Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Tx'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
    Tags should be keywords or key phrases. e.g. otodus, megalodon, shark tooth, miocene, bone valley formation, usa, florida.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Fossil Discussion
    • Fossil ID
    • Fossil Hunting Trips
    • General Fossil Discussion
    • Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
    • Fossil of the Month
    • Questions & Answers
    • Member Collections
    • A Trip to the Museum
    • Paleo Re-creations
    • Collecting Gear
    • Fossil Preparation
    • Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
    • Member-to-Member Fossil Trades
    • Fossil News
  • Community News
    • Member Introductions
    • Member of the Month
    • Members' News & Diversions
  • General Category
    • Rocks & Minerals
    • Geology

Categories

  • Annelids
  • Arthropods
    • Crustaceans
    • Insects
    • Trilobites
    • Other Arthropods
  • Brachiopods
  • Cnidarians (Corals, Jellyfish, Conulariids )
    • Corals
    • Jellyfish, Conulariids, etc.
  • Echinoderms
    • Crinoids & Blastoids
    • Echinoids
    • Other Echinoderms
    • Starfish and Brittlestars
  • Forams
  • Graptolites
  • Molluscs
    • Bivalves
    • Cephalopods (Ammonites, Belemnites, Nautiloids)
    • Gastropods
    • Other Molluscs
  • Sponges
  • Bryozoans
  • Other Invertebrates
  • Ichnofossils
  • Plants
  • Chordata
    • Amphibians & Reptiles
    • Birds
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fishes
    • Mammals
    • Sharks & Rays
    • Other Chordates
  • *Pseudofossils ( Inorganic objects , markings, or impressions that resemble fossils.)

Blogs

  • Anson's Blog
  • Mudding Around
  • Nicholas' Blog
  • dinosaur50's Blog
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • Seldom's Blog
  • tracer's tidbits
  • Sacredsin's Blog
  • fossilfacetheprospector's Blog
  • jax world
  • echinoman's Blog
  • Ammonoidea
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • Adventures with a Paddle
  • Caveat emptor
  • -------
  • Fig Rocks' Blog
  • placoderms
  • mosasaurs
  • ozzyrules244's Blog
  • Terry Dactyll's Blog
  • Sir Knightia's Blog
  • MaHa's Blog
  • shakinchevy2008's Blog
  • Stratio's Blog
  • ROOKMANDON's Blog
  • Phoenixflood's Blog
  • Brett Breakin' Rocks' Blog
  • Seattleguy's Blog
  • jkfoam's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • marksfossils' Blog
  • ibanda89's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Lindsey's Blog
  • Back of Beyond
  • Ameenah's Blog
  • St. Johns River Shark Teeth/Florida
  • gordon's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • Pennsylvania Perspectives
  • michigantim's Blog
  • michigantim's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • GPeach129's Blog
  • Olenellus' Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • bear-dog's Blog
  • javidal's Blog
  • Digging America
  • John Sun's Blog
  • John Sun's Blog
  • Ravsiden's Blog
  • Jurassic park
  • The Hunt for Fossils
  • The Fury's Grand Blog
  • julie's ??
  • Hunt'n 'odonts!
  • falcondob's Blog
  • Monkeyfuss' Blog
  • cyndy's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • nola's Blog
  • mercyrcfans88's Blog
  • Emily's PRI Adventure
  • trilobite guy's Blog
  • barnes' Blog
  • xenacanthus' Blog
  • myfossiltrips.blogspot.com
  • HeritageFossils' Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • maybe a nest fossil?
  • farfarawy's Blog
  • Microfossil Mania!
  • blogs_blog_99
  • Southern Comfort
  • Emily's MotE Adventure
  • Eli's Blog
  • andreas' Blog
  • Recent Collecting Trips
  • retired blog
  • andreas' Blog test
  • fossilman7's Blog
  • Piranha Blog
  • xonenine's blog
  • xonenine's Blog
  • Fossil collecting and SAFETY
  • Detrius
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Kehbe's Kwips
  • RomanK's Blog
  • Prehistoric Planet Trilogy
  • mikeymig's Blog
  • Western NY Explorer's Blog
  • Regg Cato's Blog
  • VisionXray23's Blog
  • Carcharodontosaurus' Blog
  • What is the largest dragonfly fossil? What are the top contenders?
  • Test Blog
  • jsnrice's blog
  • Lise MacFadden's Poetry Blog
  • BluffCountryFossils Adventure Blog
  • meadow's Blog
  • Makeing The Unlikley Happen
  • KansasFossilHunter's Blog
  • DarrenElliot's Blog
  • Hihimanu Hale
  • jesus' Blog
  • A Mesozoic Mosaic
  • Dinosaur comic
  • Zookeeperfossils
  • Cameronballislife31's Blog
  • My Blog
  • TomKoss' Blog
  • A guide to calcanea and astragali
  • Group Blog Test
  • Paleo Rantings of a Blockhead
  • Dead Dino is Art
  • The Amber Blog
  • Stocksdale's Blog
  • PaleoWilliam's Blog
  • TyrannosaurusRex's Facts
  • The Community Post
  • The Paleo-Tourist
  • Lyndon D Agate Johnson's Blog
  • BRobinson7's Blog
  • Eastern NC Trip Reports
  • Toofuntahh's Blog
  • Pterodactyl's Blog
  • A Beginner's Foray into Fossiling
  • Micropaleontology blog
  • Pondering on Dinosaurs
  • Fossil Preparation Blog
  • On Dinosaurs and Media
  • cheney416's fossil story
  • jpc
  • A Novice Geologist
  • Red-Headed Red-Neck Rock-Hound w/ My Trusty HellHound Cerberus
  • Red Headed
  • Paleo-Profiles
  • Walt's Blog
  • Between A Rock And A Hard Place
  • Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
  • Prognathodon saturator 101
  • Books I have enjoyed
  • Ladonia Texas Fossil Park
  • Trip Reports
  • Glendive Montana dinosaur bone Hell’s Creek
  • Test
  • Stratigraphic Succession of Chesapecten

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

  1. Rockwood

    Bone ?

