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One of the wonderful things about this hobby is that the adventures are always surprising, and this weekend proved that yet again. ...................................................... A few days ago, I decided that it's time to branch out around austin a bit. Over the past few months, I've discovered a few "safe spots", where I know I can usually find something, but none of those spots center around one of the most productive formations in Central Texas - The Eagle Ford. Furthermore, I was inspired by some of the marvelous collections from some of the locals here, who have pulled many of their specimens from Travis County's Eagle Ford exposures. So, it was time to get to work. I decided that, specifically, I wanted to romp around localities where the Bouldin Flags member of the eagle ford was exposed, with the hope of running into Ptychodus or Mosasaur material. Online, I found an old geology guidebook, written in the 70's by the University of Texas. It actually was extremely detailed about where to find many members of the Eagle Ford, and listed three absurdly specific and trivial locales for the Bouldin Flags. However, since it was written in the 70's, some of the street names they mentioned changed slightly or straight up didn't exist anymore, and one of them I suspect was covered with development. So, it took some creative investigative work until I thought that I found a good spot to act on - A drainage ditch next to a railroad deep in Austin. I arrived with high hopes that were soon dashed - a very large homeless camp was parked all along the stretch that was mentioned (that's Austin for ya). The railroad itself was quite elevated, with the ditch leading down low, all the way to a creek. Determined not to waste a trip, I simply decided to find a different access point and explore the creek - maybe there were more exposures if I just walked a quarter of a mile down. I eventually found myself looking at some bulgy, unstable looking limestone banks, like the one above, but many more pronounced in their texture. It was a long, slow, sweaty walk, up and down. Litter from the homeless camp upstream crowded some parts of the creek, and I was also getting rather hazy - I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, and there was a lot to see. (pardon the upcoming image quality, most are screenshots from the videos I took) (above: an aesthetic little slab) On my last pass back however, I saw the unmistakable shape of an ammonite protruding from the ground - but it was far larger than any ammo I've ever seen. Below is the insitu and after wiggling it out - these are size 11 shoes, for reference It took a while to pick my jaw up from the rocks - this was crazy! I was conflicted though - where on earth would I put the thing?!? After a mental tug of war that lasted exactly 2 seconds, I decided that I couldn't bear the thought of leaving it, knowing that the creek will eventually just wither this big ammo chunk into nothing. So I hoisted the heavy brute onto my shoulder, and endured the walk back. Once on the street, the strange mud covered college kid lugging a big rock around in the middle of the city got some strange looks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once it was posted in Fossil ID, @JohnJ was quick to identify it as a Parapuzosia bosei or Pachydiscus sp. He also pointed out that it looked like I'd wondered my way into the Austin Chalk, but honestly, I can't complain with a find like this. @erose also made a great suggestion for a local geology guidebook, so maybe the Bouldin Flags member won't be elusive forever! Final notes: Between both ID's, I settled on Parapuzosia bosei (partly because they're a little cooler in my mind, lol), and it makes for some interesting comparisons. For example - the largest species of the Parapuzosia genus came from Europe, and I found some interesting tidbits on them. Since bosei is in the same genus though, I decided it is reasonable to scale some of the calculations that exist for their European counterparts. For example - what's given is that the largest European species of Parapuzosia reached about 2.55 meters in diameter, whereas bosei apparently reaches the neighborhood of 1.3 meters. What's also given is that these large European species, in their prime, would hold about 700 litres of air in their shell to stay buoyant, and that the organism inside could've weighed around 751 kg. If we use that info and scale it down via a simple proportion, we could probably make reasonable estimations for our Texas counterpart, the bosei. Those would mean that a large bosei could hold ~ 357 litres of air in it's shell, and would've weighed ~383 kg without its shell - that's 844 lbs of pure cephalopod! Provided, this is all based on the assumption that European and American members of the genus are similar, but you get my drift. Anyway, this was a pretty cool day. I think I now have a hopeless obsession with gigantic ammos. A change of scenery from sharks at least!

