals and a large coral head, large pieces of petrified/ permineralized wood, one covered with quartz crystals, nautiloids past and present, ammonite, calamites, echinoids, crabs, shark teeth, ptychodus teeth, exogyra, cast of a very large crinoid, rocks containing numerous bits of archimedes, shells, and crinoid hash, and some mineral specimens, including calcite and quartz with tourmaline crystals. This was the first time some of the students had ever been allowed to hold fossils, and we took some nice, sturdy ones for everyone to examine. Most of these samples were collected on BPS field trips. The general area of collecting locations were marked on a geologic map to show the diversity of Alabama fossils, to provide a simplistic way to determine which fossils are older or younger, and to emphasize the importance of knowing the location of Alabama counties. We also showed pictures of BPS members on various outings (incuding the "rope trick" adventure!), told them stories about exciting things that happened on trips, and Nancy presented a slide show of various common fossils. During the course of the day, we showed them the BPS web site, touched on the ethics of fossil collecting, and the reason why museums only list the county where the fossils are found.

THEN came their own fossil hunt! Nancy had a lab-activity kit from Ward Science that included a bucket full of small fossils and gravel, sorting trays, tweezers, and magnifying glasses. Add a little landscape sand to "stretch" the supplies, then seed the mix with a few goodies from the BPS give-away stash, and you have the recipe for an unforgettable event! The kids had a great time sieving and searching, and their exciting "finds" included echinoderms, horn coral, archimedes and crinoid parts, blastoids and a few fern fossils which were "donated" by the finders to the classroom! To end the day there were "door prize" drawings where each student could choose a fossil of their own.

Several teachers stopped by to look at the fossil display, and the principal stopped by to take pictures. Everyone was super excited about the visit. Who would have thought that kids would want to help lug your fossils around! Mrs. Woods was great...no amount of mess fazed her and everyone had a great time!

--Edited by Vicki Lais

(Photos courtesy Nancy Kenfield and Vicki Lais)

Students and teacher checking out the fossil display as we are setting up.

students at BPS fossil program
A lot of assistance was provided in laying out the specimens. What they didn't know, was that this box contained the fossils that would be given away at the end of the day! Later in the day, the calcite crystal being intently examined had a large amount of pressure applied to it (i.e, we hit it with a rock hammer) to show how this mineral splits into smaller crystals of the same shape.

Vicki explaining the color banding on the Alabama geologic map.

"Sticky's" were added to the map as a particular fossil specimen was discussed.

Examining nautaloids and echinoids.

students at BPS fossil program
Nancy assisting with screening and sorting the different fossil specimens.

students at BPS fossil program
Examining the fossils. An ammonite was inside this split nodule.

Dallas

Alabama

October 23, 2004 - Cretaceous Fossils, Tuscaloosa and Hale Co, AL

October saw the troops headed to Hale county, AL to a favorite creek. After meeting at a rest area, we headed South to Tuscaloosa where we made a stop at the Museum of Natural History on the University campus. Great fossil collections as well as a fun exhibit of bugs and bats caught everybody's interest. We were delighted to see that the Mosasaur is still on display. Stopping at the museum gave us a chance to get a visual fix on what we might find during the day, so it was a nice start for the day.

The creek was higher than expected when we got there, and it became clear that wading (sometimes in some over-the-knees water) would be on the menu. Part of our group chose to sift from a bank while standing in knee deep to thigh deep water while the other part of our group headed downstream. The downstream group discovered that mother nature's engineers had built a very nice dam, thus explaining the high water level. Below the dam sifting was very easy.

This creek runs through the Mooreville Chalk, producing mostly shells, bones, shark and mosasaur teeth. Numerous shark-teeth were found, also several ptychodus teeth, LOTS of fossil clam shells and exogyra, a few fish vertebra, bivalve steinkerns, and several gastropod steinkerns.

Almost everyone had a sieve of some kind. Only one of us managed to get completely dunked but claimed it was a refreshing experience! See, kids, we aren't kidding about bringing a change of clothing! You NEVER KNOW!

