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Showing results for tags 'New Jersey'.
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From the album: Cretaceous of Delaware and New Jersey
Exogyra Big Brook, New Jersey -
Hi everyone. I found this Upper Cretaceous shark tooth in Ramanessin Brook near Holmdel, New Jersey on Sunday. It is a little over half an inch wide. It appears different than any of my other Cretaceous teeth from New Jersey. My best guess- the common goblin shark: Scapanorhynchis texanus lower lateral. Most of my other goblin shark teeth (and there's many of them) are anterior and upper laterals. I do have some other lower laterals, but the blades are less slanted and taller. Still, they are the closest in resemblance. Or could it be a different species altogether? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks, and Happy Holidays! Sorry about the poor photo quality.
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- cretaceous
- mattawan group
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Otodus auriculatus Eocene Monmouth county, New Jersey In over 40 years of collecting and researching fossil, this is my finest find from NJ. Personally collected on Jan. 7, 2023.
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- eocene shark
- new jersey
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Took a couple trips to Eocene/Miocene locations in Monmouth County, NJ. Thought I'd share some of my finds. First trip was on 11/17. Was a warm 60 degrees outside! Group shot of my finds. My first find was an erratic fossil from the Devonian with signs of bivalve/brachiopod, crinoid and Pleurodictyum. I also found this separate section of what I assume is a Crinoid stem Several bone pieces. Eagle Ray plate - my first ray plate found in NJ. Some of the shark teeth: Otodus obliquus - First time finding this species Otodus chubutensis - First time finding this species Physogaleus contortus Carcharias sp. Had to do some reconstructive surgery as it fell apart coming home.
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- chubutensis
- crinoids
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Mosasaur Tooth Identification - Navesink Formation (Monmouth County, NJ)
Masonk posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hi All, Last week I found this Mosasaur tooth in one of the Brooks in Monmouth County, NJ (Navesink Formation - Late Cretaceous). While in the brook, a guide from the Monmouth Museum was onsite leading a small group of college students. He identified the tooth as Halisaurus platyspondylus. Had a great conversation with the gentlemen as well, so a nice bonus. Another, more experienced individual contacted me after I posted the tooth on a local FB group. He has several similar teeth, and while not completely disagreeing with Hailisaurus, suggested Prognathodon sp. may possibly be a better fit? It's debatable based on conversations he's had with other's more experienced than him. In any case, I figured there must be several Mosasaur experts on here who may be able to weigh in on the subject. Any opinions/discussion is appreciated. I'm still learning, so this is all helpful to me. Thanks in advance!
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- halisaurus platyspondylus
- late cretaceous
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Those that walk the cretaceous streams of NJ know all too well that late autumn is one of the worst times to hunt the brooks. The water becomes too chilly to sift comfortably and the ever changing gravel bars take on a carpet of leaf litter. I rarely make the hike up to the brooks this time of year, though this weekend my desire to scout a new-to-me stretch of stream got the better of me. Donning a jacket, wading boots, gravel scoops in hand off my Fianceè and I went adventuring. Navigating the brooks can be challenging in the nicest of weather but today presented a particularly muddy challenge as well. We made strong progress hopping into the stream and climbing up onto the banks when obstacles presented themselves, covering about 2 miles of stream. I used the gravel scoop as more of a rake than anything else, moving leaf litter out of the way to scan the gravel beneath. The areas we found with significant gravel banks were noted along the way and pinned on our map for the next collecting season. Finds were average along most of the trip, a dozen small/medium teeth here & there beneath the leaves. It was only towards the last leg of the trip before we turned back did I find an something awesome, an incredibly well preserved Scapanorhynchus texanus anterior - the largest we've come across in NJ. Measuring in at almost 1.8", I was very happy to see it come up after I brushed away the leaves and mud! My Fianceè and I like to play a game around who claims the largest tooth found in our collection. Prior to this, she held the position strong with a 1.56" Scapanorhynchus texanus anterior for a year and a half. With this one under my belt, I'll take the lead! Though who knows for how long Walking back, I closely scanned one of our more well known spots and came away with a small bounty - a small 0.5" crocodile tooth and a tiny 0.25" vert (likely ray/skate) On the way back to the car, we found a rather unfortunate and stark reminder of the impact we can have on wildlife as humans. One can easily imagine how this young buck met his end, caught in a soccer net from who knows where. The skull was in good shape, though left in situ for those who may enjoy collecting modern bones more than I. Finally, I can't leave Monmouth County without a short hop out to Red Bank for some of my favorite ribs! Really hits the spot after spending my energy putzing around the brooks
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- brooks
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I wasn’t expecting much from this weekend adventure, been having a dry spell with the last few hunts and a lot of misses. Gave it the good OL’College try again and oh did it pay off big time with finding not one but 2 teeth in extraordinary condition on back to back days and 2 different epochs vastly separated from each other geographically which is really cool. Time traveling but without the DeLorean! (Front and back photos of the larger tooth) 2 & 5/8 inches from tooth tip to the larger side of the root; which would be about 66 mm.
