A small group of dedicated fossil hounds arrived in Dallas County to assist James Lamb in searching for ancient bones and teeth of extinct animals in the Late Cretaceous chalk gullies. Suffering miserably in the heat of the day where temperatures were recorded at 109 degrees, our spirits were frequently lifted by the amazing fossils that were being found. We had the opportunity to search in gullies where no one had searched recently. The years of rain and weathering provided a treasure trove of a large variety of fossils, and no one had such a good day as did Claire. After arriving a little late, the first thing after arriving in the gully, she practically tripped over pieces of a fossil fish, including jaw and teeth, that others of us in a bigger hurry had stepped right over. She had her eyes set to find bone, and continued to find very nice specimens throughout the day. Most of the specimens found now reside at the McWane Science Center, where they will be available to researchers around the world.
[This is considered our "July field trip", since it took place between the July and August business meetings.]
Photos courtesy Jan Novak, Claire Smith, Don Hill, and Vicki Lais.
Into a new gully - and James Lamb almost immediately holds up a nice find, but what is it?
Claire found this shark vertebra.
James Lamb has found a very nice sized Cretoxyrhina mantelli shark tooth (Ginsu shark).
James Lamb collecting fish bones from a side gully
Part of the Clidastes mosasaur jaw found by Claire.
This appears to be a very large ammonite (3-4 feet in diameter) in the side of a gully wall. Quicksand (wet chalk) 10 feet below and the ledge is 10 feet above, so this will prove to be a challenge to excavate.
Becky found this tiny fish vertebra when she sat down to rest.
He's found a shark tooth!
Tiny articulated exogyra.
Another shark vertebra found by Claire. NO, we weren't LETTING her find them, she was tuned in to all kinds of fossils on this trip! She was even finding fossils where several of us had scoured the area and found nothing.
Nice specimens of gypsum were found in one area.
Very detailed shark coprolite specimens were found by several people.
At the beginning of the day, we eagerly head out into the gullies, not knowing what we may find.
Shark teeth found by Claire, Scapanorhynchus texanus and Cretoxyrhina mantelli.
Claire has found a Clidases mosasaur jaw, including several teeth, literally laying on the surface of the gully, in eyesight of where we parked our cars.
Almost as soon as Claire entered the gully, she spotted this Saurodon fish jaw with teeth. Her luck proceeded to get better and better throughout the day.
Badly worn shark teeth and a carina (medial plate) from a lepadomorph barnacle (the pointy item second from the bottom.)
Fossil shipworms (Teredo).
Protosphyraena fish bone found by Claire.
Leisa has found a tiny pearl and broken shark vertebra. A few pearls like this have been found in the south, but they are very rare.
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