Some brave souls tested out MRE's at lunch. Interesting. Our fighting folk have our deepest sympathies! Actually they weren't that bad.

A long day was capped off by chowing down at a great local barbecue place! All in all, a fun and productive trip!

--Edited by Vicki Lais

(Photos courtesy Vicki Lais)

Ala Museum of Natural History
First stop was the Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa. Thousands of fossils, but none we could collect! We were pleased to find the large mosasaur specimen was still being exhibited.

hunting fossils in creek
Steve, Lea, and Glyn screening the gravel.

hunting fossils in creek

fossils in screen
One of Nancy's screening efforts. Several large exogyra.

fossils in screen
One of Steve's hauls, note the shells and partial ammonite.

fossil shark and ptychodus teeth
Shark and ptychodus teeth found by Steve.

hunting fossils in creek
Jan, Claire, & Leisa.

hunting fossils in creek
View up the creek.

At the end of a beautiful day, we had several show-and-tell displays.
fossil teeth and miscellaneous
Greg's display.

fossil teeth and shells
Lea's finds, note the mosasaur jawbone in lower right corner.

fossil teeth and shells
Paige's display. She wanted to find enough shark teeth to share with her classmates, and she certainly accomplished her goal!

Paige with 35 shark teeth
35 shark teeth found!

fossil shells, ammonite

fossil shark teeth, gastropod, miscellaneous
Vicki's finds.

October 2, 2004 - Lawrence and Colbert Co, AL

This field trip to roadcuts in Lawrence and Colbert County, AL included five stops during the day. There were a number of students on the trip, who had been teased that "you're not going to find any fossils!". They were pleasantly surprised! After a long day of collecting, our youngest participant, Bailey, decided she wanted to come on all our trips!

Stop #1 was a roadcut in Lawrence County, Alabama, where large pieces of rugosa coral in Bangor Limestone had been excavated by road construction. The site has almost been totally reclaimed, but some very nice specimens were found.

(Photos courtesy Vicki Lais)
fossil coral

A large coral head.

hunting fossil coral
Hunting for treasures. The site has become overgrown, making it more difficult to spot the coral pieces.

hunting fossil coral
Carolyn with a couple of coral clusters.

hunting fossil coral
Bobby in foreground, with James in back.

hunting fossil coral

sitting on large fossil coral heads
Katie and Nina, very happy with their finds! Note the large coral head underneath Nina!

fossil coral head

Stop #2 was a short stop, yeilding several samples of archimedes and crinoid stems, also from the Bangor Limestone.

archimedes fossil in rock

hunting fossils in quarry

hunting fossils in quarry
Jan and Claire inspecting this outcrop

hunting fossils in quarry
Bailey has found a nice archimedes.

hunting fossils in quarry
Vicki in her favorite environment, surrounded by rocks!

Stop #3 was a roadcut in Colbert County. Horned corals, blastoids, and crinoid stems were plentiful.

hunting fossils in quarry
The fossils weather out, and can be found laying on top of the ground.

hunting fossils in quarry

hunting fossils in quarry
Greg is identifying specimens for some of the students.

hunting fossils in quarry
Jan climbing the hill, with Leisa in background.

Stop #4 was a different roadcut, and yeilded similar material as stop #3, such as archimedes, blastoids, brachiopods, and bryazoan fragments.
hunting fossils on roadcut

hunting fossils on roadcut

hunting fossils on roadcut
Bobby found a nice trilobite at this site.

cleaning limestone with acid wash
Greg is giving a short tailgate workshop on how to clean the limestone slabs found at this site with a light acid wash (that is not Diet Rite in that bottle!). Acid makes the fossils stand out nicely, but be sure to wear protective gloves and work clothes, and get proper training before trying this at home.