    I picked this up in the back yard here in Cleburne, TX. Racoons unearth small stones digging for grubs. Oysters and rudist fragments common in the soil here, but my intent was to spare insult to the mower blade. Something about it suggests bone to me. Could this be a thin walled bone that is barely preserved?
  2. historianmichael

    Duck Creek Formation Shark Tooth

    Over the weekend I found this tiny (~3mm) shark tooth on a loose rock at a site exposing the Duck Creek Formation (and maybe the overlying Fort Worth Limestone). I have tried to match it with the teeth in The Collector's Guide to Fossil Sharks and Rays From the Cretaceous of Texas but the closest I have been able to get is Squalicorax sp. and even that doesn't seem to quite match and the book states that Squalicorax in the Texas Albian have only been found in the Weno and Pawpaw Formations. Unfortunately it only seems like the blade of the tooth is preserved as there is a bit of a lip where the blade hits matrix. I haven't attempted to prep it yet so there could be root there, but I doubt it. Does anyone have any thoughts on what shark this tooth might be from? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  3. JHO708

    Lower Brazos River finds

    Hi - any help identifying these specimens would help. Found on lower Brazos River in Fort Bend County, TX. Thanks - JHO708
  4. bockryan

    Mortoniceras sp.

    From the album: Fossil Collection: DC Area and Beyond

    Mortoniceras sp. Tarrant County, TX Fort Worth Formation Early Cretaceous
  5. Hey all! It's good to be back and writing a trip report again - I've certainly been busy this summer. As some of you may recall, my step brother and I found a basal mosasaur in September of 2021. I haven't spoken much about it publicly, but rest assured it hasn't been forgotten! Research and preparation of the specimen is reaching a fever pitch this summer, both of which I'm happy to say I'm actively involved in. The reason for the silence has been to avoid leaking details that might scoop our paper. However... This year at A&M I'm participating in a grant for science communication, and because of this I have permission to show a little more about our animal now, since it's research is the subject of my internship with SMU right now. So! What's been happening with the mosasaur since the last trip report of it (below)? Here is the very abbreviated continuation... January 2022: On a whim, I decided to return to the site - just in case we missed anything. It felt almost foolish to hope for more, considering we already had a significant amount of skull material and a few verts. I came in with no expectations. I did not take long to see more of the animal. I started working several feet away from the pit we had dug, with the idea to work inwards, but instead almost immediately found the terminal vertebrae of the tail.... in near perfect articulation Below: Four vertebrae with haemal arches locked together (several are shrouded by a white layer of paraloid b-72) Realizing what I had, I strenuously chopped a trench out around the block with three chisels and a rock hammer, then somehow lifted the entire thing and walked back the distance to my car. Here it sat below: One year later, these terminal verts were prepped. I think they are spectacular. Let's zoom back to the moment though... I realized we now had both ends of the animal - the back of the skull from September, and the end of the tail from today. Where was the middle? I called Christian (my step brother) and let him know what I found, telling him that we had to attack the site together again to see what more there could be. The following weekend we did just that, expanding our pit until eventually were were met with this sight: This was huge, and we realized we had potential for the entire animal being buried here now. I called up the researchers at SMU i had just connected with, and was instructed to glue the block back into place until a more formal excavation could carry out. Months pass. Multiple attempts at resuming the excavation professionally are made, each falling flat due to unlucky weather or last minute personal commitments. This string of bad luck continued until one day in October... October 2022 Realizing we might not reach years end with an excavation, the folks at SMU suggested I borrow some power tools for the weekend and conduct one on our own. Christian unfortunately couldn't make it, since he had just moved to Washington. Despite his absence, I constructed the best team I could think of.. @JohnJ, @LSCHNELLE, and my dad. For an entire day we happily slaved. I took absolute loads of photos and videos, to avoid the same configuration confusions the SMU folks and I have encountered already. John's experience is the stuff of folk legends, and he has performed many excavations on his own finds before, while Lee practically has Eagle Ford shale running through his veins. Their presence proved to be invaluable and I will never be able to thank them enough. It was an epic hail-mary to undertake in a single day, but we finally extracted the bulk of the animal in several large blocks. I still can't share photos of diagnostic bones, but here are some images from the day below: From left: My dad, John, and I making a trench. Below: An unusual symphyseal ptychodus tooth found while trenching: As the day neared an end, our pace picked up - we were on a serious time crunch and had to make it out of the site soon. With 30 minutes to spare, we all together lifted one of the final slabs and were met with a sight that can hardly be described with words... Lying before us was a pair of dentaries, in amazing condition apart from where the slab split them. Fortunately, the damage is not irreversible - the part and counter-part fit back together absolutely perfectly. Part and counter-part, below: The site, after the end of a long day. Four exhausted, fulfilled men walked away from here. Fast forward to this spring, were I got accepted in a science communication grant program, allowing me to take the research of this mosasaur to new levels with my mentor at SMU. By the end of the summer, we strive to have an abstract for our paper. The work is building to a breakneck pace, but I love and it's what I hoped for... until next time!
  6. TVMoD

