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Dear members, here I want to present my latest hunting trip, in the south east of France. This region has been known for decades to geologists for the vas amount of outcrops of Cretaceous age. In fact, there's even a GSSP and a stratotype section. Since most of these areas are protected, I checked where I could collect fossils freely. A famous spot for collectors is Carniol, located 125 km (77 mi) north of Marseille. Here, Aptian (Early Cretaceous) clays crop out and fossils can be easily collected by hand or with a small tool. A view of the outcrop: Fossils are extremely abundant. You don't need to excavate, you can easily pick those exposed on the surface. Because of these, many are too fragmented or fragile, but there's no shortage of well preserved specimen! Ammonoids are the most common specimens. I have not been able to ID them yet, because of the lack of specific papers on Carniol. Here's two of the largest and best preserved specimen that I found: Belemnites are extremely common as well, but complete specimens much more rare. Here's a complete specimen: And here a large one! And now, all my finds together: you can see ammonoids, belemnites, gastropods and bivalves. The best-preserved fossils after a cleaning process: Finally, I'm not sure about these: Here's all! I sincerely hope that you enjoyed my post. I'd love to hear your comments and hopefully IDs. Besides, if you have any reading suggestion, they are more than welcome. Thanks, Fabio

The fall hunting season has arrived in Alaska and I had an epic trip last week through the 40 Mile River country and on to the north slope of the Brooks Range. This will be a multiple post picture essay as the pictures show better than words what Alaska has to offer when the weather is nice. The first picture shows where I ended up for several days between the Saddlerochit Mountains to the north and the pictured Shublik Mountains to the south. This was a hunting trip that turned more into a camping trip with a rifle and then paleo adventure as I started to recognize the unique geologic features which are very evident from the air with little cover vegetation. Upon returning home researched where I was and this location has one of the best exposures of Middle Jurassic rocks in northern Alaska. I was camped 7 miles from the Ignek Mesa and hiked in the area several days without seeing a single person. This is the Katakturuk River that cuts through the Saddleochit Mountains and demonstrates that there must have been a slow uplift of the mountain as the mountains are over 5,000' in elevation on either side of the river cut. To the north is the Arctic Ocean about 30 miles from the picture. First advice for going with a pack dog is don't put anything you want to keep dry in the dog pack. The weather was really warm for the arctic and Kobuk was in every creek to his belly even if it meant he had to lay down. This exposure is Early Bajocian and assigned Kignak Shale. I want to be abundantly clear this was a catch and release trip as NO collecting is allowed without a permit in all the areas I travel this trip. ALL pictured fossils were left laying where they were sighted with these being on the top of this shale. Heading back to camp after the first day of hiking. The following day we got up early and went over to the head of the valley by a mesa and saw beautiful scenery and a few more fossils as well as the first sheep tracks of the trip. We came a cross several caribou each day and they all still had velvet on their antlers. This was the first evidence of a fossil I saw on this hike and stopped looking for sheep and more at the geology. Within 20 feet saw an amazing sight and it was a wonder I saw it at all due to how small it was. The ammonite is .8 centimetres in diameter and my eye caught the mold with ammonite right beside it. These belemnite pieces were farther up the hill. These tracks are from Dall sheep which had been in the area recently which was interesting as this hill was just that not steep at all. Unfortunately here is one of the two sheep I saw on that hill. Both were winter kill and likely due to the warm winters we have been having with deep snow and thaw/freeze cycles. The sheep starve as not able to paw through more than 30 cm of accumulated snow. If the snow crusts from melting and then freezes the wind does not clear the snow and the sheep starve. The fossils were all within arms reach of these sheep bones. Kobuk in a recently occupied sheep bed. This was seen on the hike back down the hill. Interesting concretions of this formation. Similar fossils from farther down the valley from the previous days hike. I saw this fossil and suspect it may be crinoids but are new to me so not sure. Shows where the Jurassic age ammonite was seen.

Prehistoric fossils discovered in Gia Lai (Vietnam) Suspected 200-million-year-old ammonite fossilsappear in Vietnam's Central Highlands Yours, Paul H.

I spent a good part of several mornings in the past three weekends doing a honeydew project, repairing our rock wall. (It got too hot in the afternoons). Here is the reason for the project. The problem... the wall is falling apart, and it contains no fossils, as seen above. I had to look up how to do this on the interwebs. But it was pretty simple in the end. Below is a piece of Dungenanoceras from just down the road. (OK, about an hour and half down the road). below, a piece of rock from Oklahoma with a trilobite tail and a brachiopod. To the right, a local baculite in matrix. Below, a local beryl crystal in matrix, a piece of Blue Forest wood (western Wyoming), another local ammonite (Prionocyclus) and a marble my wife found. She was weeding the garden while I worked on the wall. The cornerstone is a pretty nice ammonite from France. To prove that I am no professional, I made no effort to fix the lid on this portion. Thanks for looking.