Stop #5 was also in Bangor Limestone, and provided a number of slabs containing broken bits of archimedes, blastoids, brachiopods, and bryazoan fragments. This site also contained numerous square brownish-red metallic crystals, which we believe to be pyrite. They are approximately 1/8 inch squares, some slightly larger.

hunting fossils in gully

On the way home, several of us decided to visit one of the local attractions.
Coon Dog Cemetery

Yep, believe it. Only coon dogs buried here. Decoration day must have occurred recently. In addition to reading the tombstones, one can picnic under the covered pavilion or hike through the woods to the spring.
hound dog graves

August 28, 2004 - Cretaceous Fossils, Butler Co, AL

August found the group once again at a Butler County, Alabama site. A number of gastropods, nautiloids, shark teeth, turritella, and broken pieces of pottery were found on this private property which has become one of our favorite spots.

(Photos courtesy Vicki Lais)
fossil gastropod
One of the first items found. Forgot to put a scale in the photo, but this gastropod is approximately 4 inches long.

fossil gastropod

fossil gastropods
These tiny round gastropods are common on the ridge. Turritella, bivalves and worm tubes are also found, but are not as common.

cooling off on the fossil trip
Boy, was it hot on that ridge! Let's go to the creek! Becky, Carolyn, and Nancy

preparing for the fossil collecting
Getting ready for the hunt.

collecting fossils in the creek
Ramsey and Sarah get started.

collecting fossils in the creek
Leah and others heading up the creek.

collecting fossils in the creek
Bobby sifting through the gravel.

fossil gastropod
Nice gastropod.

collecting fossils in the creek

Some of the troops head downstream. . . .

collecting fossils in the creek

While others (Wes and Jeff) decided to stay put for a while.

collecting fossils in the creek
Claire and Nancy find a good spot for lunch way upstream.

Nice artifacts found by Jeff and Wes.

fossil nautiloid
Small nautaloid.

fossil gastropod and coquina
Samples from Vicki's bag.

July 31, 2004 - Monroe Co, AL

This month BPS members headed to Monroe County in South Alabama, where we collected in the Lisbon Formation and Gosport Sand. Steve and Gilbert took their boats, so we spent the day scouting several miles along the riverbanks. Due to rain earlier in the week, the water level had risen 6-8 feet since the scouting trip, so the ledges were mostly underwater, and our collecting was restricted to the upper reaches. Numerous gastropods, turritella and trace fossils that appear to be burrows of some kind were found, also a few shark teeth, echinoids, and even a piece of permineralized wood were found. Some of the bivalves were complete and hardened. Many of the turritella and other shells found in the Gosport Sand were so fragile that it took careful digging to keep the shells from dissolving as they were touched. When broken open, a number of the "burrows" had shells inside them. Wildlife was also spotted, including an alligator and alligator tracks, numerous herons, and Steve spotted the largest water moccasin he had ever seen in his many years in the outdoors, startled him so much he threw his fossils in the river beating a path back to the boat! Sorry 'bout that, Steve!

Members participating in this long trip were Greg, Jan, Steve, Leisa, Gilbert, Carolyn, Vicki, Nancy and Miss Daisy.

(Photos courtesy Nancy Kenfield, Steve Corvin, and Vicki Lais)

Along the shoreline.

Greg and Steve, getting ready to check out this landing.

hunting fossils on riverbank

Shells in matrix. Sand is wet, and shells will disintegrate at the slightest touch. Careful excavation is essential.

At slightly higher elevations, the shells are dry and hard. Leisa found these.

fossil gastropods and bivalves
A representative sampling of shells in this locality.

fossils shells in riverbank
Shell impressions.

fossil shell layer in riverbank
Shell layers in the bank.

Turritella found by Steve.
fossil turritella

Sand dollar found by Steve.
fossil sand dollar

bivalve and shark teeth

fossil sand dollars
Nice collection of sand dollars found by Steve.

fossil oyster

Large boulders, appearing to be trace fossils, perhaps burrows.

fossil burrows

Many of the burrows had shells inside.
fossil shells inside fossil burrows

fossil tooth
Tooth found by Steve.

