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  • JohnJ

    Ancient Hunters

    By JohnJ

    June 5, 2010 Barry held his camera barely two feet away from the back of an Agkistrodon piscivorus. Although a small snake, it was still very dangerous and he positioned his camera based on years of experience with these reptiles. Known more commonly as a Cottonmouth or Water Moccasin, the twelve inch juvenile snake had coloration similar to the closely related Copperhead. However, its patterns were muted by late afternoon shadows in a remote location that was not favorable to an easy medic
    • 26 comments
    • 9,114 views
  • MikeR

    The Problem with Siphocypraea

    By MikeR

    For millennia, humankind has been fascinated by the hard-external shell of the organisms classified within the Phylum Mollusca.   Consumed first as food, their empty shells have served multiple functions in the past; as tools in many ancient cultures, in religious ceremonies by the Aztecs, and money by Pacific Islanders. During the Age of Discovery, sailors could supplement their meager incomes by selling exotic seashells to wealthy gentlemen for their Cabinets of Curiosity.  Today many people f
    • 3 comments
    • 3,912 views
  • andreas

    The Columbianus Zone/alaunium 2/ Norium/upper Triassic, In The So Called “Hallstatt Limestone” Of The Northern Calcareous Alps In Austria

    By andreas

    The columbianus Zone/Alaunium 2/ Norium/Upper Triassic in the so called "Hallstatt Limestone" of the Northern Calcareous Alps in Austria Dear Fossil Forum members! This pictured report about the ammonite bearing Triassic Hallstatt limestone will be the first one of a continuous series of reports. Since the beginning of the geological research in the Northern Calcareous Alps of Austria in the 19th century, about 500 species of Triassic ammonites have been described from the Hallstatt limestone
    • 14 comments
    • 12,787 views
  • MikeR

    The End Of My Pliocene Project

    By MikeR

    When I began this blog late in 2010, my intention was to report on recent field trips however, with the exception of one excursion each into the Upper Miocene, Lower Pliocene and the Calabrian Pleistocene, all of my posts have concentrated on the Upper Pliocene of the US Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. I already had an extensive collection of Florida Upper Pliocene invertebrates that I had collected while a resident of the state in the late 80s and early 90s. The fossils from these beds are
    • 9 comments
    • 9,303 views

A Promising New Location

Well Today I went to a new location about 20 minutes away. It was very promising but I didn't find much of anything to bring home aside from a few favosites and horn coral. The location was nice I plan to go back in the morning maybe take a friend to keep Maximus occupied so I can scan the shoreline without being pulled. Here is a video and a few pics to show why Im sure I will find something. VIDEO -------->>>>>>>>>> IMG_6213.mov

Ameenah

Ameenah

Interesting Fossils Finds Today

After work this morning I decided to go for a quick trip to Hurricane Creek Recreation Area in La Vergne, Tn which is just one of the many access points at percy Priest Lake. I wanted to try to find something before the heat kicked in. I found a few small things which turned out to be very interesting. This plate reminds me of filigree. I'm thinking it could be worm burrows. Here is a great little shell hash plate . This one didn't look like much, I found one like it once before but

Ameenah

Ameenah

Stichting Schepsel Schelp

This year I have been on fewer fossil trips than at any time in my 30 years of collecting. This is mostly because my work is now taking me around the world as far east as Kuwait and as far west as China. This June I was working once more in Brussels, Belgium. With a free day on my hands and having seen much of Brussels on previous trips, I decided to visit a fossil friend and one time trading partner, two hours away in the Netherlands (Holland) in the city of Utrecht. I first started corresp

MikeR

MikeR

Look What I Found! My Monster Cephalopod :)

I found a monster!!!!!!!!!!!! I must have walked by it dozens of times. Today we had light rain the great for finding fossils because the rain washes away the dirt, and you can see what is hidden. I found this in about fifteen minutes. I wish I had my phone on me so I could have made a video. I almost walked by it but I saw the lines on a stone. I went to turn it over I kept saying " this can't be it's huge". Well here is my new baby Is there a way to figure out the approximate size from a f

Ameenah

Ameenah

My New But Very Old Fossil Plate :)

I took a friend and her daughter for thier first fossil hunting adventure yesturday and we did pretty darn good. Here is the cutest fossil little hunter around, meet Max At first I was able to dislodge a piece that was about five feet across but it was so heavy. Although it was very exciting when it came up in one piece, we desided to break it and this is what we ended up with. We came away with 8 very nice fossil plates, two of which we're 27 and 29 inches in length. We plan on going ba

Ameenah

Ameenah

Cougars And Big Cypress

During your next Florida vacation, pick up a handful of sand. Each beach will have a different story to tell. The sugary white sand of the Florida panhandle, which I consider the best beach sand in the world originated from the once high and mighty Appalachians, while that from the sheller’s paradise of Sanibel Island and Southwest Florida is from millennia of shells ground down to a fine grit. The beach at Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys is a limey calcium carbonate mud which might one day b

MikeR

MikeR

Here Are Todays Finds.

