Cretaceous

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2019-11-02

November 2, 2019 - Cretaceous, Chilton, Al

How many attendees does it take to make a great field trip? Today, the answer was four! Maybe it was the cold weather or maybe it was schedule conflicts but, for the folks who came to Chilton County for the field trip, it was very pleasant!

The water in the creek was a little high and was a LOT COLD but that didn’t stop the BPS members who wanted to look for petrified and permineralized wood specimens. The summer drought has kept several sites from the usual surface material turnover so the larger specimens of petrified wood were not evident. Smaller samples were plentiful and the colors and visible petrified wood grain that were seen were beautiful, as usual. Two spectacular Native American artifacts were found as well.

Some interesting local fauna was seen: a busy beaver (seemingly unconcerned by our presence), a pair of racing kingfishers, following the creek and chattering loudly, and a small flock of guinea fowl by the fishing lake. There were tiny minnows in the creek – wonder how they feel about the temperature change?? In spite of the cooler temps, their location is one of the best. We were fortunate to share their space for the day!!

September 28, 2019 - Cretaceous, Perry, Al

On Saturday, September 28, a sizable group of BPS members and guests got together to take advantage of the unseasonably hot weather to visit a favorite creek in Perry County. After a stop at a local burger restaurant that served very tasty biscuits, we caravanned to the site – off-roading a little bit at the end. The dry weather was definitely in our favor there!

This particular creek has historically been loaded with fossils but, due to the recent drought, was a little less forthcoming with fossil finds. Not to be daunted by the circumstances, the trip attendees found deeper water gravel or searched shallower areas for things that might have been previously missed. And, that diligence paid off! Among the finds were 2 (!!) Cretoxyrhina mantelli teeth, other varieties of shark teeth, Ptychodus teeth, oyster shells, a turtle flipper bone, Baculites segments and even some Native American artifacts. This creek always delivers, even after heavy collecting and little material turnover. No wonder it’s a favorite location!