Gilbert after a long hard day on the river.

chalk bluffs where fossils are found
A view of the bluffs, mostly grown over now.

getting boat out of river
End of another great collecting day!

On the way down, some of us apparently took a wrong fork in the road.... that sign was deceiving.
fake interstate sign

And we entered into a strange land, populated by the most bizzare critters! (Forkland??)

For scale, note that Vicki is hugging the tin man's leg. Both the ship and car (above) are REAL.

hay rolls in field
Alabama countryside near Forkland.

June 26, 2004 - Late Cretaceous Fossils, Montgomery Co, AL

FINALLY, WE NEEDED THAT COMPLETE CHANGE OF CLOTHES
(An Account of Unprecedented Creek Crossings)

BPS members visited a late Cretaceous site in Montgomery County, Alabama, where we collected primarily echinoids, gastropods, and a few shark teeth. This trip was a real adventure!

A week of daily summer rains and pictures from Friday's site reconnaissance were not enough to daunt those needing a field trip fix. By mid-day Saturday the water had receded enough to give hope to those who had been standing on one bank of the creek and staring longingly at the other bank. There was a spark of hope.

At lunch it was decided that after a trip to a second site that enough time should have passed and the creek could possibly have receded enough to be crossable.

Steve waded the creek with one end of a 60 ft rope in hand. Once tied off on both sides the rope was a sufficient balance for a slow and steady crossing. There were crossers who faced downstream, crossers who faced upstream and those who sidestepped their way across. All present decided to journey to the other side. And by my count - taking the rope and escorting 6 people X two = 22 crossings for Steve.

Flood level water the day before washed out good material for collecting, and yes, we finally needed that change of dry clothes.

--Edited by Vicki Lais

- - "TALES FROM THE PAST" BY JAMES LAMB - -

(Photos by Nancy Kenfield and Vicki Lais)

May 22, 2004 - Cretaceous Fossils, Sumter Co, AL

Another boat trip, this time in Sumter county, at a river site with huge chalk bluffs. (The lake level at the Demopolis Lock was 74.28 feet above sea level). The fossils we collected are from the marl limestone sequences in the Arcola Limestone Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya). Last year, Dr. Charlie Smith, who has done many years of research on this site, came with the group and provided a wonderful lecture and handouts to the group. This year we found a number of straight cephalopod segments, gastropods up to 6cm in diameter, fish dermal spine, and ammonite pieces. But the real prize of the trip was several mosasaur vertebra found in three separate "piles" in a 15 foot area along the riverbank. Vicki found the first fossil vertebra, which was standing on end, and had only the top exposed. After convincing Greg to come look, there were decisions to be made. Do we leave it here in place and take the chance of the river rising and washing it away? We noticed this area had been under a heavy layer of pea gravel the last time we were here, and the pea gravel had disappeared. Do we trench it and extract the bone, or use a plaster jacket over the whole thing? The decision was to take the bone out, not take the chance on having it wash down the river, and protect it with a plaster jacket. However, after excavating around the bone, it was discovered a small but sturdy piece of the chalk could be extracted, making the plaster jacket unnecessary.

As Bobby came over to see what all the fuss was about, he saw "odd shapes" sticking out of the chalk about 15 feet before he got to where Greg was working, and after looking closely, realized it was several more vertebra. Steve came over to assist in excavating this new pile of bones. The other part of the group had gone to another nearby beach, and were basking in the sun (and I suspect they went swimming based on Nancy's drenched appearance!). They decided to ride back over after all the hard work had been done, and see what we had found. Then Jan asked if we had looked under that tree trunk beside us. Well, no. So the trunk was moved, and low and behold, there were about 5 more vertebra under it, which were also excavated. So this was truly a group find, and everyone got to work on the excavations, initial cleaning, and proper packing.

