Search the Community

Still more sorting to do but the belemnites are done. I am struggling to understand the differences between the different Neohiboletes. looking at http://le-coin-a-fossiles.fr/Gargasien.html there are three known species also from the topic below there are diplobelenid phragmacones

As a later summer vacation we decided to do a road trip - Tour de France. France having many interesting destinations and things to do and collecting fossils would be one of them. As we usually don’t plan our trips beyond a few days ahead also the fossil locations were decided on the road. But when reading about Carniol it became clear it was one we had to include. Other non fossil highlights of the trip were Bordeaux, the Pyrenees, Toulouse (great museum of natural history), Lyon and of course Pont du Gard. When finding out about Carniol I did some further reading on how to get there. Apparently the French drive on the very bad (not true) roads to get there like madman (true) at 90 km/h (sometimes true), the cliffs and canyons are very scary (not after the Pyrenees) and parking was also going to be a challenge (it was easy). Carniol is a tiny village and probably the fossil sites are it’s main tourist attraction although calling Carniol touristic is probably very far from reality. Near the village there are two places where the fossil rich clay is exposed and can be easily reached from the road (50-100m walk). The grey clay can be recognised from a distance so it didn’t take us long to get at the site (we only visited the western one but they are supposed to be similar). We were lucky that there was heavy rain in the days before our visit as this exposes the fossils. The downside is that the clay is very sticky and heavy and it forms a plateau under your shoes. As mentioned before the fossils are washed out of the clay and you just need to pick them up. Unfortunately larger fossils are poorly conserved and some nice pieces crumbled after picking them up. But the small fossils are many and diverse. We found lots of what we recognised like Ammonites including heteromorphs, belemnites, gastropods and bivalves like this. As I read that taking some of the clay for washing was of interest (we didn’t prepare for this) we filled an empty 5 liter water container with clay. As we had an appointment for dinner in Lyon and we were satisfied with our finds we left after about two hours. But the rest of the vacation I kept thinking about starting to wash and sort our finds. Back home it became obvious we had some nice finds even before finishing sorting everything. A big tooth my partner picked up but she didn’t recognise as such and she didn’t tell me about (Protosphyraena with a small?). From the clay we brought home, I found a jaw fragment (identified on Reddit as Saurian). Still a lot of material to go through as for now I am just grouping the finds. In due time I hope to get some help with further identification of everything although I will give it a try myself with the information already available here and on other sites.

This tooth was a surface find from Carniol. It was found by my partner and she just put it in her box without telling me recognising for what it was. Nice surprise when sorting / cleaning. On another forum a similar tooth from the same location was identified as Protosphyraena. Cretaseous, Aptian, Gargasian. There are no serrations visible under 10x magnification. At the base the toot is about 5.8mm wide and 4.1mm thick.

Hello everyone! This summer, me and my family went to the Provence, southern France. We were heading to the Baronnies and Carniol, a natural park in the Provence and a tiny village. This area is known for its Early-Cretaceous fossils. We went to four locations: Combe Reboul, , Le Mas, Bellegarde-en-Diois and Carniol. The first four are very close to each other, so I'll start with those. The First Area: la Charce La Charce is a small village in the Baronnies, and is located in the centre of all the fossil hunting sites of the area. Near the village lays Serre de l'Âne, a unique geological site. What it comes down to, is that it's basically a book of outcrops that accurately describes the transition from one stage (Valanginian) to another one (Hauterivian) for about 5 million years. Here's a website for more information: Website about Serre de l'Âne. SERRE DE L'ÂNE Pictures were taken by myself This site was used to be known for its beautiful fossils, but now it's closed for fossil hunting. However, the site itself is very nice and has a great picnic spot. It is truly magnificent to see the layers of limestone and marl like this. Anyways, since this site is closed for fossil hunting, we went to the gorge right next to it: Combe Reboul. The fossils from Combe Reboul are from the upper-Valanginian to Hauterivian, both stages of the lower Cretaceous epoch, so 130-140 ma years old. The marine fauna contained a ton of ammonites, so those are the fossils you find the most. COMBE REBOUL -- Pictures taken by me COMBE REBOUL This site is somewhat incredible, when we came across an exposed layer of limestone we found ammonites of multiple genera and belemnites and bivalves too. The most common ammonite to find here is from the genus Crioceratites, a heteromorph ammonite. (The inner spiral is disconnected from the outer spiral) It's just bizarre to realize that evolution had once created creatures that had beautiful shapes like this, and this isn't even the weirdest ammonite that is out there! FOSSILS OF COMBE REBOUL -- Pictures by me LE MAS Next to Combe Reboul is le Mas, another deposition. We didn't find a lot in this one, so I won't talk very long about this site. The fossils are from the upper-Valanginian stage, and again, mostly ammonites are found here. Weirdly, we didn't find any ammonites of the Crioceratites genus here. To find stuff here, you should walk along the path uphill and carefully look for fossils. You could go to the deposition north of the path, though I didn't have a lot of success there. LE MAS -- Picture was taken by me BELLEGARDE-EN-DIOIS We also went to Bellegarde-En-Diois, a small village north of La Charce. We found an exposed layer of limestone with many imprints of ammonites. They were very fragile, but we found some less fragile fossils too. This place and Col de Prémol (a tiny village just north of Bellegarde) are known for their beautiful pyrite ammonites, though we didn't find them. FURTHER INFORMATION At almost every mountain climbing trip we had this holiday, we found fossils. So even when you're not expecting them, just see if you can find anything if there's limestone laying around. For example, I found this ammonite of the genus Lytoceras on a random mountain where I didn't expect fossils: LYTOCERAS SPEC. -- Photo was taken by me I am currently working on a map of all the locations in the Baronnies (+Carniol) on Google Earth, here is a link, but it's still a WIP: https://earth.google.com/earth/d/16rC52Gd2tP5fKniCggfOEK0L3E4sV7zO?usp=sharing I've never been to most of these locations, so going there is at own risk. I found most of the locations in an old Dutch magazine from the nineties, so there could be nothing to find. Here's a download link to that DUTCH magazine: (PDF) Het Onder-Krijt van de Provence. GEA 21(1): 1-36, 7 plates, 32 figs. (researchgate.net) Some locations were found with Paleontica.org, here is a link to the specific page: Fossil Location Les Baronnies, France (paleontica.org) I will be releasing part II of this trip report soon (it's about Carniol, so you should read it) so stay tuned! MAP OF THE 3 MAIN LOCATIONS -- google earth

