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Showing results for tags 'Virginia'.
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Hello everyone! I have not posted in a while because I have not been on any trips recently. However, I just recently had the opportunity to go on a Fossil collecting tour in a Miocene exposure in VA. I was able to meet the helpful and friendly @SailingAlongToo (thanks to him I was able to learn about this fantastic opportunity). My mom, dad, and best friend spent Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 collecting fossils along a river. On Saturday, my mom found a killer posterior meg using a kitty litter scooper in a gravel bar after not finding anything for 1.5 hours. I found two crocodile teeth and some hastalis teeth around 1.5 inches. My best friend found some hastalis teeth, and my dad found a large “cookie” Fossil of a vertebra I believe. On Sunday mom found some nice hemis and an item that could not be readily identified. I found half of a juvenile meg and a posterior meg tooth. My dad found a larger gator tooth, and my best friend also found some hemis. Here are some pictures, thanks for reading!
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- 8
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- crocodile teeth
- megalodon teeth
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A perfect weather day anyway! "My" spots had been over-run, so started digging with a garden trowel at the base of an undercut bank, hoping roots might hold a cowshark (near where I found my only cowshark symphyseal years ago) or bigger (mako) tooth. More gravel than shells so guessing near middle of the stream bed in the past (nothing big, so not too distant past!) Did find three ecphora (not prized 30 years ago); the biggest did not survive a chunk of bone in the bucket alongside (may try to piece back together; a sickening loss, though missing its tail). Four verts (often seem to find in gravel), some round Tilly bones, 30+ small teeth, nothing exceptional, a stippeled piece of vertebra(?), skate teeth, small broken stinger . Lots of concretions, possibly some shrimp coprolites in a piece (will wait for total drying); the first ones I found were in the creek, since then all have been on a river beach. Bird eggs gone from nest (hopefully as fledglings), a black rat snake, many different frogs, a salamander (eft? ran on shore), and some interesting birds, that I didn't recognize. Wish I found more, but happy with a short hunt (two hour), not a difficult trip.
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- 5
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- ephora
- microteeth
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Trying a Different Spot in the Mid-Atlantic Miocene
I_gotta_rock posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
I've been hearing about Chippokes Plantaion State Park in Surry, VA for the last year or so. Finally got out there this weekend. Being a shell person, I was rather disappointed that the only thing one is allowed to collect at that park is shark teeth. But, they do allow something to be collected and pictures don't require more shelves to be installed in the family room. Here's a video I did f the trip: Plus a few still highlights: I I think the vultures were waiting for the cliff to fall on my head. Sun up, sundown and a beautiful day in-between The shells just carpet the beach at low tide! Look, Ma! Both valves! There was definitely more to that Ecphora. I just didn't take a picture after I pulled it out. All it was missing was the protoconch.
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High water (east wind pushing salt water up the river) but fairly clear. Spent a few hours starting at low tide. Not much debris on the beach, guessing stuff was sand covered. Used a lot of bug spray, but bright sun and a light west breeze kept the no-seeums away. My luck continues the same; decent yellow mako, but broken. A small prettier mako. Bunch of triangular grey shark, bunch of sand tiger spikes (did find an interesting pottery shard and some weird drift wood). Actually ended up with over twice as many teeth as I thought, but no shrimp coprolites or even batoid stuff. Nice day and a bit of exercise. Fun watching the ospreys (getting to be friction between them and the eagles).Need to find some cowshark teeth.
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- beach teeth
- broken mako
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I usually don’t post a single tooth, but the rarity and colors of this Palaeorhincodon tooth make it worthwhile to post. The tooth came from Eocene matrix from Virginia that I collected a few weeks ago from what I call a “funky” layer. This layer is very hard and contains lots of minerals. The minerals were probably introduced by groundwater seepage eons ago. Most teeth in this layer can have really funky enamel but a few have decent enamel and great colors like this tooth. I usually don’t take this layer because of the funky teeth but a little of it got mixed in with the good layer that I normally take. This tooth is blue, white and black with golden pyrite (fool’s gold) on the root. I believe the tooth is a Palaeorhincodon daouii. Pictures of a 53 million year old tooth (3.5 mm): For comparison below are pictures of an extant Rhincodon typus (Whale Shark) (4 mm) tooth: Although there are a number of differences in the features of the two teeth, the most obvious is the strong cusplets on the Palaeorhincodon. Marco Sr.
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Made two trips to the beach. First, water was muddy from wind (from the wrong direction), hot but many leisurely walks up and down the beach, mild surf. Found lots of stuff and some little teeth;,and a broken mako, par lately. Nice hunting, good exercise. Expected the water to be clear but visibility was still bad this morning. Worse, the wind was calm and the sun was hidden by clouds and the no-seeums were out in force. I fought them for about an hour; wasn't finding much in the weak incoming tide (the weirdly shaped, pathological(?) mako, no evidence of a break, a few small teeth), had to give up. Never had this problem in the winter!