Hi I've been gifted a plate with different ammonites in it. As it comes from a second hand store, there's no record for provenance,age and all other infos. I'd appreciate any help with the identification. Thanks Back of plate:

Summer vacation fossil hunting week. Like each summer Natalie and I spend 1 week of our holiday for a fossil hunting trip. Usually the destination for this is the Isle of Wight, but due to the current covid situations we had to choose another location. So we went for 1 week to the French coast altering between late Cretaceous and Jurassic deposits.. Although there were no big tide or storms we still got our fair share of fossils in the boulders on the beaches and we even had a few spots of gault clay exposed where we found some nice phosphate ammonites and crustaceans. I’ll let you all enjoy the holiday pictures: Natalie found this exqusite little lobster in situ on the beach on the 1st day: ( Hoploparia longimana, Albian ( Gault clay ) ) soon joined by another specimen. Ichthyosaur vert from the Kimmeridgian: more beach: jurassic ripplemarks: Chalky ammonites in the loose boulders: Mantelliceras sp. : lower Cenomanian Cunningtoniceras inerme Mid. Cenomanian And a large one found by a local collector that we got to take back home ( Thx a lot Luc ) ( Lewesiceras peramplum, Turonian ) And a few pieces after cleanup and prepwork: Albian Ammonites from the gault clay: Gault clay crabs: a few of the chalky ammonites: a nice rare heteromorph: Turrilites scheuchzerianus mid. Cenomanian before and after prep:

McNamara, K., 1987-1988. Australian Ammonites. Australian Natural History. 22(7), Summer 1987-88, pp. 332-336. Index and PDF links to Australian Natural History (1962-1995) Yours, Paul H.

So for the last two and a half weeks I’ve been camping in the Ardèche region in southern France. After a long, exhausting trip of 13 hours we finally arrived. We put up the tent, read a book and went to sleep so we would be fit for our first real day of our vacation. At the first day, we did visit the museum I showed in this topic: After that, the real work started. This big pile of rock was just dumped at the edge of the road. After a few minutes we found our first complete ammonite. Spot the ammonite The whole region is filled with these small piles of rocks, so as long as you just keep walking, you’ll find them… The region itself is beautiful too. Anyway, except two beautiful little ammonites, the first day didn’t really work out. The next day I walked a little further from the camping (like little as in 10km). Totally worth it! I found an amazing spot were marls eroded away and just left tiny ammonites. When I found them I immediately thought of an old topic by @Max-fossils who went to Carniol some time ago. At first, I thought it was identical, except this spot was a lot smaller, not as rich and with a couple of different species. I think I spent about 40 hours at this spot, and I think I found about 150 tiny ammonites, from at least 8-9 different species (but I’m far from an ammonite expert). I think these are lower Cretaceous, but I am not sure on a more precise date. How most of the place looks. Covered with tiny ammonites that resurface after heavy rains (which occurred three times during my stay, so I could keep searching at the same spot) The spot, kind a steep wall (me for scale). Anyways, time for some of the finds (my good camera broke down so I do this with my phone): I think these are Aconeceras nisus, the most common species.

I made a trip to the Lake Texoma area yesterday, to hunt a Duck Creek outcropping on a bluff. This was one of those trips that turned into more of an adventure than I bargained for. The hike from where I had to park was a lot longer and more arduous than I anticipated (it always looks easy on a satellite image, doesn't it?), and it ended up being one of those situations where I just couldn't come back the way I went in. So, I ended up getting lost, and hiking a much further distance on the return, with a heavy backpack. I should have taken a moment to mark on gps where I parked the van, and didn't do it. I won't make that mistake again. Even when you don't have wifi or cell coverage (and I didn't), gps works, and I'll use it better from now on. I wouldn't have been able to make anything close to a straight line hike back to the van, but would have done a lot better than I did. When you end up making an unexpectedly long hike with a heavy backpack on a humid ninety something degree day in July in Oklahoma, you run out of water. That iced tea in my lunch ice chest in the van was very welcome when I finally got back to it. This is a great fossil hunting spot, but I think I'm putting it on my list of spots for milder weather times of the year. Once I reached the bluff, I couldn't believe how many large ammonite fragments there were. Every five steps I took, I saw another, and took over thirty photos in short order. Here are a few representative photos. Keep in mind that chisel is 12 inches (30 cm) long.