    Newbie

    Texas Hill Country; can anyone identify? small tusk like inclusions in this stone. thanks in advance.
  7. Jared C

    Unidentified fish fin

    From the album: Texas Cenomanian (Cretaceous)

    Unidentified fish fin Cenomanian Texas
  8. Jared C

    Ptychodus decurrens

    From the album: Texas Cenomanian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus decurrens Cenomanian Texas My first (and perhaps still my only) P. decurrens find
  9. Hi all, it's been a minute since I've written a report and I think I'm due To start: This last January I got to be a part of two special discoveries in the marine reptile realm. Though not made directly by me, I'm still glad I got to be there. I'll detail them below: Early January: Last summer, I spent two weeks in North Dakota on the Hell Creek formation, and made some lifelong friends. Two of them (Harry and Piper) arranged a trip down from North Dakota and Florida, respectively, upon the discovery of cheap flight tickets, with the intent of catching up and taking a tour of the Texas Cretaceous. Our weekend was spent well - many laughs, drinks, mishaps (like my catalytic converter getting stolen ), long drives admiring the city lights in my parent's car that they graciously lended me for the remainder of the weekend, and of course....plenty of fossils. The first day was spent gravel hunting - not much came to show from it save for a well preserved (for these creeks) mosasaur vertebra. I was of course very happy to see this, as verts in this watershed are a rarity. The next two days were devoted to the Eagle Ford - one site being a bust on stuff that's worth flying down for - but the next site which we attacked on Sunday produced the best find of the trip. This site is my "if we get skunked, it's our last resort" site - there's always something wonderful to be seen there, and when you have a site like that in your back pocket, it's not something to pillage - best kept for special occasions like this! My hope was that I could get Piper and Harry hooked on some beautifully preserved Cretoxyrhina and Ptychodus, and, if we were lucky.... a Pliosaur tooth. What Piper actually ended up finding was so rare it wasn't even one of my list of realistic goals for seeing that day... We arrived at the site, and while I tried to isolate the elusive fossiliferous layer, I put them on some sections that still had some promise. For both of them, all of their prior field experience is in the North Dakota badlands - so even the act of tapping actual rock and flipping slabs made for an enjoyable and novel approach. After 20 minutes or so, I eventually found the sweet spot - that thin, ephemeral, densely packed layer was underwater. Making a huge mess (mud and water everywhere ), I pulled out some great slabs and passed them out to be picked at, and then picking at some of my own. Here's a fun selection of finds prior to "the big one" Above: Cretoxyrhina mantelli tooth from Piper in the less rich layers. She found this nearly immediately! A gorgeous Ptychodus occidentalis that I was happy to see A Protosphyraena sp. I was happy to see as well. Largely complete teeth from this taxon are not too common for me. a PERFECT Squalicorax falcatus. It may be a common shark, but I love finding a beacon that can just define an entire species in my collection. I have some other smaller, perfect condition teeth for S. falcatus, but they take on a more posterior position in the mouth. For now, this tooth is my Squalicorax pride and joy. Some microteeth showed themselves as well, like this one above. With that size it's hard for me to make a judgment on genus here. Finally, one rock had a trip-maker. I handed a slab to Piper, turned my back to continue "mining", and immediately hear a casual "I think this is something cool". Laying loosly on the slab, ready to come flying off with the slightest disturbance, was THIS: A Coniasaur jaw! That's code for "stupid rare". Here is the specimen under better lighting. Those familiar with North American Coniasaurs may notice something unusual - that it's definitely not the North American Coniasaurus crassidens that most Coniasaur finds here get thrown into. With what's described, that leaves the more conventionally European C. gracilodens, and that doesn't look like a definitive match to me either. For Coniasaurs, it wouldn't be saying anything very extraordinary, as Coniasaur taxonomy has not been properly recorded, but this might belong to one of those coniasaur morphologies floating around without a description. This specimen needs to be looked at under a microscope before a definitive assessment is made though. Here's a graphic I composed for it (note none of the pictures are mine though). On the left (A, B, and C) is Coniasaurus gracilodens, on the right (E and F) is Coniasaurus crassidens. Notice that Coniasaur paleoart is even rarer than the actual animal, so I used art of some other Dolichosaur. It does a good job of representing what Coniasaurus would have looked like anyway. It was a wonderful find to wrap a wonderful weekend, and this fossil will probably make its way to SMU next. If the folks there don't find it useful for the Coniasaur research they have rolling, it'll make its way back to Florida with Piper. Fast forward a week: After one weekend spent fossil hunting a hard, another good one was on the way. This time, my weekend would be devoted to exploring the cenomanian Plesiosaur digsite from July, in search of more bone. My dig partner for the weekend was George, who I met briefly at SMU once by chance, where he was asking around on how to get involved. Unfortunately @Ptychodus04, who (with Joe) I found the specimen with in July, couldn't make it out this time. With his current prep project of a one of a kind green river bird, I can't blame him . It was suggested I show George the ropes the next time I go to my plesiosaur digsite. That might have been a little cruel and unusual, considering how difficult and dangerous that site is, but as you'll soon see, it was well worth it - but not for the reasons you'd expect. We spent two days on the site - one half day digging away overburden, followed by a night in a smoky motel-8, and then the next day more tediously removing small chunks of matrix from the cavity at the bone level. In short, we moved maybe 8 inches further into the cavity, with no bone spotted. As I was hunched over, chipping away, George moved further to the right by some feet to explore for a wayward flipper. This was his first field experience, and