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- microteeth
- pathological mako?
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This one is small. My son is curious to know if you can help us ID the long fossil with the tiny legs. He was wondering if it could be some kind of very small shrimp? This was found on the shores of the Potomac River in Westmoreland State Park. The beach is surrounded by high clay cliffs, and is known for an abundance of sharks teeth. The long, slender fossil in question measures approx 8 mm long.
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We found this fossil on the shore of the Potomac River at Fossil Beach in Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. The beach is surrounded by high clay cliffs, and is known for an abundance of sharks teeth. It appears to have a small hinge, but the contours of the lines have made it challenging for us to ID. Bivalve? Brachiopod? Can anyone share a more seasoned opinion? The rock is heavy and dense, reddish brown in color, with oval shaped pitting. The fossil impression itself measures approx 45 mm x 35 mm.
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Eocene lignitized seeds/fruits from Virginia
MarcoSr posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
I just sent the below Eocene lignitized seeds/fruits from Virginia to a paleo botanist at the Smithsonian Institution, who will use a new CT scanner that makes this material vastly more interpretable than before, to study them. Since these seeds/fruits are not mineralized like petrified wood they should have been stored in Glycerin with a bit of thymol, which is an anti fungal agent, rather than in gem jar cups. You can see the discoloration of some of the foam from deterioration of the seeds/fruits over the 15 to 20 years that most of them were stored. I hope that they are still useful. I wish I knew about the proper storage years ago. Some of the specimens show very little deterioration which makes me believe that they are modern contaminants. Marco Sr.
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- eocene
- lignitized seeds/fruits
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New member from Arkansas (traveling to Virginia this summer)
Mud posted a topic in Member Introductions
Hi all, I'm a rockhound who has made a habit of picking up interesting rocks or fossils while on vacation. Last year my family searched for Petoskey Stones in Michigan. This year, we're visiting Williamsburg, VA. I'm planning to work in a day of shark tooth hunting, and I am still trying to decide where to hunt. Closer to home, I search Crowley's Ridge for agatized coral. -
Beautiful day, lots of spring peeper frogs everywhere. Creek looked like it had been extensively worked while I have been away. Broken shells and torn down banks showed the local kids(?) have been busy. Everything greening up, yet not a lot of mosquitoes, water levels dropping. Hunting was mediocre, found four ecphorae in other people's tailings, none perfect (one encrusted with barnicles, not shown). Lots of small teeth (but no cow shark or angel shark teeth), some skate pieces, a few broken drum teeth, a nice fin Tilly bone. With Spring turkey season coming up soon, I'll be staying away from the creek for a while, trying the beaches instead.
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- drum teeth
- ecphora
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Okay, here's a weird one for any shell people out there. Found this on the Potomac's beach where the cliffs have Eastover, St Mary's and Choptank FM exposures. At first, it was a blob of clay with what looked like a hinge showing at one end. I chalked it up to oyster or mussel. Brough it home, cleaned it up most of the way and said, "What the heck?" The texture is really strange. It's convex where I would expect it to be concave. It's lumpy, but not heavily sculptured. I took it to some people who were more familiar with the spot and/or knew something about vertebrates, in case my mollusk assessment was totally off. No, looks like invertebrate of some kind, they said. I've identified and catalogued over 70- species from the cliffs, pouring over the same references for countless hours. There are a few approximately the right shape, given how broken it is, and have similar parallel growth lines, but the texture and lumps???? And that weird ridge 1/2 of the length from the beak? Multiple shells overlapping? Again I say, "What the heck?"
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Hello, I am very new to this. I am a bio teacher with no experience in paleontology but I have to teach it! I recently found an intact top and bottom scallop shell off the James River, in Surry county, Virginia. I know it belongs to the Chesapecten genus, but not sure what species it is. Some friends have tried to help but I don’t understand what they are talking about. Possibly found in either the Yorktown formation or Eastover formation. Please help!
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- chesapecten
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Had some windy days and had high hopes of finding nice stuff on the beach. had recent back and hip issues, but figured the exercise of bending over to check would help, just made me sore! Two recent trips were similar. Early morning trip was cold, with a crashing surf. Water high and dirty, found nothing much (a box turtle carapace and part of its plastron, but recent. Picked up lots of curious wood and rocks). Returned yesterday, much warmer, and water lower, and the same crashing surf. Found nothing much in the first two hours, but enjoyed walking and checking stuff on the beach. Ospreys and terns were plentiful. The wind died and the first five feet or so along the shoreline became visible, and I suddenly started finding stuff! Two shrimp coprolite burrows, and two others that may be conceretions; will be more clear when completely dry. A one and a half inch mako (not broad or narrow?) with a reddish cast around the edges and a midget mako. A few other skate and usual small beach teeth. I saw two points in the sand and initially thought cow shark, but when I picked it up it was what I believe is a seal tooth (one IDed here years ago). Three roots (two perpendicular to the tooth) and a small cusp/ blade (not sure if intact?) Good trip, finally!
