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Two weeks ago I decided to make a weekend trip to several Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous sites in North Texas. I had these sites on my list to visit for a while so it was nice to get to finally check them out. Fortunately @BobWill was nice enough to meet me at Jacksboro on the Saturday. Being my first ever trip to Jacksboro, it was nice to have someone with me with some experience and expertise on the site. Bob kindly told me that it was uncommon to find vertebrate material at the site, but that still didn't stop me from finding the root of a petalodont tooth and the base of a cladodont tooth! On my drive to Jacksboro, I stopped at a couple Pennsylvanian sites near Lake Bridgeport. I first stopped at two exposures of the Jasper Creek Shale. My best find was a dorsal cup of a Delocrinus pictus crinoid. From there I visited three exposures of the Lake Bridgeport Shale. It was fun to sort through the broken concretions and pick up some of the colorful gastropods that had weathered out of them. I even found a tiny pygidium of the trilobite Ditomopyge scitula! Glabrocingulum sp. Straparollus pernodosus Ditomopyge scitula Waking early Saturday morning I beat Bob to Jacksboro but that gave me enough time to quickly eat my breakfast and put my gear on. Being close to the water there was a bit of a chilly breeze in the morning but the weather quickly turned once the sun came out in full force. It was truly a beautiful day to be out fossil collecting. I spent the better part of the day crawling around the site, trying my best to put eyes on every nook and cranny of the exposure. I had read a lot about the diversity and abundance of fossils at the site, and it surely did not disappoint. Here are some of my favorite finds: The aforementioned cladodont Glikmanius occidentalis tooth as found Fortunately all of the pieces went back together nicely! The aforementioned petalodont Petalodus ohioensis tooth I got a little carried away looking for the bigger cephalopods at the site but did manage to find a few Eoasianites sp. and Imitoceras grahamense goniatites Gonioloboceras goniolobum Neodimorphoceras texanum Domatoceras obsoletum Poterioceras curtum Metacoceras sp. Euloxoceras greenei Pseudorthoceras knoxense Brachycycloceras normale Conularia crustula Linoproductus cora Juresania nebrascensis Antiquatonia portlockiana Soleniscus primigenius Trepospira illinoisensis Worthenia tabulata Cladochonus sp. On Sunday I made my way to three sites that exposed three different Cretaceous formations. My first stop was a construction site showcasing the Austin Chalk-Eagle Ford Group boundary. It was a lot of fun splitting open large blocks of chalk from the Austin Chalk in search of inoceramids and crawling through shale from the Eagle Ford Group in search of shark teeth. I was excited to find my first ever Ptychodus tooth. Some Austin Chalk inoceramids Ptychodus whipplei Squalicorax falcatus From there I checked out two exposures of the Britton Formation. While I had hopes of finding some of the famed Britton Formation decapods, all that I found was a tail section of the mud lobster Upogebia rhacheochir and a crustacean claw. Most of the concretions will need to be prepped to exposed more of what they have inside before I truly know what I found. I did find a couple of ammonite pieces too. Crustacean claw Ammonite chunks A tiny Sciponoceras gracile My last stop of the trip was a roadside ditch that I had noted on my drive on Friday. The site is mapped as Denton Clay. I did not really know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. This Pliotoxaster inflatus(?) was my first sign that this site could be productive From there I just kept finding echinoids, and big ones too! At one point I looked down at the ground and there was a line of Macraster sp. just waiting for me to pick them up. I also picked up this Mortoniceras sp. prepped by nature

I recently acquired this nice little tooth from the Carlile Shale of north central Kansas, which I believe is Turonian in age. It looks like Cardabiodon ?venator to me, but I don't have much experience with the genus. What do others think? The tooth measures 27.17 mm along the slant and is 21.66 mm wide.

Hello all, I recently collected this interesting permineralized fruit from the Browns River on Vancouver Island, B.C. This river exposes outcrops of the lower Trent River formation of the Nanaimo Group, which represents a relatively nearshore Campanian marine environment. The fossil itself was found in an outcrop of fairly poorly consolidated sandstone, which also contained large pieces of coalified wood debris and a poorly preserved, crushed ammonite. I'm not particularly optimistic about getting a positive ID on this, but I am interested to see what others think about it, and would definitely appreciate some educated suggestions about a possible affinity. As far as I'm aware, fossil fruits from the Nanaimo Group are quite rare, so I would also be interested to know if anything similar to this has been found before or not. (Fossil is ~1.5cm long, the angle it's photographed at isn't completely flat). Front (note the longitudinal groove): Rear (this end is partially eroded away, presumably because it was the part sticking out of the rock): Top (note the round scar of the hilum): Bottom: Surface texture: Thanks for your attention! @Wrangellian@fossisle