he crushed it, breezing through the first slabs as he moved in. It did not take long until he let out a triumphant yell. Thankful to stand up, I came over to take a peek at what he had found in his slab, and went completely silent. It seemed to me that we were looking at a mosasaur tooth... As a reminder, this is (middle?) cenomanian strata - several million years older than the oldest american mosasaurs. Before we call it though, Polcyn is going to evaluate and prep the tooth personally. But, from photos and my own pre-prep observations, we're both optimistic that it's mosasaur. Next up will be some sampling of bentonite layers for a more precise date. Here are some photos: With that find, the day was a success, even though we didn't find more of the Plesiosaur. George and I turned around and started heading home. We had time, so I wanted to make a pit stop to explore a different creek which seemed to have interesting geology after I cross referenced google and geological maps. Fortunately, it didn't take along to find a perfect access point, and from there it didn't take long to find a large shale exposure. This was in the upper eagle ford formation, close to the contact with the Austin chalk, so I was hoping to find the legendary Kamp Ranch shark tooth lenses. We got stopped short by mud and private property though, and we were anyway making slow progress because the geology up until that point was just too interesting. So, we settled down and begin moving into a hill. Much to my surprise, we began finding in abundance one of the last fossils I expect to see in the eagle ford - ammonites. The average ammonite we'd see looked like this - detailed but otherwise in poor condition: Some other good specimens began appearing, thought still flattened: After 30 minutes, we eventually came across a a partially 3D specimen: This was a welcome change from being hunched over for hours in hard rock searching for a humongous marine reptile. This day, we got the best of both worlds! For now, I'm stuck between Colignoniceras woolgari or Prionocyclus sp. as Prionocyclus hyatti also looks convincing. Suggestions are welcome Those were the January highlights, but I would like to take a moment on a February find as well- my first Saleniid ever. Other male fossil hunters might relate to me with this one. When you're this hopelessly obsessed with the hobby, your brain can come up with few date ideas more appropriate than dragging a pretty girl through some muddy creek to look for sea urchins with you. In retrospect, always a terrible idea, but if she sticks it out you found the one Fortunately we didn't get skunked, so she didn't think I was crazy - because we actually made a good find I wasn't expecting. This site is the legendary Comanche Peak shale micro site that I've praised on a few trip reports before. Between my step brother and I, two Tetragramma (one of them gargantuan) have been found, and dozens of Heteraster - but all in the tiny shale section. The shales are encased in limestone, which I noted to be decidedly more barren in previous visits. But, this time - I almost immediately noticed a wonderful geometric pattern in the limestone roof above me: BOOM! I was definitely ecstatic about this. Careful chiseling got it out safely, in a condition to be prepped at home: Pre-prep, I'm tentatively assigning it to Leptosalenia mexicana. For the prep, I think I'll have to use acid for the first time, painting the exposed urchin in paraloid and dunking the rest in vinegar for a day, water for a day, and then repeating. If anyone has a tip or trick that they like for acid prepping urchins, I'm all ears On a total side note, we made an even rarer discovery soon after - though not a fossil. After moving on from the sea urchin spot, we found a newly made walkway that ran by the most perfect, untouched climbing boulder I have ever seen. For anyone reading this who also boulders, you would agree that boulders that have flat landings, excellent top-outs, and solid holds, all while being aesthetically beautiful... are very rare. To find one that is easily accessible and undiscovered by other climbers? That's like finding a unicorn. Here's the unicorn in quesiton: The day after I threw myself at this boulder for a few hours, cleaning the holds and finding routes. I had a dream about it for two nights in a row And so, that was my month. I've been busy, but thankfully not nearly as busy as last semester, so many weekends still give me time to get back out in the field. I have a killer Coniacian spot in mind I want to explore soon, so hopefully I'll be back with a success story. Hope you all get a chance to kick it in the field soon!
  10. In the last three and a half months I'd say I finally had the true college experience - always tired, hungry, and getting strangled by ochem 2 . But, my last final was yesterday, so time for a long overdue trip report. I'll go consecutively, with brief notes on the sights and interests encountered along the way, culminating with a prep update on the Plesiosaur I found over the summer with @Ptychodus04 and Joe. Unfortunately, the block containing the Coniasaur from the same trip hasn't been scanned yet. I'm also twiddling my thumbs for updates August/September: At this point, I was still settling in after moving to college station, and was keen to assess the potential the area had. Being so close to Whiskey Bridge, I made 4-5 trips. Eocene stuff isn't my forte but I found an interest in it quickly. Here are some highlights: Two prongs from the primitive cuttlefish Belosaepia ungula. I was fortunate to find both of these the same day. These occasionally get nicknamed "cuttlefish beaks" due to their superficial resemblance, but are really the "horns" that tipped the posterior end of the cuttlebone. This is a vestigial character that some modern cuttlefish genera still have traces of. For those who are interested in Belosaepia, here's a link to a webpage Professor Thomas Yancey made of the animal. You might also want to read his paper on it. https://lakeneosho.org/Belosaepia/index.html Some other Eocene highlights: Pristis lathami sawfish rostral tooth. Another smaller one was found the same day as the Belosaepia specimens Exciting in situ of Galeocerdo eaglesomi Once removed: October rolled around the hunts dropped off for the most part, as now the semester was picking up. Despite this, excavations became the theme of October. The best of which was finally, after long last, exhuming the bulk of the mosasaur from last year. For those who