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It was a little colder than we would have liked, but still had a fun time! Definitely going to have to return. We were there for a few hours, left just after low tide peaked. Found most of the stuff in one hole, decided to just keep digging it down and sifting with 1/4" mesh. Not the most productive day, but we also had a picnic which took a bit of our time away. Are the bits in the top right anything of note? They looked different so we decided to keep them.
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Found this what appears to be tooth, I’m almost certain it’s a fossil not entirely sure. Was wondering if anyone could help identify. It was found in a field in southwest Virginia.
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While I'm not into the shells, there are lots more of them than teeth or bones where I hunt. The big pectans (6-8") are common, as are giant tree oysters, and frilly oysters, which can be colorful. There are lots of ecphora pieces, yet few whole ecphora. A big problem with shells is transport; they are fragile. That said I am curious about what they are (scale is cm). I was told that the small tubular ones are tusk shells, but there are at least three types (and a worm-like empty tube). There is a multisided shell that is often in clumps next to or attached to barnacles (two towards the center). There are lots of "clams"; the four near the top are unopened bivalves (one on its side; most shells come apart in transit). The top left is a small frilly oyster bottom, below it, I think is a small frilly oyster top. I thought the top middle was also a frilly, but not sure. Don't know if the clams are all the same, just weathered differently. Curious if the three scallops are the same species as the big ones (i don't remember picking up the tiny one, stuck to something else?) I believe these are all fossil shells from the freshwater creek where I hunt mostly tiny shark teeth. Thanks for any ID help. I'll post a few beach shells soon, some may be fossils too?
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Combined teeth from two trips, first to the creek, then to the beach. Quantity was better in the creek at least for small and broken teeth. Found a 1 1/2" pretty mako/great white on the beach, a few shrimp coprolite burrows, and the porpoise tooth. Cowshark from the usual spot, but broken, tips missing. Some drum teeth and a few angel shark teeth as well, and a neat little 'winged' vertebra, may take some more photos. Lots of people out with the nice weather. Don't think the fish are biting although the ospreys are very active, may switch to fishing from tooth hunting soon.
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Okay, I concede early on that this may be abiotic, but I just have this gut feeling that it's not an accidental pattern. I found this on the banks of the Potomac River in Virginia. The geology there is mostly early to mid-Miocene clays with a Pleistocene terrestrial bog iron layer on top of 40 to 80 ft cliffs overlooking the river. All fossil-bearing. This looks like clay, but I'm not positive that it is from the Miocene layers. There is a row of tiny lumps all about the same ship and almost in a contiguous line. One is just a little offset.
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Hello all. Looking for some help/advice. Heading to Williamsburg, VA this weekend and am looking to do a quick morning of fossil hunting for shark teeth, maybe 3-4 hour time window. Does anyone know any general spots that are accessible to public. Was gonna do York river state park but they only allow you to keep one fossil. Chippokes is close but it looks like it takes a while to get across it around the James. Was hoping to find somewhere right near Williamsburg or on way back towards SW Va. Any help is much appreciated.
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Out of action for a bit, but figured a good time to post what I have been collecting since coming back from Singapore summer of 2018. Starting with sandtiger shark teeth, since they are the most common here. Really like the little hook cusps which I seldom see on both sides on the biggest teeth. Cusps are most prominent (but often nubs) on the lateral(?) medium sized wider, root teeth. Symphyseal teeth are not that rare (wish they were cowshark!); often I think one is a split tooth until I examine it carefully; the roots are distinctive. The small teeth may include a few that are not sandtiger, but I'm thinking since they are most common, many of the non-descript small teeth probably are sandtiger. Scale shown for all the teeth in first photo is in cm.
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From the album: Calvert Cliffs
Baleen Whale Phalanx Bone Parvorder Mysticeti Miocene Virginia -
From the album: Calvert Cliffs
Scapula found on the beach at cliff base. I can't find anything in the fossil field guides, but a comparison of scapula bones from extant animals shows a close match between this and a turtle's scapula. Miocene Calvert Group Virginia -
From the album: Virginia Miocene
Ecphora sp. Miocene Choptank Formation Virginia -
Don't know what they are (tried to get scans of both sides). One looks like a tiny mako/great white, no serrations, but is probably something else? One is cracked. Several 'leaning' ones are missing much of their roots
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