I have here two shark teeth from the Cretaceous of Texas that I'm hoping to ID. #1: Dwardius ?woodwardi? The first tooth below is from Dallas, TX, from a buffer zone between the Eagle Ford and Woodbine formations (i.e., late Cretaceous, ~90-96 mya). I previously posted this tooth in the mailbox score thread and the @ThePhysicist tentatively IDed it as Dwardius (woodwardi?) but recommended posting it in the ID forum. I'm finally getting around to doing that! This tooth measures 25 mm on the slant. #2: Cretoxyrhina ?mantelli? I don't have as much info on the next tooth below. I acquired it last year from the estate of a Dallas, TX, fossil collector. I don't have any other details, but it was most likely collected from a site in North Texas. I've tentatively IDed this as Cretoxyrhina mantelli teeth; if that's the correct ID, it would be the first one in my collection with cusplets. This tooth measures 29 mm on the slant. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Collected some rocks from the Grapevine Lake area, however I'm wondering if these are from Woodbine or imported rocks? This is first time I've found any parts of an echinoid, I know some are spines but there are different ones, I recognize some of the other things but not all so numbered them. The last 2 pics I tried to get shot of tiny baby echinoids, there may be 2 in one pic but one looks exploded. There were so many things I couldn't even get them all but this will be good start.

As the title implies - I had a very busy and exciting spring break. Big news first - I confirmed plans this June to intern with a small paleo company, "Fossil excavators", in North Dakota for two weeks digging up a sub-adult T. rex, which was found right at the end of the season last year. We'll be exploring more than just that though, as the hell creek dig sites accessible to them are rife with life. A unique Triceratops horridus specimen, nicknamed "Alice", who's an adult missing all indication of its right horn (perhaps hox gene mutation, perhaps an injury as a hatchling, it's not known yet, as preparation is still underway) was found close by at the same site, as well as adult rex material. In our zoom interview, they also asked about the Mosasaur Christian and I found in September, and I jumped at the chance to get to talk about it. For those still curious, progress has been sloooooow but consistent. I went back to the site to poke around more at the pit just out of a "what if" notion, and found much more of the skull and skeleton. There's still skeletal material in there, but the full on dig has been getting postponed for a while. We do finally have a date in mind though! Anyway, here's a link about Alice below - I'm obviously super excited, and also specifically excited to work with Harry. I'll probably try to plant myself as firmly as possible into assisting with their unrelated (to the interns) projects as I can. P.S. - It'll make the coolest trip report ever https://abcnews.go.com/US/biology-student-helps-discover-65-million-year-triceratops/story?id=64562977 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now on to my week of fossil hunts: Early on, I decided to explore a new creek with Ozan strata. I had high hopes but got mostly skunked - can't win them all. I'm mostly including it here because the grandiosity of the exposure impressed me, and perhaps some invertebrate lovers will have an appreciation for the oysters I saw there: In between balancing friends and rock climbing, I found another time to hunt a day or two later - this time a much more familiar spot that has unfortunately been receiving increasing attention. The low water and ample foot prints told me first how picked over it would be, but despite that, I made some uncommon finds I was happy with: First, this point, the smallest I've ever found, and no doubt an actual bow and arrow point, rather than an Atlatl point like all others I find. I don't know the type yet, but it's an impressive little piece that was sitting right beside somebody's foot print: Pleased with myself, I then found another piece of Columbian mammoth tooth enamel - this is only the third I've ever seen, and the three I have found have all been within the same 100 meter stretch of creek - I'm dying to find where they're coming from. The next day, I decided to solve just that problem. The plan was to hit the hard-to-explore upstream area where I knew there ought to be a small Pleistocene exposure. Those who have seen my posts on the forum a lot probably know well by now that if I have a sworn nemesis, it's the Pleistocene. I have so much trouble finding Pleistocene exposures that I take it personally at this point The team was myself, my step-brother christian, who always proves to be good luck on the expeditions we do together, and my friend Siri, who on her very first outing, discovered that bi-face that some may remember from an earlier report. I'd call that good luck as well. I had only explored the stretch of creek we were on once before, and that was in a mad dash, as the day was closing on me quickly when I initially scouted it. Through the bramble thickets and thigh deep creek walking, we started making our first few finds: Christian with an interesting cretaceous fish tooth, ID undecided: Myself with a nice Squalicorax, maybe S. kaupi Siri walking an exposure below: An interesting piece of cretaceous shark cartilage Siri spotted, ID'd first by @ThePhysicist Then, things started getting exciting when we stumbled upon a wealth of Bison material: Below, three ribs weathering out of the bank - the ribs themselves weren't diagnostic, but the positive ID on the Bison tooth shown next only a few feet away means that these ribs are probably associated with it. Siri spotted those above, and Christian close by spotted a large leg bone in the same layer. As we round the corner, I noticed a deeply weathered bone in a layer that was a few feet higher coming out of the bank - blowing on it, I saw teeth! It was a lower jaw. Now, before you get your hopes up, this jaw did come from a higher layer, and I've decided after cleaning that I think it's most likely cow - the stylids on the teeth in the jaw don't look the stylids on my confirmed Bison teeth. Bummer - but I didn't know that yet! It took three days in total of short trips when I had the time, to get it out in tact, and it made for a really euphoric experience while doing so, considering the beautiful area it was in. I will still upload a picture of the teeth later, just in case my cow ID could be wrong Below, the initial revealing of the jaw, with christian working to extract a vertebra in the background: The jaw after I completely revealed it when I came back two days later: Fast forward to two days ago. I was exploring an Eagle Ford spot in a dingey little creek that produces magnificent fossils, like my largest tooth from anything to date, a Xiphactinus partial tooth. This time, instead of splitting open mudstone, I poked around in gravel a bit, and lo and behold, I quickly came across a stunner (to me) Cretoxyrhina mantelli. I am not good at finding large representatives of this species, even though the teeth from this animal have the potential to reach 2.7 inches in length. This is likely my largest C. mantelli tooth in terms of mass, and I love the colors. I also found what what has the potential to be a decently sized tooth in matrix, in the queue to be prepped out soon. A follow up trip the day after was less successful, with a few of the now usual Ptychodus anonymous teeth showing themselves, and a chunk of Pleistocene tooth - crossing my fingers for horse, but in reality it's probably un ID'able. It's funny to call a shark tooth "usual" for me now, many of you may remember when seeing even a piece of a Ptychodus tooth in central texas would have made me lose my mind. Today's classes were cancelled, as my professor had an important appointment, so I spent the day neglecting my other pressing responsibilities and drove around frivolously, exploring new wild areas. I was dodging a thunderstorm that kept finding me and soaking me, and at one point had to hop a curb to hide under a tree with my car to avoid the hail. I decided to go and check out another Eagle Ford spot 15 minutes from my house right as the worst of the evening storm passed again, and as I pulled into the neighborhood that the spot bordered, I was met with views of torn out fences, ripped up shingles, and also much later with blown out windows, caved in garage doors, and in some concentrated areas, portions of roofs lifted. A tornado had barged through the neighborhood 40 minutes before I got there. At first, on the way in, I only saw the area of lighter damage, the worst being uprooted oak trees, as is usual with our normal strong spring storms. I saw neighbors walking about investigating it, but I had no idea it was a proper tornado that came through. Seeming I thought it was just storm damage at this point, I anyway walked down to my spot and hunted to no success - I did however see another deep black/brown cloud coming in, and noticed what I thought were tornado sirens for a few seconds. As I drove out, I took a different route, and saw the heavier damage, (the torn up roof portions and caved in garages). I pulled over to help the neighbors clean some of the worse hit areas before it got dark, and then tried driving back to see if my house is ok. Turns out the neighborhood I helped in didn't even get it the worst, another neighborhood just south of them and 8 or so minutes from me got super badly hit, with fully uplifted roofs and everything. Roads were iffy and it took many detours, but I was able to confirm that my house and chickens were fine when I eventually got back. I've been home alone for a few days, so my parents had no idea that our town got hit. Christian was a little jealous he missed it Here's some footage of the twister itself, for those curious. The debris is when it hit the shopping center where the bank is. The tornado picked up and dropped down several times, and the path it took in the video would've taken it to my neighborhood in less than a minute if it didn't pick up, as the road this angle looks on is only a few minutes away. Definitely got lucky! It's amazing no one was seriously injured. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/live-blog-severe-storms-expected-to-move-through-central-texas/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anyway, there's a lot to unpack there, an exciting one week for sure! I also had tons of non- fossil related fun, rock climbing hard and staying up until the sun came out with friends back from college. What a week it was.