haven't seen the trip report or updates, in September 2021 my step brother and I found a basal mosasaur at my favorite Eagle Ford site. Those weekends were used for extracting the cervical verts and back of the skull, which was initially all that was revealed. In the February that followed, I poked around, just in case there was more bone, and found the end of the tail. This led us to tackle the site again a week later, and we immediately found more than the two of us could handle. We woodglued the block back and crossed our fingers that it would outlast the weather. Thankfully, it did, and with my dad, @JohnJ and @LSCHNELLE , we retrieved what might be the rest of the skull, as well as (hopefully) a significant portion of the body locked away in some large blocks in a heinous hail mary. It was epic, and only possible due to the leadership and excavation savvy of John and Lee. Due to its research interest, I can't share photos yet, but thankfully attention on the specimen is strong and consistent now, and prep is in full swing. However! One thing I can show is a super odd Ptychodus tooth dug up by John as we trenched around the skeleton: Turns out it was pretty lucky Lee was there, he's the forums go-to Ptychodus expert and speculates that this may be P. anonymous symphyseal (none are known of yet). Ptychodus researcher Shawn Hamm said he hasn't seen something like it yet. THAT is some good bycatch! The weekend after, I joined in briefly on a Plesiosaur dig in an unusual location with @GPayton and some SMU folks. That was also exciting - but can't share photos of that either (yet!) The October paleo scene rounded out with a short hunt at an old favorite spot. Preservation and quantity weren't of their typical splendor, but I was still very happy to see these, especially in such a scenic area. First: a heartbreaker: Next, a reworked P. mortoni tooth found in Pleistocene matrix: Other highlights: Followed by a monster P. martini / P. marginalis tooth. Very river rolled, and the strata that would support both is in the area: November/December: Academically the most difficult two months I've had, so definitely needed some creek therapy Here are the results: First - a visit to my favorite comanche peak fm spot. This tiny, extremely rich site has yielded dozens of Heteraster c.f. texanus, a Tetragramma sp. that I've posted on here before, and a monster Tetragramma my step brother Christian found (which I just realized I haven't shown here before - here it is the day of, vs after prep). That was over the summer. This time, I brought some good friends to the site for a night hunt. They're my rock climbing friends who were interested in the boulders of the area, and I thought I'd introduce them to paleo as well. Our best result this time was probably this Heteraster weathering out of its little pocket. It was a cool in situ. November also found me out in my best Austin chalk site. This was the area I found a Hadrodus sp. incisor in August of 2021. At the time, I was still quite a noob, so assumed that I was in the Ozan. Rather, this site is a contact of the Austin chalk and Ozan. I'm unsure of the member of the Austin chalk here, but I don't think it's the upper most. My suspicion is Dessau. The Hadrodus situation is complex - it was found as very, very recently tumbled out of formation, so technically in float, but I'm 99% sure now it originated in the Austin chalk present, rather than the Ozan layer above. This opens up the possibility of H. marshi, known only from the holotype Othniel Charles Marsh found "somwhere" in the smoky hill chalk, the Kansas equivalent to the Austin chalk, and thus even rarer than my previous ID of H. hewletti, known from the Mooreville chalk (roughly equivalent in age to the Ozan). That said, H. priscus has an assumed range that extends this far as well. The research on the genus is sparse, so there's a lot work I get to do on my end to organize the available information and make my own determinations. Regardless, I visited the site again and it was nautiloid galore. I found 6-7 Eutrephoceras coming out of the marl-y chalk in a small area. Another find of note from this site was my first Pycnodont tooth (Hadrodus being a Pycnodont has fallen out of opinion, so this now is my first): My only other cretaceous hunt in November/December was a brief lower Eagle Ford excursion. Here are the notable results: Cretoxyrhina mantelli and Ptychodus occidentalis (the latter found in gravel) Also worth note - this pretty scene after popping out a Ptychodus tooth that's been sitting on my desk at home for some time. This one was found at the same site as the Pliosaur tooth in my albums: Thanksgiving break had me in the East Texas Miocene, hunting petrified wood of the Catahoula fm. The scenery of the land there, especially during fall, is astonishing. I will include some landscape photos in a following post in response to this. This honker piece of palm wood was my best find. One thing to note as well is the Oklahoma Permian matrix gifted to me by @historianmichael. It is astonishingly rich, full of Orthocanthus teeth. My favorite find so far is the jaw fragment below, which I should try to get ID'd soon. This matrix kept me sane on the days weeks I couldn't make it out. My final highlight is the prep progress I made this semester on the block of Plesiosaur vertebrae co-discovered with Joe and @Ptychodus04. A&M, I must admit, is quite lacking in their vert paleo realm (though it's great for inverts). Their paleo prep lab has no equipment, so, I got to work with an exacto knife and, all things considered, I think this specimen is turning out well That's it for the last few months. That said, I'm ready to take a nap and then decompress by hitting some freezing creeks, trying to find the rest of the Plesiosaur above, and romping around huge Ozan exposures for the next few weeks
  11. I’m planning my return trip to Lake Texoma and I was wondering if y’all had any suggestions for tools to bring. Preferably batter-powered (no generator) and powerful enough to excavate large ammonites from hard limestone. Explosives, battery acid, and hydrochloric acid are out of the question. I’d settle for gas-powered tools, but only as a last resort.
  12. My son found this last week while poking around Post Oak Creek in Sherman Tx. The bumps and ridges on the sides are symmetrical, and it has a smooth hollowed out portion. Not sure if it’s part of a fossil or just an odd rock formation. Hoping someone here can help us out. Thanks!!
  13. historianmichael