Hello everyone! Been some time away from hunting as business consumes now most of my free time. Anyway, around May, I stopped at a small river that I saw while returning from another hunt. I found some stuff including a big Inoceramus (Thx @caterpillar for helping with ID) The place look promising but I could not find further publication or information about that. Searching for geologic maps, I found this site: http://www.geokniga.org/maps and thanks to this and the now known age of Inoceramus, I managed to pin point on map the formation. I searched only within the red area marked. The formation is called Sumer formation (U pronounced as Sumerian, not summer) and its age is Middle Aptian to Albian. On the site, there is another formation of Neogene age, hardly accesible for most of its part. The whole place is absolutely beautiful, you can see pelicans, various species of butterflies and some trouts if you observe in the water. The formation is very big and can be divided in 4 parts. 1st and biggest part is NE of the highway. This part is harder to access as you need to cross the river from the point where it is much deeper, and as it seems on this picture, there is no place where you can prospect. 2nd part is a small strip on the shore of the river and the rest of the formation is under the water. You can see it here. On this point I found the big Inoceramus. 3rd part, you need to walk through the shallow point of the river and you end up again in a small shore with lenght 80-100m. 4th part are the rest areas marked on the map as smK, either not accesible without hiking, or within private properties or just not yet seen by me. So far, I have visited this formation 3 times. My finds: Inoceramus as whole, partial imprints and fragments of shell. Ammonites, yet not identified as there is not a single piece of info for this place. Part of heteromorph ammonite, sadly poorly preserved to collect. Here is the heteromorph, or at least parts of it and the other one I have no idea of spieces. Another unidentified ammo here and next one And here is another (?) Inoceramus I think. The formation has a satisfying yield of fossils, howver most of them are poorly preservated. The sediments are very loose and extremely fragile. Moreover, all fossils from this location are hard to photograph, I guess not enough contrast. The last pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 750D, with settings for micro inside a photobox, however I found it very difficult to properly show the fossils. Made some corrections with photoshop, yet not enough. Time permitting, I will soon visit another place 30Kms SE hoping to find some heteromorps. Again spotted while driving, https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1386022,23.702122,3a,75y,277.03h,90.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6awrmLsDC72sWJHf8NfdyQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Map says Aptian-Albian, Campanian-Maastrichtian Hope you enjoy, any tips for the camera would be appreciated!

My wife, dogs and I got out recently to camp overnight and hike in the Talkeetna Mountains. Still very cool for this time of year at 40 degrees in the late morning upon arriving with frost the next morning. The cool weather made for nice hiking weather and we put some miles in on caribou trails and ridges. At one point I checked out a gully with Cynthia staying up high where she collected two hands full of belamite pieces retaining two of the end pieces. I took pictures of the ammonites I saw in a 1/2 hour side hill jaunt returning to camp at our plane with 7.5 miles covered. I have been studying ammonite anatomy and nomenclature so getting closer to be able to make educated guesses as to what I have been seeing. I believe this area is in Member 3 of the Matanuska Formation probably the Pachydiscus kamishakensis zone per the reference recommended by FossilDAWG. I have several ammonites with the umbilcus cleaned out which will help with identification. A new one to me is ribbed, evolute and unfortunatly broken. Most of what I have been seeing are partially evolute or convolute if I am using the terms correctly, some being fairly large. Will post one picuture of a partially prepared one that I am going to make a grade school guess is from the genus Pachydiscus or Psendophyllites and when fully prepped will post better pictures to help identify. All of this is new to me so enjoying the education very much. Reeeealy steep terrain I did not go out on the hard consolidated areas as poor grip with my boots. Breath taking view and also don't slip here. Belemnites deposit are above the ammonites Orca our stylish Boston Terrier Partially prepared ammonoid with an intact umbilcus