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- chubutensis
- eocene
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Hello I am new here and looking for some help identifying some pieces. :)
Mike2 posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello, am new here and need some help with these tough identifications. I have been told this is everything from a fish tooth to a mososaur tooth. Any help is much appreciated!
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I was wondering if there are any potential amber-bearing exposures of the Raritan Formation. I understand the Sayreville clay pit site has been sold and is currently under development, and as far as I could find that was the only major location. Would there happen to be any remaining deposits between New York and southern Maryland? Most records seem to originate in the early 1800s-1900s.
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- amber
- new jersey
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To pass some time I've been recently researching early Paleocene life and I keep coming back to researching (in my view) the two strangest and controversial Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene Formations I know of. These are the Hornerstown Formation dating 66.5-65.5 Million Years ago in what is now New Jersey, U.S. And the Takatika Grit Formation dating 66.5-60.0 Million Years ago in what is now the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=0b3baee9ab1afc7973337f5047495b723fcfa4f2 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315461615_The_age_of_the_Takatika_Grit_Chatham_Islands_New_Zealand https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667109000184?via%3Dihub I've read many reports about these formations and the pretty controversial stuff that's been found in both these areas (Paleocene ammonites and reports of archaic marine reptiles like Paleocene Mosasaurs). I'm really not 100% sure what to make of this as I've heard conflicting hypotheses on whether these more archaic marine reptile fossils were reworked from older formations while others say it's not too too likely? https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/maastrichtian-ammonites-from-the-hornerstown-formation-in-new-jersey/4F051D07668B7B893EEFECF0506E2F1B https://bioone.org/journals/acta-palaeontologica-polonica/volume-57/issue-4/app.2011.0068/Short-Term-Survival-of-Ammonites-in-New-Jersey-After-the/10.4202/app.2011.0068.full For most of these "controversial" specimens, I would say reworking is likely while some I'll admit I'm not sure? For the Mosasaurs, it's clear that the astroid impact 66 Million Years ago caused their total extinction, but I'm still not 100% convinced that none emerged from the event alive (at least barely) and swam the seas in the very first days of the Danian Paleocene but not too long after. Unlike the mostly terrestrial Non-Avian Dinosaurs, which could only hide in so many places and it's very unlike more than a tiny amount of individuals (not enough to support a population) made it into the Paleocene, the Oceans have slightly more areas to hide and more even for endothermic air breathing animals like Mosasaurs (though as an endotherm, food does become a major issue especially when the ocean food chain nearly collapsed completely). What I'm wondering is how valid are at least "some" of these supposed archaic marine reptile and ammonite fossils from the earliest Paleocene sections of the Hornerstown Formation and the Takatika Grit? Also, of all the Maastrichtian Mosasaurs known so far, which ones would have been the mostly likely to have (at least briefly) survived the Cretaceous-Paleocene Extinction Event of 66 Million Years ago (would it have been generalist feeders, ones that specialized in deep sea hunting, ones with cosmopolitan distributions, ones small by mosasaur standards but still around the same size of the few confirmed large reptiles that survived the event like the 8 meter (26 feet) in length Thoracosaurus, or ones with all these traits and advantages)? -
This was an interesting find in the NJ Eocene/Miocene streams. Its been ID as an historic horse tooth, though it really looks pretty fossilized. Any other thoughts? Wonder how old it actually may be.