    Texas Nautiloid With A Surprise

    A few weeks ago my brother and I took a weekend trip to do some sightseeing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I had been meaning to check out an area of interest in the Late Cretaceous Period, Early Cenomanian Grayson Marl, so early Sunday morning before the museums in Dallas opened I made a quick stop to the site to at least cross it off my list. The outcrop itself was small but I was able to find the usual suspects- Ilymatogyra oysters and Neithea scallops, partial Mariella bosquensis heteromorph ammonites, and a Stoliczkaia conlini ammonite that is sadly missing its juvenile whorls. The real highlight find for me though was a big Cymatoceras hilli nautiloid. Unfortunately it is missing a chunk out of it but it is the biggest Cymatoceras nautiloid that I have found. However, the fun of discovery did not end there. After I brought it home, and as I was taking some extra matrix off, I split the backside of the nautiloid to reveal that a small Mariella rhacioformis ammonite that been pushed inside the nautiloid during deposition. And, as I was further prepping the ammonite with air tools to reveal more detail, I discovered a broken shark tooth, possibly Cretolamna appendiculata, next to it. What I thought was a cool singular find turned out to be an awesome triple discovery.
  14. historianmichael

    NSR Red Zone Ammonites ID Help

    A couple of weeks ago I made my first ever trip to the North Sulphur River "red zone." I had a blast collecting some of the ammonites there- and I thought I did pretty well- but boy is hiking through the river a lot of work. I was really happy to be able to find a nice variety of ammonites, including these two ammonites that I cannot quite seem to fit within the ammonite faunal lists I have seen for the Ozan Formation. I also found this tiny phosphate chunk in a concretion of the "red zone." I would normally say that it is a random chunk of phosphate, but I thought that the banding was unusual. I have no clue what it could be, if it is anything. #1- 3cm wide- what has me confused is the lack of any noticeable suture lines or ribbing #2- 1.5cm wide- the ribbing kinda reminds me of Scaphites sp. and there was a chunk of material that flaked off extending from the ammonite, but the "club-like" suture line has me a bit confused #3- 7mm tall- no clue what this could be
  15. Mikrogeophagus

    4 Mosasaur Verts in a Day! Austin TX

    With the end of the semester approaching, school has picked up and I have been too busy to embark on many adventures. When my schedule finally cleared up one afternoon following a brief rain in Austin, I jumped at the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. One of my goals right now is to check out new parts of the creek I hunt on. Scanning through my list of potential spots, I decided to try and be the first one out to a very promising location. Like my previous hunts, this place ran through the Ozan formation, so my expectations were set on some nice Cretaceous specimens as well as the usual native artifacts that Central Texas is so famous for. After I parked and carefully scaled my way down to the water's edge, I was immediately met with several pairs of shoes and jackets. Thinking I had been beaten to the punch, I decided I might as well head down the stream and meet whoever it was to discuss the location and fossils in general. Thankfully, the trip was saved when they turned out to be a kind group of fishermen. After a brief chat, I carried on to get the hunt started. The mud was an absolute nightmare. I had never been up to my knees in it until then. Somehow, I managed to trudge my way through without getting one of my water shoes sucked away into a different dimension. When I finally reached the first gravel bar, I was instantly rewarded with the nicest Ptychodus tooth (E) I have found yet. Scattered around the bar were tons of flakes and a couple of larger worked pieces (G, I) that were unfamiliar to me. Before moving on, I also stumbled upon what would've been the largest point I'd ever found (H). Unfortunately, it was pretty banged up. The previous rain wasn't that big in terms of flooding, so I spent the most time scouring the gravel still under water as I reasoned that the stuff on dry land was less likely to have been moved around in the storm. It was during this moment that I found my first mosasaur vertebra of the day (A). This one was exciting to me as I personally thought it very much resembled the verts that famously come out of the NSR's Ozan formation. Within a couple feet of it I found another half piece of mosasaur vertebra (B). With the close association of these two bones, I went into a bit of a frenzy. Nothing else came up, but I knew that there was a massive exposure just up ahead so I hurried on. Along the way I ran into a fragment of the smallest point I've come across (F). At its size, I wonder if the original piece would've been a true arrowhead. Once I reached the main exposure, I immediately got to probing around. I came across two more pieces of bone that I believe are both belonging to mosasaurs (C, D). They have bony structures, but they are also pretty beat up and may have come from a different formation in comparison to the other two verts I collected. With the day winding down I picked up a nice big Exogyra ponderosa for my dad's friend as well as a couple of preforms. I tried to look around in the exposure for any hints of mosasaur, but that shale is extremely difficult to get through. All in all, it was a great success. I think I've found my new go-to spot! With the addition of potentially 4 new mosasaur verts, that's a 400% increase in my total mosi collection! P.S. Does anyone else get "Tetris Syndrome" after scanning gravel bars for way too long? For hours after the trip, I literally could not stop seeing gravel and chert flakes every time I closed my eyes. An overview of the finds: Closeups for ID: A: First mosasaur vert of the day. To me, it strongly resembles those found in the NSR's Ozan formation. This one was covered in a clay-like matrix. B: The second vert of the day. Seems to be broken in half and from the same formation as A. Appears to have pyritization on some parts of it. C: Third vert which I believe is mosasaur. This one is beat up and seems to be of differing material from A and B. Could it be from the Austin Chalk which is present farther up the creek? D: The last "vert" of the day. This one I am least confident about. It appears to have a bony texture, but is very worn and has a confusing shape. It seems closer to C than A or B, but it also feels very distinct in it of itself. What do you guys think? I suppose it could be something else entirely! E: A nicely preserved Ptychodus tooth. I'm thinking anonymous or mammillaris, but my ID skills are pretty lackluster. F: "True" arrowhead fragment? G: Strange artifact. The angle seems too wide to be a point. I think it's too thin to be an adze. Obviously missing a huge chunk from that fresh curved break. What do you guys think? H: Fragment of a large point I: Another strange fragment. I think it may be an adze since it's a bit more robust. Fresh break on one edge. Let me know if you want any more close-ups. Thanks for reading!
  16. historianmichael

