Richard Thurn of the
University of West Alabama
led the group of 18 members on an excellent day-long field trip to
several sites in Sumter and Marengo counties. He started the day inside
with a showing and explanation of the various fossils in the display
cases at the science building on the campus of the University. The next
two stops were at roadside chalk gully formations easily accessible and
illustrative of the variety of fossils in the area representing Late
Cretaceous snails and oysters.
The third stop was an
optional one which
everyone took advantage of: a trip to Moscow Landing on the Black
Warrior/Tombigbee River, site of an outcropping of the K-T boundary.
The chalk on the river bank was very slippery due to the recent rains,
but, with the help of Richard's "always take it along on field trips"
handy-dandy rope, the attendees was able to get to descend to the
river's edge and to observe the K-T boundary. They also spent time
collecting fossils in the Late Cretaceous and a few fossils from the
Tertiary.
The last stop also was an
optional one which 8
people took advantage of: a stop at a road cut on Highway 28 in Marengo
County near Jefferson, Alabama. At this site there is an outcropping of
the Tertiary and farther down the road there is an outcropping of the
Late Cretaceous. The interesting feature of this site is that in
between the two areas, there is a good outcropping of the K-T boundary.
Additional collecting was done in the Cretaceous layers with everyone
finding a good variety and quantity of representative fossils.