Hello. I’m new here, and apologize if I’m breaching etiquette. I have an 11 yr old who lost his beloved fossil collection in the Camp Fire. We had a difficult escape, and also lost some pets. I mention this because my son has been slowly navigating life and PTSD the past year and a half, and has only recently begun showing interest in rebuilding his collection and returning tentatively to the activities he loved. We have hunted at some coastal areas, such as Scotia, Centerville beach, Moonstone beach. Also, pit 5 of the Pit River, and shark teeth in Bakersfield. Embarrassingly, I have been unable to locate exposed and accessible areas of the Chico Fm. We have gone to a few areas of Bidwell park, suggested by park employees, we have had no luck. This is the first area my kid has shown interest in again, and its really helped to pull him out of a difficult time. I have also been told there were some fossils, including ammonites, in an area near the north fork of Cottonwood Creek. Any information shared regarding these areas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The Anisian (Middle Triassic) ammonite faunas of Nevada have long been known to provide the most complete sequence for this stage in the world, with many genera such as Gymnotoceras, Frechites, and Nevadites being represented in abundance at classic sites such as Fossil Hill in the Humboldt Range. Here I will illustrate three less common to rare forms that are also present in Middle Anisian strata in Nevada. Unionvillites hadleyi (Smith) Provenance: Humboldt Range, Congress Canyon near Unionville Age: Middle Anisian, Hyatti Zone, Hadleyi Subzone A well-preserved specimen showing the braided keel. Reference: Bucher, H., "Ammonoids of the Hyatti Zone and the Anisian Transgression in the Triassic Star Peak Group, Northwestern Nevada, USA" (Palaeontographica 223, pp. 137-166, Stuttgart, 1992). This keeled, tuberculate form has been reported from a few localities in the Humboldt Range. Semibeyrichites sp. Provenance: Humboldt Range, Big Canyon north of Unionville Age: Middle Anisian, Hyatti Zone, Mctaggarti Subzone Reference: Bucher (1992) above. Bucher reported two specimens from the Humboldt Range as the first occurrence of this genus in the western hemisphere. This specimen was found very close to Bucher's locality. Chiratites bituberculatus Monnet and Bucher Provenance: south of Favret Canyon, Augusta Mountains Age: Middle Anisian, Shoshonensis Zone, Mojsvari Subzone Reference: Monnet, C. and Bucher, H., New Middle and Late Anisian (Middle Triassic) ammonoid faunas from northwestern Nevada (USA): taxonomy and biochronology (Fossils and Strata, 52, 2005). Monnet and Bucher proposed this species on the basis of a single specimen from the Augusta Mountains. I have since discovered about six specimens at another nearby locality.

Well my daughter and I have been hard at work hunting we got into it after her birthday and had a tiny bit of success at the beach but found a much better area to dig in the nanaimo group strata. I got "west coast fossils" the book so we could figure out what we were finding and finally these last few outings we are finding some great stuff! My only sadness is I found this huge bivalve but I dont think there is anyway to get it out without damaging it! Lifted a large 5" 2x3' slab off the top of this larger rock and we found this which was pretty awesome first large fossil we have found

Went to Folkestone (Early Cretaceous, Albian) for the second time a couple of weeks ago. Last time I mostly climbed among the big rocks looking in the gaps for fossils but this time due to some poor navigating we accessed the beach from the opposite end this time around. This turned out well though as this stretch of beach has few of those big rocks but good access to the cliffs and slumps. We ended up spending most of the trip picking through the cliff base and fresh fall. This produced some nice ammonites, though it was still difficult to find whole ammonites as is the case with this location. We also found some nice gastropods well preserved, though very delicate, in the clay, as well as belemnites, bivalves and lots of ammonite fragments. My favourite find is the Eutrephoceras clementinum nautilus as I believe they are fairly rare and the colours on it are great. Also the Euhoplites proboscideus is a lovely shade and nicely detailed (Good find boyfriend). ID's are somewhat tentative so if you have any suggestions I'd be grateful. ??

I am going to make the jump and get some prepping tools and looking for recommendations for quality air scribe or scribes from reading the posts believe 2 scribes are needed. My intended use will be to clean out the matrix left in the center whorl of ammonites I have found or future finds as well as bulk removal of matrix to tidy up around the edges to make presentable. I have the support equipment in my shop where I work on one of my other hobbies, building and maintenance of my airplanes. Have attached a couple of pictures of finds from previous trips to give an idea of what I will be working on and hope to get back in the mountains soon as the snow melts.

I've been attempting to identify some ammonites I've found, yet they are incomplete, making it quite difficult. I have found a very useful app that had narrowed it down to the most likely few based on location, so I'll attach that, as it could help. They all look so similar . They were found in Northamptonshire, UK. Scale is in centimetres. Thanks.

The back end of our vacation plans got blown out of the water by covid19 so we are making some adjustments. Currently we are slated to be at Theissen quarry in OK in late June. Any chance the water at Lake Texoma is low enough to make it worth the ride? Or any other suggestions in that general region? I am heading east/northeast for home in PA after.

Anyone familiar with Texoma Lake in Texas and Oklahoma? There’s a ton of ammonites there I heard but where specifically? It says Eisenhower Park and a dam area. Are there still plenty there or are these areas depleted? I went to Ladonia Fossil Park Friday and was disappointed by not finding much

Some of you may have seen my ammonite donation. If not and you are curious it is linked here: It is an important player in this trip. Anyway I thought I might describe my first trip to this locality and why you might realize it is a little more rare than the normal finds there. Some of this is part of a poster for the now cancelled Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America so if I ever do get to put my poster online I will post a link here so you guys can look at it too. For now here is a trip report.