    Whiskey Bridge Gastropod ID Help

    Many months ago I visited the famed Whiskey Bridge locality. Perhaps due to laziness or a desire to collect other fossils in Texas I have only now gotten around to cleaning, consolidating, and identifying my finds. Using the Emerson book I have largely been successful in identifying my finds. However, I have been stumped on the last dozen or so gastropods. Most of them are tiny, and likely juveniles, which has made identification even tougher. I was wondering if anyone recognized these gastropods. They are Middle Eocene in age, from the Stone City. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12
  17. ThePhysicist

    A Physicist's Collection

    While my prime focus is essentially learning how to accurately describe Nature in the precise language of mathematics, I've always been intrigued by natural history - it's actually what started me on the path to physics. The sort of interrogation that paleontology practices provoked me to think and question even further, down to the fundamental science which makes it all work. Collecting fossils has brought a large amount of enjoyment to my life, and is often a welcome distraction from what can sometimes be straining work. The knowledge that I accumulate along the way is also part of the fun. Here is my collection, which will always be a work-in-progress. There's still many things I haven't photographed yet, but I feel comfortable saying this is the majority. I don't have many big things, but I'm certainly pleased with the many small things I have so far. Links to albums: Dinosaurs Sharks North Sulphur River Post Oak Creek Permian Aguja Formation Harding Sandstone Devonian Galveston Fossils Miscellaneous Highlights / Personal Favorites: The ones underlined are linked to their respective fossil page in the Fossil Forum Collections, which has more information and photos. Infant Tyrannosaurus rex posterior tooth If I could keep only one fossil, it would be this one. It's from my favorite animal that has ever lived, and being from a young'un is just so darn cool. A true crowning jewel in my eyes. Juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex maxillary tooth Again, you can't go wrong with T. rex. It doesn't have the best preservation but regardless, there's a lot more to love. Tylosaurus proriger tooth (self-found) Undoubtedly my favorite find to-date. Finding fossils yourself adds that extra value to its place in your collection. I'll remember the moment I first saw it for a long time. Triceratops prorsus tooth Triceratops is another one of my favorite dinosaurs, I think we all grew up playing with toys of T. rex and Triceratops. Unique circumstances also allow for me to say it's Triceratops and not Torosaurus with some confidence. It's not perfect, but still a significant part of the collection. Avisaurus archibaldi tooth A bird tooth? Doesn't get much cooler or more uncommon. Dimetrodon cf. limbatus tooth I've always been drawn to "icons of life," since those are the ones we remember from childhood. Dimetrodon is definitely an icon, and I'm glad to have found one of these uncommon treasures (in micromatrix - it was a very nice surprise). Cretoxyrhina mantelli tooth One of my favorite shark species, the "ginsu" had sleek-looking teeth, ate mosasaurs and dinosaurs, and was overall a formidable animal worthy of admiration. Cretodus crassidens tooth (self-found) Another one of my favorite sharks. It's not big or complete, but the preservation is so rare for the locality (POC) - the gloss on the enamel is as if it fell out of the shark's mouth yesterday. Saurornitholestes langstoni tooth I'm currently working on growing the dinosaur component of my collection, and this is my first Dromaeosaurid. Dromaeosaur tooth (Hell Creek Fm.) My most recent addition (as of Sept. 4, 2021), and it's my best dinosaur tooth for sure. Unfortunately it will be labeled as only a Dromaeosaurid tooth for now, but it still is just a great tooth from a cool family of dinosaurs. Shark Tooth Riker Display I've got one riker that I've tried to squeeze as many teeth into as possible. I need to get a couple more, probably; there's a lot of teeth that deserve a riker, but are just lying around. I'll try to update this thread semi-regularly as I make acquisitions in the future.
  18. historianmichael

