month, BPS members and guests returned to a creek in Chilton
county that hasn't been visited by the group in about 6
years.
The weather was perfect, and the creek was ideal for cooling
off.
We obtained permission to enter the creek at a new location, and
everyone found numerous specimens of Cretaceous age petrified/
permineralized wood, from the Gordo Formation. Permineralized
wood forms in this environment because of the presence of dissolved
silica within the groundwater, which gradually replaces the cells in
the wood. A few of the specimens collected showed signs of
having
small crystals on them at one time in the past, but the crystals were
almost worn completely off by the tumbling action of the water and
rocks.
(Pictures
courtesy Lea Martin
and Vicki Lais.)
Hanging
out at the meeting location, waiting for everyone to arrive.
Just
hanging out. Claire was busy distributing BPS T-shirts
that
had been purchased for our fund-raiser.
Vicki and
Loni are stretching out the aerial map of the creek,
preparing to give an overview of the geology of the area and show the
collecting sites to the group.
Our
initial view of the creek, checking out the gravel bars.
Rick
brought a hoe to tease the rocks, which worked very well.
Walking
along a large sand and gravel embankment. Roger
was visiting relatives in Alabama and decided to join us, and found
some nice pieces of wood. Hope your vacation was memorable!
Gravel
bars were quite wide in some locations.
Nancy
searching off the beaten path.
Claire
showing off one of her first finds.
A closer look
Paige
with some of her finds.
fishing for a nice piece of wood, you can see the dark image
under the water.
The
water looks deep, but in most places you will barely get your knees
wet crossing to the other bank.
Rick lives in
Chilton county, and obtained permission from the local
landowners for BPS members to collect in several spots on the
creek. A big thank you to Rick from all of us!
Loni
is back after an absence of almost 15 years - Welcome Back, Loni!
This
is a view through the water, which is about 1 foot deep at this
point. Bottom of sand and gravel looks remarkably like
pudding-stone. Some of the better petrified wood specimens
were
found in the water.
Rychard and
Vicki, setting up for a photo op.
This is what
we see as we walk along the bank of the creek.
Notice how the piece of
petrified wood blends in with the pebbles. Also, in many
cases,
the pebbles are actually very worn pieces of wood, so worn that one
would never be able to convince a novice that it really was
wood!
When one taps pieces of the wood together, it sounds like tapping
drinking glasses together.
Another piece
of petrified wood hidden among the gravel. Some
of
us also collected the multi colored pebbles.
An
outcrop of mottled red and pale red-purple clay, an
indicator of the
Gordo Formation. There are small outcrops in some areas, and
other areas are all red-purple clay, with no sand and gravel bars at
all. Some parts of the creek bed are also covered in this
material, so it is important to be able to see the bottom as one is
wading in the creek, as the clay is extremely slick, and you need to
walk on the gravel or sand instead.
And here goes
Paige fishing in the water. . . .
Another
nice specimen "caught" by Paige.
And now it's
Rychard's turn. . .
Rychard
found some large pieces of wood that were badly weathered.
A
small feeder creek draining into the main creek.
More
pieces of wood. This creek location is known for wood,
and
wood was the only fossil found on this trip.
End
of the day, plumb tuckered out. Claire with the
nice sized
section of wood she found midstream (see picture above) And
yes,
we get hot, wet, dirty, and sweaty on these trips, and have a wonderful
time doing it!