This post is not so much about a single trip, but more to showcase this summer's hunting, with some details or stories with some of the posts. Historically, for me at least, the Austin area is one heck of a locale to scour.There are some incredible, charismatic, interesting fossils around, but man, looking for them can beat you down at times. I am pleased to say at least, that I think I've finally clicked for the area though. I can find something of interest practically every time I go now. But enough rambling, here are (some) of my favorite finds as of late: 1.) First thing's first - of the fossils I'm showing today, this one was closest to home, coming out of Round Rock, Texas As you can tell, I have not cleaned it yet - that may irk some people, but I actually kind of appreciate fossils that look as natural as possible. I was not actually fossil hunting when we discovered this Ammonite partial. An old friend of mine invited me to a local park along a creek, to go fishing and herping (finding snakes). We were stomping around the creek, hardly paying attention to anything, just chatting away. As we stepped out, back onto the bank, she pointed out a strange texture protruding out of the bank.. "Is this a fossil?" to which I replied, "I doubt there are fossils here, probably not" The water was clouded, so I just groped around until I felt that texture - the greenish part above to the right is what was sticking out of the bank. After wiggling it out with great effort, we were both surprised and excited, making for a great memory in the waning light, in the middle of a forested creek. Since it was her find, I insisted she keep it, but despite thinking it was super cool, she insisted it's not really her interest and that I take it home instead. Since then, I've returned to this spot, and discovered that there's about a 5 meter stretch where ammonites poke out the bank consistently. It's nice to have a new spot, found with friends. 2.) All the rest of these come out of the same creek in austin, and from 2 different spots at said creek. At the top, a plesiosaur caudal rib. All of my my finds from this creek came from one site, except for the caudal rib, mosasaur tooth, and a bison tooth, which came from another single site. At the bottom left, a chunk of columbian mammoth tooth, and at the bottom right, a fossilized fish vertebra. 3.) a closed (exogyra? I'm not versed with invertebrates) oyster. I've never found one that's still closed like this, so I suppose it's unique enough to showcase 4.) These are some of my pride and joys - on the right, a tylosaur tooth. You can imagine the absolute mosasaur meltdown I had after finding that one. Immediately to it's left is a large Scapanorynchus texanus. Of the ptychodus teeth, I know that the upper tooth is a mortoni, and a beautiful one at that, with a complete root as well. As for the ptychodus tooth at the bottom, I haven't decided on a species, but it was nonetheless a wonderful find, despite missing the root. The last tooth on the left is another scapanorynchus tooth that is in worse condition, but I don't mind, as it is still a shark tooth and still from austin, giving it a gold medal in my books. 5.) Lastly, some more recent mammalian stuff. The mammoth tooth chunk would've been a better fit here. Here are the four bison teeth I've discovered so far. My favorite came out of the same site that produced the mosy tooth and plesiosaur caudal rib, and is the one that I have a separate photo of. I like it the most because it has the best signs of preservation out of any of the teeth, making it probably the oldest out of the four. The beautiful orange (which is seen in the mammoth tooth piece as well) is just beginning to creep in along the edges, so I think it's safe to say the tooth might be many hundreds of years old, if not well over a thousand. I know practically nothing on preservation rates, so that's more of a loose guess of mine. Feel free to correct me if needed, as I'd love to learn. Lastly, some native tools. Not the best in terms of quality, but interesting tidbits of history nonetheless.

I collected this fossil many years ago as a kid, from a very rocky creek bed in Gorman, Texas. North Central Texas. No idea as to the geological age of the area. The "scales" have a slightly curved face that rises from the center to the sides, but not front and back. They also seem to be leaned on top of another similar to how normal scales are, all pointing the same direction. Almost looks as though the back side of the specimen has bone fragments visible? To my untrained eye, this what I assumed. From my own research, so far I assume it could be from a fish, similar to Lepidote? I'm an amature, so I'm really not sure. Any help identifying would be very appreciated!

Here is the second object that I think is a tooth. Would love to hear what some of you folks think.

I have two small fossilized objects that I think are teeth. Can anyone offer any thoughts, please? This is the first one...

