2010-07-vl-8722
Fish vertebra, enchodus tooth and several shark teeth found in the gullies. Notice the whiteness of one of the shark teeth - many have deteriorated under the hot sun.
Fish vertebra, enchodus tooth and several shark teeth found in the gullies. Notice the whiteness of one of the shark teeth - many have deteriorated under the hot sun.
BPS members defied the extreme heat and went to south Alabama to assist in collecting fossils and close down the dig site until the weather cools off some. A number of mosasaur bones were found, and a mosasaur jaw still containing a tooth. Other fossils found included shark teeth, shark vertebra, various varieties of fish, turtle bone, and enchodus jaw and teeth. The thermometer read 110 degrees, so after lunch under a covered pavilion, we headed to a nearby creek to cool down. The creek yielded numerous shark teeth, brachiopods, and a few cephalopod pieces.
Excavating a mosasaur jaw bone. Several members carefully sifted the chalk down the gully from the main excavation, finding several vertebra.
Fish vertebra, enchodus tooth and several shark teeth found in the gullies. Notice the whiteness of one of the shark teeth - many have deteriorated under the hot sun.
The long pointy tooth is an Enchodus tooth, and the others are shark teeth
This month the group went to a shallow river in Covington Co, AL we haven't visited for a long time. Our memory of this site is that the pickings were better in years past. It took a while to find fossils. We don't dig, as the landowner has requested "no digging", but most of our honey holes were empty, possibly from the recent rainy seasons or over-collecting by commercial collectors. Whatever the reason, everyone left with a small handful of shark teeth, and we had a great day visiting and keeping cool in the river. Jan and Lea decided to arrive at the site via kayak, making for an interesting upriver paddle.
Our annual trip to Butler County turned up several shark teeth, fish vertebra, ray teeth, turritella in cochina, and a number of pottery pieces. The day was spent roaming the creek, playing in the sand and creek, or just hanging out sunbathing. Several members camped out for the weekend on the bald, where more fossils were found.
This month the group traveled to Butler County, Alabama, to a sandy creek which runs through early Tertiary and late Cretaceous material. The weather was overcast on Saturday, making collecting very pleasant. A number of members camped out for the weekend. Sunday the sun was out, and it made us grateful for the cloud cover on Saturday!
The sandy beaches and gravel areas yielded up shark teeth, ray teeth, some nautiloid sections, and recent mammal material which was sometimes as fasinating as the fossils.
We had quite a few young people on the trip who enjoyed both the fossil collecting and swimming, splashing and running in the shallow creek. There is an area of soft clay, and some enterprising young men fashioned bowls from it.
More about the artifacts found on the trip.
--Photos courtesy Claire Smith and Vicki Lais.
Making ones way up the creek took a very long time. First you have to play in the water, feel the sand between your toes. Then you have to stop at every gravel bar and see what's there. It takes most people hours to get less than 1/4 mile.
Hanging out on the large sandy beach. This is like a crossroads, everyone passes this way, or returns here to rest.
Some tiny gastropods found on the flat limestone "bald", and an unkown black item with serated edges.
This nice gastropod was found at this site several years ago, and was brought to the trip to display.
Coquina, a very hard "stone" composed of compressed shells, used in many parts of Florida as building stone.
BPS members and guests headed down to Greene county, Alabama for our July trip. This site is a creek covered with pea gravel - making screening for shark teeth and other fossils quite difficult. However, most found it fairly easy to spot the fossils lying on top of the gravel. Numerous shark teeth were found, a couple of mosasaur teeth, several ptychodus teeth, a gar vertebra and tooth, crocodilian bone, clams, oysters, and bryozoan. Vicki found a tooth so tiny (about 1/8 inch), that when she put it on her finger to get a closeup, it rolled off. The next 45 minutes was spent digging through the gravel in an ever widening circle, trying to find the tiny tooth again. As we finally gave up, she rolled the gravel around again, and there it was! It went in a medicine bottle for safekeeping, until a photo could be taken in a "safe" location! It has been identified as a gar tooth, which is more rare than mosasaur teeth in this area.
--Photos courtesy Vicki Lais