teeth

August 11, 2018 - Oligocene Fossils, Jasper County, MS

On Saturday, Aug 11, 2018, a small group of BPS members and guests traveled to Jasper County, Mississippi where we were joined by our enthusiastic, knowledgeable host. We were led to a small working lime quarry that featured, from the Oligocene, outcrops of Bucatunna clay, Glendon formation limestone and Marianna limestone. The quarry process yielded specimens from the Mint Spring unit but the unit itself was underwater.

Participants were given some geological facts and some collecting hints and then were free to roam around the quarry. There were large mined limestone boulders all around the quarry that were fossiliferous and a paddock area where the initial crushing of mined slabs took place that contained fossils. There was lots of material that was rinsed by rain run-off from collecting shed’s roof, making some fossils in that area easier to spot.

As collectors spread out and began searching, some of the things collected were: echinoids, scallop shells, tusk shells, forams (coin-sized, single-celled organisms that are still around today), shark and ray teeth, a broken shark vertebra, delicately branching bryozoans, pyritized cone shells, echinoids, pyritized burrows, ghost shrimp claws and lignite. Lots of treasures at this site!

And, if things were exciting enough, James stepped on a shifting boulder which caused him to lose his balance and grip on his pick. Who knew those things would bounce?? And, bounce it did – right into James’s head. Paleontologists are tough and prepared, though. George retrieved his first-aid kit from his truck and applied a nice field dressing which enabled James to make his way back to his truck. We couldn’t pass the up the opportunity to record the event for posterity so group photos were taken with Bloody James front and center. I’d like to nominate that as his new pirate/field name!! After the photos, James was chauffeured to the hospital where his hard head was declared uncracked and the wound sutured, then he was escorted safely home. Unfortunate as it was, I’m glad that he’s okay.

Many thanks to our wonderful host for a great day at a great site! I hope we’ll be invited to Mississippi again!!

June 30, 2018 - Cretaceous Fossils, Dallas and Perry County, Al.

I want to start this trip report with a huge thank you to Tim for escorting the group on the first half of the trip and for patiently answering all of the questions. We couldn’t have done it without you!!!

A baker’s dozen of BPS members and guests, all eager for a field trip, met in Dallas county to collect in chalk gullies. It was suggested that we go to a gully that hasn’t been surveyed in over a year so we were all very eager to get to it. Tim mentioned a few collecting techniques as well as some collecting etiquette, showed an aerial photo of the area to be collected and, after a short hike, we were in the gullies! Almost immediately, Tim found a mosasaur vertebra and a jaw fragment – a very positive sign! As groups do, we spread out to explore and mark interesting finds. There were copious shrimp burrows and strangely hard to resist pyritized organic material (sparkly fish poops), barnacles, some enchodus and shark teeth, a large fragment of a rudist clam, a section of lignite, a previously flagged and recovered fish jaw, and a group of turtle vertebra. It was, of course, blazing hot so, even though the exploration was exciting, no one complained when the lunch break was called. We went to a shady place to pause, refresh, and recharge biological batteries.

For the second site, we went to another privately owned, very productive creek where James joined us. The recent rains had scoured some areas and deposited about 2 vertical feet of sand onto what used to be lovely gravel bars. While some of us tried sifting material in old familiar spots, James scouted upstream and alerted the group that there was a gravel bar that would support all of our attention and exploration. So, after a short hike, we all settled on to the new spot where we were delighted to find large and small, mostly well preserved, shark teeth, gastropod casts, ptychodus teeth, bone bits, a pectoral spine, baculite and ammonite segments and many other fossil and non-fossil finds.

The weather, which is always a gamble this time of year, cooperated all day. It was hot in the gullies but there was a breeze and the bright sun really helps with fossil spotting. Clouds started moving in at noon and thunder was heard in the distance (rained on us as we drove to second site) but it never rained on us in the creek and we never had to leave the creek because of lightning. Based on the smiles and shared finds at the end of the day, I think a great time was had by all!

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Eotrachodon orientalis dinosaur teeth found and excavated by BPS members

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Eotrachodon orientalis

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Greg carefully prying off the chalk from the Eotrachodon orientalis dinosaur teeth

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Eotrachodon orientalis

September and October, 2010 - Cretaceous Fossils - Dallas Co, AL

During September and early October, BPS members had several field trips to find fossils and help excavate in the Cretaceous gullies of Dallas County. Over a period of several days (September 19, 24, 26, October 1, 2, 3) a turtle and mosasaur were excavated. Also, a number of other fossils were found, including shark teeth, upper and lower Xiphactinus fish jaw with teeth, a variety of shells, shark coprolite, shark vertebra, fish vertebra, and enchodus teeth. Most of the important finds will be used in exhibits at the (now in development) Black Belt Museum in Livingston.

Each field trip is similar to a class, in that participants are taught proper collecting techniques, how to find and identify fossils, and how to excavate fragile fossils out of the ground intact and make plaster jackets.

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Part of a fossil fish jaw, with several teeth still embeded in the jaw.

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Miscellaneous fossils

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.