Hey y'all Here's a bone fragment that I think might actually be identifiable from a creek around the austin area. Ozan formation. My thought is it may be fish, but I can only really base that on size. I found some other pieces after the storm recently as well, but all the others are probably just "chunkasaurus". thanks for any input, I'd really appreciate it

Recently, I was introduced by some friends of mine to full fledged rock climbing, and I was hooked. One session on a big cliff near Austin was all it took. As many of you know, rock climbing shoes are excessively tight, and I decided that it would be best to try and break in my new shoes on some small, crumbly limestone cliffs next to the track of the elementary school I went to. I was scouting out which portions of the cliff would be manageable when I noticed by my feet an otherwise inconspicuous rock with two or three dimples on one end. Fossils hadn't really been on my mind for most of the week, with school and climbing occupying the space instead... but that shape screamed at me. ( are you thinking what I'm thinking...) I overturned it, and looking back at me where the coils of an ammonite... missing those rare inner whorls, but still the largest, best preserved ammonite I had ever come across... and right next to the track/field area that I frequented as a little kid, tucked away between those trees and a cliff! Here it was as found, once turned over, and then cleaned up. After such a pleasant surprise, finding some sturdy rock to get my hands on and scampering around those cliffs was the perfect cherry on top to bring my evening to an close

Went out to the Central Texas Coryell County and looked for some Early Cretaceous fossils. I recognize most of these fossils like Exogyra Texana, Gastropods, and clams I found before, but I can't seem to ID one long elongated bivalve that looks a modern razor clams.

I own some property in Blanco County, Texas and there are many fossils and fossil imprints embedded in the rock along the creek that runs through the property. I would love to know what these fossils are. I am posting just 2 pics because of size restrictions. I know nothing about fossils but am fascinated by the ones I have found. Any help would be appreciated.

Today was supposed to be a day of grinding away at my piles of homework that have been accumulating over the course of last week (hey, I was on vacation what can I say)...and I was almost successful, save until 3 pm rolled around. Getting a little stir crazy, and in desperate need of the fossil hunting fix that I missed out on over the course of my week long vacation + the week of snow we had prior, I set out to take a "small walk" to an area of a creek I hadn't scouted before. My intention was just to do a little bit of reconnaissance - I saw on a geologic map that this particular portion of the creek may expose some of the productive Eagle Ford formation, implying that I *might* have a chance of finding an ever locally elusive Cretaceous shark tooth. A 10 minute drive found me at the park which serves as an access point. It was clear that nobody frequents the area once down at the creek. The creek was virgin, at least here. Furthermore, the ram horn oysters which made their appearance along the gravel banks suggested that I was in the correct exposure. 20-30 minutes in, I find my first Echinoid...ever! It was fairly weathered by the creek, and a little small, but I'm not a man to complain - this is celebration worthy by my terms. Here is that first find, rinsed off. The burst of energy moved me forward through the thicket. At this point, I was on an "island", where the creek had wrapped itself around a little piece of land that had become quite overgrown. Within another 20 minutes, I made my next discovery - another (highly weathered) echinoid with a blobby, uneven pattern on it not too different from a sand dollar. It's difficult to make out details with a camera, but I tried nonetheless. The top arm is the only easily visible portion of the pattern. An hour or so passes, and evening is descending. My final find came in dim lighting, shining proudly out of it's bank where it was half buried. Oddly enough, the best preserved portion is the portion that was sticking out of the ground. Break dancing moves rapidly followed. And so, my evening came to a close. Another highlight was where my heart outright exploded out of my chest glancing at what I thought to be a marine reptile tooth. A second or so of looking, though, deemed that it's probably just a small, slightly weathered rudist - a cool find none the less! Finish that off with a uniquely red ram horn oyster (remnants of original color? Or just fossilized in an interesting mineral environment?) and my day came to a satisfying close. Now to get back to my calculus homework that I've been so diligently procrastinating :''D

Hi all, I read on a discussion from 2018 that the Waco Pit was in danger of being closed to the public. Seeming that was over two years ago I'm curious to know if it's still open to collect from. Furthermore, if it is open, do I need a permit to go?