    Waco Pit ID Help

    Although the primary draw of the Waco Research Pit (Cretaceous; Del Rio Formation) is its tiny micromorph ammonites, I have also found a number of other fauna at the site, including these bivalves. These are the last fossils from the Waco Pit that I have not yet been able to identify. I was hoping that someone with more familiarity with the site or bivalves of the Texas Cretaceous might know what they are. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much! #1- ??? #2- Striarca washitensis? #3- ??? #4- ??? #5- ???
  19. historianmichael

    Texas Pennsylvanian Brachiopods ID Help

    Over a couple of trips to several exposures of the Late Pennsylvanian Colony Creek Shale, I have collected a few larger brachiopods that I am not completely sure of an identification for. I was hoping that someone might know what these are. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much! #1- ??? #2- ??? #3- Antiquatonia portlockiana? #4- Kutorginella lasallensis?
  20. historianmichael

    Wilson’s Clay Pit Unknown

    I found this over the weekend at Wilson’s Clay Pit (Harpersville Fm, Pennsylvanian). I know that there are a number of strange looking rocks there that look like something but are really nothing. I ended up picking it up and keeping it because it was unique and I thought that it could maybe be something. Does anyone know what this could be? Is it just one of those rocks that look like something but is really nothing?
  21. A projection of rain in the forecast for Saturday caused me to change my plans at the last minute and venture a little further west than I had initially planned and hoped to go. Since I had not yet visited Whiskey Bridge since moving to Texas at the beginning of September I decided that it posed as a nice alternative, especially when trying to decide on Friday night where to go the following morning. Plus this way I could also collect some petrified wood in College Station. This petrified wood is from the Late Middle Eocene Yegua Formation and is absolutely abundant in the Bryan-College Station area. Petrified wood chips literally cover the ground. Whether recent rain from Tropical Storm Nicholas unearthed a number of pieces or I simply lucked out with the site having not been collected in a while, but in about an hour of collecting, I found more than a dozen good size chunks of petrified wood. I was really impressed by the diversity of colors and how many of the pieces looked like pieces of wood you would find today. Several pieces had knots in them, showed insect damage, or had small deposits of chalcedony or druzy on them. All of my finds were either tropical hardwoods or tropical conifers. After having my fill of petrified wood, I made my way to Whiskey Bridge and had the site to myself for the entire day. I am still working on cleaning, stabilizing and identifying all of my finds, so a post on my Whiskey Bridge finds will have to wait for another day.
  22. VeniceMom

    Fresh Ammonite Fossil

    We actually found this about 1.5 years ago, just before moving to Florida. (Moved here a year ago). My son got it while he was at my parent's house in the outskirts of east DFW (we lived in north DFW, they lived in east DFW - we both relocated to FL). Their area was well known for dinosaur bones and the likes, which is super crazy lol!! Common to dig them up in yards while doing fences and whatnot. Anyway - my stepdad took my son to the cul-de-sac (2 houses down), one day where they were starting to build more houses. Kiddo wanted to check out the dirt & rock piles... He ended finding this. It's a 14 inch wide ammonite 4 inches tall. Haven't weighed. (carried it home himself, when he was 9 lol). Sorry, it's totally uncleaned, besides light brushing... because we haven't known what to do... Weren't sure if you treat it like shells with light bleach water or if that will destroy it?! Help, please, and thank you! I'm on mobile, so can't follow all the photo protocol ATM. As such, only posting 2 photos for now so it doesn't bog down browsers when opening. I'll optimize in a in a bit when I'm on PC. (Not sure that there's many more to post right now anyway, although I'm happy to).
  23. historianmichael

    First Texas Cretaceous Hunt

    Well it is not my first ever hunt in the Texas Cretaceous, but it is at least my first hunt since moving to Texas at the start of this month. This past Sunday I had the chance to journey to several sites that expose the Early Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation. Through some research on known sites and scanning Google Maps for other potential localities worth checking out, I came up with a list of about more than a dozen nooks and crannies in Central Texas worth exploring. Virtually every place I stopped showed potential, although I did not find echinoids at every site, but that also meant that I could only accomplish half of my list. Sometimes the good comes with the bad. I will just have to save the rest of my list for my return visit to Central Texas. If I waited to photograph my finds until after I cleaned them all, I would probably never put a trip report together, so here is an assortment of photos from the field and a couple photos I recently took at home after a quick cleaning. A telltale sign of the Glen Rose Formation- Orbitolina texana Some claw bits of the hermit crab Paleopagurus banderensis The giant clam Arctica gibbosa And six different species of echinoids Leptosalenia texana Heteraster obliquus Pliotoxaster comanchei Balanocidaris(?) strombecki Spine Coenholectypus planatus Loriolia rosana I also found several other bivalve and gastropod internal molds, annelids, echinoid spines, and some Porocystis globularis. I found a small stem section of the crinoid Isocrinus annulatus but lost it in the grass before I could take a photo of it. Hopefully I can find another one on my return visit to the Glen Rose Formation!
  24. Ima Surchin

    What is this? #3

    Location: Sweetwater, TX
  25. Ima Surchin

    What is this? #2

    Location: Sweetwater, TX looks like an egg kinda
×
×
  • Create New...