Bill, with the assistance of Leisa, did a great job on the site survey and drawings. Greg, who worked many years with the paleontologists at Red Mountain Museum, supervised the excavation and has been preparing the fossil bones for display. Thanks to all for the fine work and photos! (NOTE: any professional paleontologist who desires to study these fossils, please send your request via email.)

Afterwards, a number of members went to another river site in Sumter county to collect marcasite.

Bill Cunningham also contributed to this report.

(Photos courtesy of Nancy Kenfield, Bill Cunningham, Vicki Lais, and Greg Mestler.)

WOW !

(Click images for larger view.)

Lets get going!

boat on river river

collecting area

Hey, guys, pose for me!

In large photo above, this is the leftmost vertebra, immediately after excavation.
Top view of vertebra.

Bottom view. bottom view of mosasaur vertebra

river view

One of the many gastropods found.

What did you find?
finding fossil vertebra

mosasaur vertebra collecting area
Vertebral column extends 7 meters from near Coke can to several feet beyond the excavators.

Yes, we get dirty.

The excavation site had a small drainage problem...

Samples of typical finds - ammonite, straight cephalopod, gastropod, turritella, limpet, oyster.

Steve with his latest treasures.

Bobby washing mud off the vertebra.

mosasaur vertebra
Group of eight vertebra.

mosasaur vertebra in matrix
Three vertebra in situ (about 15cm apart)

mosasaur vertebra
A vertebra in matrix (caudal concave discoid about 5cm)

fossil ammonite
Ammonite impression (about 30cm)

Local wildlife.
turtle hiding

Water hyacinths are pretty, but is an invasive species that destroys our rivers and lakes, and it is prohibited to sell it in the state of Alabama. Thick infestations can make boating or swimming impossible.

boat filled with BPS members

Vicki collecting marcasite
Several members traveled to another Sumter County location to collect marcasite.

White chalk cliffs in Sumter County, AL.

April 17, 2004 - Cretaceous and Pleistocene Fossils, Greene Co, AL

This creek site in Greene County, AL is characterized by large quantities of pea gravel, filled with numerous shark teeth, and the occasional mosasaur vertebra. Going east along the creek one is in Pleistocene age material, while going west moves one through an area of Mooreville Chalk (Cretaceous).

A number of teeth from the Goblin shark and crow shark were found by all. (See the July, 2003 trip report for details on these sharks, and more on the geology of this site.)

(Photos courtesy Vicki Lais)
BPS members at creek

hands holding fossils, turtle

fossil collectors

Ann collecting in creek
Ann and her bag of treasures.

Nancy showing ptychodus
Nancy showing off her ptychodus tooth.

miscellaneous shark teeth
Vicki dumped her bag to show what she had collected so far. A number of shark teeth, some in matrix, bone fragments, and several "interesting unknowns".

collecting fossils by creek
How many hours do you think Claire and Ann can do this?

side stream in gully
A small canyon that proved interesting. A little out of the picture one can see the strata where the teeth and pea gravel have been deposited in the bank.

climbing into gully
Climbing down into the canyon. (they keep telling me to quit taking pictures of rear ends....)

hiking in gully
Lisa, with Jan and Bobby in the background. Steve was always somewhere way up the creek or way down the creek, and managed to totally avoid the camera.

March 13, 2004 - Mississippian Fossils, Morgan Co, AL

We began our field trip for this month at a quarry in Jefferson County, to view specimens in the quarry classroom. Then we caravaned to the collecting site in Morgan Co, AL (except Vicki, who was talking so much to Bill and Adelle that she failed to see everyone else passing her on the interstate ...)

We had a wonderful day of collecting, beautiful weather and great turnout. We went to a new spot in the quarry, in addition to the site from last year. Collecting is in the Mississippian Period (340-310 mya), in a very hard limestone. Every member had great finds, including crinoids (including arms and calyxes), blastoids, brachiopods, coral, and sharks teeth (believe it or not!). Proper prep work will make these specimens stand out beautifully.

(Photos courtesy Steve Corvin, Bill Cunningham, Vicki Lais)

members standing in front of quarry
We're ready!