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Hello everyone! Yesterday I got a chance to dig in one of New Jersey's famous Cretaceous streams. Once again I planned out a fossilhunt to coincide with my Son's Marching Band competition at Metlife stadium. I have been doing this the past few years as a way to kill two birds with one stone. My wife and I left our house in New York around 5:15 am and arrived at the stream around 10 am. Since my wife has no desire to climb around a stream getting wet and dirty, she left me for a few hours to go shopping. I will say that I had low expectations for this trip. The past few years I have been finding less in the streams. They have become increasingly popular and get searched very hard. I chose to go to a spot that @frankh8147 took me to a few years ago. He told me that in his experience, it produced more reptile fossils then other areas. Indeed i ended up finding my first small complete Mosasaur tooth there the following year, even though i have been hunting these streams since 2006-7? Though that tooth was much smaller then what would come on this dig. So i started off digging in a particular spot that i happen to like. I found a couple small decent sharkteeth right away. I thought to myself that this was a good sign. Well i dug this particular spot for awhile and all i got was small broken bits off sharkteeth for the next hour. So i started randomly picking new spot to dig and things were not looking good. Absolutely nothing. Then i noticed a small gravel bed that was wedged in between some fallen tree branches. I decided to give it a shot. After a few scoops of gravel in the screen I wasn't finding anything. I almost decided to move on, but I had a nagging feeling that I should stay just a little longer. Then after a couple more scoops I looked down a saw a nice mosasaur tooth! I was very excited as this was alot bigger than the first one I found. It has a little tip, and cutting edge damage as well as some missing enamel but from the teeth that I have seen come out of these streams, I am happy with it. After this I decided to dig in this spot longer. I found what I believe to be a beat up crocodile tooth as well as a chunk of rock with gastropod impressions and molds. After this things went dead. I moved around checking other gravel beds and didn't find a scrap of anything except bits of belemnites. I guess this goes to show that even when you think everything has been picked over, sometimes perseverance pays off. Here are some pics
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- cretaceous
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I found this after a tropical storm (Ophelia) in Stone Harbor, NJ. Is this modern or fossil?
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I remember reading once that the first dinosaur skeleton to have been found in North America was Hadrosaurus. I didn’t know until reading today that it was found in New Jersey. Hadrosaurus foulkii was found in 1858 on someone’s property at the time. Thanks to the brilliant work of an Eagle Scout and later, a fourth grade class, the site was rediscovered and memorialized and the dinosaur became NJ’s state dinosaur! The memorial is just up a short ravine from the supposed dig site. This was a fascinating read and something I didn’t really know much about beforehand, but I’m curious about something. Unlike so many historical paleontological sites on the east coast, and frankly many modern sites too, this site is actually preserved and accessible. It’s not on private land, and it hasn’t been developed over. It’s part of a park, so people probably can’t hunt there, but scientists probably could get permission. How come this site and others like it haven’t drawn interest from paleontologists modern-day? Dinosaur-bearing exposures are so rare here on the east coast. How come nobody has bothered to come back and see if there is anything left of the dinosaur weathering out (the skeleton was not 100% complete), or if any other significant fossils are to be found? Was it truly a one-and-done exposure, or is it worth investigating further? I suppose one possible answer is that it could be a fully marine deposit? In that case unassociated dinosaur material is exceedingly rare, let alone finding a whole skeleton. Even still, the site would then be similar to Big Brook. You would think the area would draw similar interest. Just a random thought today.
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- dinosaur
- hadrosaurus
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Found in New Jersey on the beach. It is hard and about 9-10 cm long. I thought it looked like fossilized coral but I'm not sure.
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Found this at Hop Brook in Holmdel, NJ. Any ideas?
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- big brook nj
- new jersey
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Folks from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Did You Have Any Good Fossil Hunting Trips This Past Summer?