Hi all! Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I' still new to the forum as well as the hobby itself, so I offer a teaching moment - In round rock, (just north of austin in central texas), I have a location at the base of a limestone cliff where after some gritty mining efforts I've come across an extremely dense pocket of what I've been informed are internal casts of rudists. That ID was great!, but I'm having trouble learning about what the actual organisms were like. I've tried researching quite a bit with no clear picture of what these are that I'm discovering. Also geologic maps of the area have some disagreement, so the exact spot could be Edwards limestone, eagle ford, or buda limestone. I understand (I think) that these were some variation of a mollusk but the story ends there. Discovering these would be even more magical if I had a proper understanding of what these organisms were like, looked like, and what role they played in their environment while they were living. I know these are a common fossil so many of you will have a wealth of knowledge about these. Please enlighten me, I'd love to learn! Below are some examples for reference:

I would greatly appreciate any help in identifying this "fossil". This "fossil" was found on the ground in an area where limestone was being dump on the ground for a pad or road. Central Texas; probably Frio county. Thank you.

Hi all, this is my first post so please excuse any mistakes. I found this Specimen in the Canyon Lake area if Central Texas. I haven't tried to remove too much of the limestone until I knew more about what this might be.

Hello everyone. I am new to the site so please let me slide if this is incomplete. I found this fossil in a small Creek in the west part of Dallas county in Texas. This area is upper Cretaceous but this bone is in amazing condition in my opinion so maybe more recent?? It is currently in storage so these are the only pictures I have right now. Any info or suggestions would be awesome and appreciated

Hello all, I'm 19 and brand new to the site, I'm hoping this is where I can get a potential ID on some very interesting fossils a family friend of ours supposedly found 10 minutes east of Austin on their private property. The first of which is a mostly complete fossilized fish - according to this friend of ours, it was found close to a river, where limestone slabs stick out from the eroded bank. As far as I understand, this was from an old bank line rather than the current one. He pulled on of the slabs out from said bank, and on it (after appropriate cleaning), a fish skeleton was found as shown below: An ID to the genus at least would be very appreciated. Secondly, and perhaps more interesting, is a fossilized piece of skin (potentially) I know fewer details about this particular find, but he does say that he found it on the same property. Some other fossil finds he has made (he's not a vigorous hobbyist, he doesn't actively search for these, just passively and on occasion for fun) include some bivalves and the other typical gastropods of the area. Of the photos, he included a picture of a large vertebrae, which I believe may be a mosasaur vert - a find sometimes made in central texas. Anyway, the skin he found is below: I don't have much context for size, my guess is that it's probably about 2 inches (5 cm) in length. Thanks for any ID guesses! I hope I uploaded this in the correct area!

I've been doing a lot of exploration in the Grayson Formation (Lower Cretaceous) exposures south of Waco lately, and so last week I was doing some hunting on a nice marly slope in the South Bosque River. I picked up lots of pyritized heteromorph ammonites and some turritella, but what really caught my eye was this tiny piece of fossilized bone. I know that vertebrate material can be found in the Grayson - I've even found some nice Cretolamna and Ptychodus teeth myself - but this doesn't seem to be fish or shark. The walls of the inner cavity are extremely thin when you look at the cross section where it is broken which is what's leading me in the pterosaur direction. Maybe a metatarsal? Or a fragment of a larger bone from a much smaller species? Any help would be appreciated.

I took a advantage of the cool weather today (low 90's) and headed out to Central Texas near Waco. This was first time hunting in the Texas Paw Paw formation ( The Paw Paw Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the late Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation). I didn't find any dinosaurs , but found plenty of ammos on the cliff and in the creek bed. It was an interesting experience finding few ammonites. Here are few photos that I snapped today. Beautiful day lower 90's. Creek water level is always low this time of the year. I found this complete ammo sticking out of the cliff. Typical Paw Paw formation. Got my trusty old tools out and hammering out the ammo. Other Ammos are in the creek bed, but badly worn. Got one out!

This is my very first post on The Fossil Forum. I was hoping for some experts to weigh in on what exactly are these fossils. I picked them from a lake shore in Central Texas. Can you please tell me the species? What are the approximate ages for these? Why did they go extinct? Thank you for all of your help. Dubs