I thought I would give the lake another try we had a good rain and I hoped it had washed the mud off the rocks enough that I could find something. I found that it had and I found a few things, I'm not sure what everything is yet I found a few different types of coral in one spot here is a huge chunk I had to dig upI love this plate I found I also found a few rocks with odd shapes inside I think this is a ceph but I don't see any sections so I'm thinking it could be the body chamber and a smal

Ameenah

Ameenah

My Largest Cephalopod To Date :)

Well while letting Maximus take a swim in the lake. . I looked down and there it was plain as day, my new cephalopod. I didn't go out to find fossils today but I did all the same. As I moved the rocks from around it I prayed it wasn't part of a huge rock that I could'nt move, but luck was on my side. I found it at the Percy Priest Lake here in middle Tn.

Ameenah

Ameenah

Today's Hunt 4-28-12

Started out visiting 18 mile creek in Hamburg. Found quite a few braciopods. Shale was quite slippery and could not make it to the lake. Site is promising for dryer weather and waders. Headed over to Penn Dixie. The trilobite bed is covered with overburden as the site is not ready for the season. Picked through lots of weathered shale and found tons of horn coral , some partial phacops, lots of brachiopods, and a couple enrolled phacops. My wife took the day with her find. I think its a greenop

Western NY Explorer

Western NY Explorer

Short Exploratory Trip

It was the first day where the weather was decent enough to do some fossil hunting.I had a little over an hour after work. Off to my reliable site Penn Dixie in Hamburg NY. It was an hour long exploratory trip. I found a great deal of shell bed material from the Wanakah shale, I am a sucker for Brachiopods and horn coral, so I scooped up a bunch to play with later. Lots of nice specimens in this material. After I start prepping I will post pics from this pile. I picked up some partial

Western NY Explorer

Western NY Explorer

Well I Went Out Today Looking For Trillo's But......

Well I went out today looking for trillo's but had no luck. I brought home a chunk of fossil Matrix that I thought I could pick apart and maybe just maybe uncover one. Chances are, there is no chance. I did find a beautiful clean brachiopod nestled inside the matrix I found chunk of matrix with a calsite crystal deposite in it but it was high on a hill that was precarious at best and if I lost my footing?.... well lets just say "it wouldn't be a good look". So I visually mapped my path and we

Ameenah

Ameenah

The Id

A man brought a rock to a shop said he "you should see what I've got!" the shop owner glanced he looked quite askance he said "I can see what it's not!" "It's not a Peruvian Meg not a wonderful dinosaur egg is this really a fossil?" he seemed rather hostile "i think you are pulling my leg! theres no sign of trilobite here no ammonite sutures are clear ...and you're right in my light can't you please wait outside or at least stand less terribly near!" he held a fine loupe to his ey

xonenine

xonenine

The Lower Pinecrest Beds, Tamiami Formation

Three million years ago the Mid-Piacenzian warming stage was in effect for South Florida. The cool water fauna exemplified by Chesapecten found in Bed 11 of the Tamiami Formation was replaced by a warmer more diverse fauna, which formed extremely fossiliferous shell beds in the Sarasota and Kissimmee River regions of Florida. These deposits are called the Pinecrest beds after the tiny city of Pinecrest, Florida where they were first described by Axel Olsson in 1964. The Pinecrest is known to

MikeR

MikeR

Prehistoric Planet: The Extinction

---Prologue--- Milky Way Galaxy 25,000 years ago A spiral galaxy, one of the billions of islands of stars moving across the dark matter that is known as the universe, it rotates like a huge galactic wheel, pulling countless stars within its titanic gravitational pull. This particular galaxy is known as the Milky Way, 100,000 light-years across and 1,000 light-years thick. Like a grain of sand pulled by an ocean current, an asteroid races through the galaxy. The asteroid measures nearl

Paleo-shark_hunter

Paleo-shark_hunter

Roadside Hunt

On my way home from work early one sunday morning. I pulled over to check out a road cut this is what I found. I think I found some corals, what do you think?

Ameenah

Ameenah

Prehistoric Planet: A Land Reborn

Inside the sub, the group stares in amazement as they watch the Trilobites and sea scorpions crawl along the sea floor. The sea scorpions appear to be hunting some of the trilobites. They notice a large ship that has come to its final resting place, and engraved on the side "Genesis” A Helicoprion shark slowly swims by the ship. "Hey, isn't that the ship that disappeared in 1999?" asked Jonathan. "Yes, remember Dennis told you where everything disappeared to when they went into the Ber

Paleo-shark_hunter

Paleo-shark_hunter

Prehistoric Planet

Prehistoric Planet, a land lost in time. Multi-millionaire Dennis Cooper has been researching the Bermuda triangle for years, then he finally realizes where the different ships and planes have disappeared to; they have been sent back in time. After years of work, he finally accomplishes his dream, a time portal that leads to the age of Dinosaurs. Cooper has set up base on an island, he calls it, “Prehistoric Planet” but only known to the Public as “Project X”. After years of research, an

Paleo-shark_hunter

Paleo-shark_hunter

The Tuvalian Substage Of The Triassic Hallstatt Limestone In Austria

The Tuvalian Substage Of The Triassic Hallstatt Limestone In Austria Written by Andreas Spatzenegger Dear Fossil Forum members! This report will introduce you to the Tuvalian substage (uppermost Carnian/ Triassic) of the so called Hallstatt limestone in Austria. View above the Hallein-Berchtesgaden Triassic area to the Watzmann and the Hochkalter mountains. The name of this substage was chosen by "Old master" Mojsisovics from the mediaeval name of the hill ridge/salt mine area between the

andreas

andreas

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