Suchascenicworld posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hey everyone, I live in Southern New Jersey and while I usually spend several days fossil hunting, I unfortunately, did not make it out (yet!). I usually go to Big Brook, and hopefully I will make it there in September. In the meantime, how was everyone else's summer in regards to fossil hunting? Any interesting trips or finds? Hopefully your experiences can encourage me to get out there quicker! :-) -
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Paleocene Starfish Ossicles from the Vincentown Formation, N.J.
Jeffrey P posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Tertiary
Goniaster mammilata Starfish Ossicles 1/4 inch Paleocene Vincentown Formation Rancocas Creek Vincentown, N.J. A gift from HistorianMichael- 1 comment
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- new jersey
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Paleocene Regular Echinoid from the Vincentown Formation, N.J. IMG_9382
Jeffrey P posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Tertiary
Selenia tumidula Salenioid Echinoid (Regular) 1/2 inch across Paleocene Vincentown Formation Rancocas Creek Vincentown, N.J.-
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- echinoids
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Hello, I found this interesting fossil fragment with what looks like serrations at Big Brooks a few days ago and was wondering if anyone could help Id it.
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Hi! My daughter and I found this while we were collecting shells on the jersey shore this past weekend - Aug 6, 2024. I’ve never found anything this cool at the beach! It was washing up on shore during high tide. We were at Avon-by-the-Sea. Let me know if more photos would be helpful.
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- jawbone
- jerseyshore
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I found these while hunting at a land site in Monmouth county. I usually search on the high regions of the banks of a man made lake, and have found Cretaceous fossils like oyster fragments, Belemnite, brachiopods, and even 1 shark tooth. But today I came across a few of these shells that were only present in this one area. I walked along the entire lake and found nothing else like these. The lake itself does not seem like a suitable habitat capable of supporting snails of this magnitude. This site is also not near the ocean. If anyone has any info or guesses as to if these are fossils or modern, or how they might have gotten here, please let me know. Thanks! FullSizeRender.mov
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Hey everyone. I found this piece of bone at a late Cretaceous stream in New Jersey. I am hopeful this specimen, though incomplete could be identifiable. I've showed it to several experts and dinosaur seems to be the overall consensus so far. Some people I showed it to believe it is most likely theropod but others are skeptical. I'd love to hear more opinions on this specimen. Thank you in advance!
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I could use some help in identifying this very small shark tooth I found in a brook in Monmouth County, NJ. I am thinking that it could be an anterior tooth from a baby Goblin shark (Scapanorhynchus) because of the deep nutrient groove and the slight curvature of the tooth. However, it's very skinny with a very long root and the striations do not appear to continue onto the root. It stands out from the many Goblin Shark teeth I found so far, and I am not 100% sure what it is. Perhaps it's a small symphyseal tooth from a goblin shark? I am still learning to properly ID these things and could use confirmation from someone who is better at it. Thank you in advance.
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New Jersey - Big Brook - Higbee Beach Loop Trail - Elsewhere?
Toothie posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello, My work is sending me to New Jersey towards late September. This might be a once in a lifetime search, so I want to make the most of it and I'm hoping my fellow members can help. I did some research and wanted to know your thoughts on these places: Big Brook - I love searching for any fossils, but I really want to find a Crow Shark Tooth. I know I'm limited to the number of teeth I can find here. Would this be a good place to search? I know Septmeber isn't ideal, but this is the only time I can get out here. Does the tide vary greaty each day or is it fairly consistent? I've never found a Native American point and I don't care if I can't keep it, I just want to take in-situ photos of them. I've literally been dreaming about finding them a couple of times a week for the past several months. I read that Higbee Beach Loop Trail might be good for that, but again, I'm not sure if September is good. I only have 2, maybe 3 days to search, depending on what my fellow forum brothers and sisters tell me. Any other places that are better than these? Should I avoid these areas? Any help is truly appreciated. I'm not asking for any honey holes or private spots, even though people have shown me places in other states and I've kept those secret for years and I will never tell. Just friendly advice is truly appreciated. I'm going to Maryland too, but I'm all set there. Have a wonderful day!
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