Hey everyone, So this summer, like most summers, my family went to my grandpa's holiday house in southern France. Seeing that we had many days with nothing planned, I managed to convince them to go fossil hunting one day. At first, I wanted to go to Lacoste, a place known for its echinoids and gorgeous white scallops, but it turns out these quarries are no longer accessible. So instead we went to Carniol, which was a little further away. After only a few hours in the car we arrived at the village of Carniol. "Village" would still be considered being generous: there are no more than a dozen or so houses! And most seem abandoned too... There are two clay exposures on either side of the village, on the side of the road. They aren't hard to find, because the gray clay really stands out from the grass and trees. Both exposures are pretty much exactly the same. We started off at the first one.

Hi everyone, Should've posted these a LOOONG time ago, but me being the lazy guy I am I forgot to do so till now Anyways, here goes. These were all found by me (/my family) in the Carniol clay banks in southeastern France. They are (heavily for some) pyritized. They are from the "Gargasian", Aptian stage, Cretaceous. Would love to hear the species name of them. Genus is still fantastic. Thoughts? Thanks in advance, Max #1:

Hi everyone, This little guy comes from Carniol, France. It is from the "Gargasian", Aptian, Cretaceous. Surprisingly, unlike most other finds (so everything except for belemnites), this one doesn't seem pyritized... Anyways. It's pretty flat (because of geological processes flattening it; my gut feeling says that naturally it is meant to be much rounder). Now I'm really not sure if this is a weird heteromorph ammonite or a weird gastropod. I would guess that it is a gastropod simply because they are much more common, but it just looks so weird that I'm stumped. Hopefully you guys can solve my little mystery! If better pictures are needed, which will probably be the case, I will make them. Thanks in advance, Max

Hi all, Here are a gastropod and a bivalve that I found in Carniol, southeastern France this summer. They are from the "Gargasian", Aptian, Cretaceous. The pictures aren't fantastic, so if needed I can retake them. Thanks in advance, Max #1 A gastropod (surprisingly not a steinkern, but the shell itself!). Preservation is surprisingly good I find for something this old, especially taking into account the fact it's been replaced by pyrite!

Hi all, Here are some fossils I found at this summer in Carniol, and I would like to know what they are. If the species can be said that would be fantastic. So, the fossils are all from Carniol, France. They are from the "Gargasian", of the Aptian stage of the Cretaceous, some 120'000 years old. Looks like they're all pyrite-replaced. I believe they're some kind of cephalopods, but I'm really not sure. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance! Max

Hi all, So a few weeks ago now I went to the location Carniol in France to look for fossils. And we found lots! Most of the finds are pyrite ammonites, but we shouldn’t leave out all the belemnites and little shell steinkerns we found. All the fossils are from the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and apart from the belemnites all have been replaced by pyrite. So I've already taken out all the belemnites and rinsed the clay off of each one (they’re looking gorgeous right now!), because their shells are not made of pyrite (and seem not to require any special treatment). By the way, does anyone know why only the belemnites are not replaced by pyrite, while all the other fossils are??? But now comes the question of all the pyrite fossils. All are very small. Some were found already starting to “rust” (I suppose this is due to pyrite disease?), but most are still in good state. Nearly all are still partially covered in dry clay though, and (just like it did with the belemnites) I suppose it will come off very easily as soon as it comes in contact with water. But, here is where I am a little worried: Rust is due to the oxidation (—> oxygen) of iron. And in water there is oxygen too, and more of it than in air. Therefore I’m scared that rinsing the pyrite fossils will accelerate the process of pyrite disease and make them “rust” more quickly. So what should I do to clean the fossils? Is it okay if I simply rinse them off? Or is that a no-go? Or maybe I should do it in a special manner or with specific substances? And, finally, what do you think is the best way for me to handle these fossils so that they “survive the pyrite disease” the longest possible? I know that there are a few ways with some weird chemicals to treat them, but I’m only a kid with limited equipment, money and experience, so I’m not able to do anything too intricate or acquire very funky chemicals. I’ve also read that apparently there are two different types of pyrite? How do I know which one my fossils are, and is there anything I should know more about it? Thanks in advance for your help to all those questions! Max

Hi all, So after learning of the inaccessibility of the location Lacoste, I was wondering if there was maybe another location nearby. On Fossiel.NET I found the location Carniol, which looks very promising! https://www.fossiel.net/sites/fossil_site.php?plaats=148 Anyone got any tips on how to best find fossils and bring them home? How to look, how to take the fossils out, etc? Any tips or comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, Max