Yesterday took Rockwood out to Grapevine lake to explore the Woodbine, we went on treacherous hike below spillway that may or may not have been restricted area. Spotted this in place where sun could have bleached it, didn't know what it was without glasses so stuck it in my pocket for not so safe keeping. Didn't make it back in one peice and it's driving me nuts trying to figure out what it came from or if it's fossil or not. I put the peices in order in one picture, the little strip of teeth goes middle.

Lebanese shark fossil for sale online. Is it a fake?

Bought in East Anglia, UK, are these teeth and attached fragmentary jaw parts of a mosasaur? Or - something just a little bit different? The whole piece hails (apparently) from Khouribga, Morocco...

Hunstanton, Ferriby Chalk, Cretaceous, Cenomanian. When I found this piece I was looking for echinoids, so saw it and thought tubercle. I've kept it with my Ferriby echinoids, but I'm not convinced that's what this is, there's nothing about it to me that looks echinoid except for this little tubercle like shape. Beside it is another similar ring. If it's part of a test, something really bad happened to it, it must be a broken folded test. But I was wondering if I was always on the wrong track with the idea it was echinoderm related. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Hey folks! I’ve got an unusual ammonite found in Rankin Texas. I believe it’s from Edwards Limestone, but I don’t have an exact pinpoint on the location. This whole one was found, and a part of another of the same species, but I haven’t been able to identify them as of yet. Edit: Confirmed it is indeed Edwards Limestone. Measurement is with a 1in with centimeters marked. Thank you!

Picked this up in Post Oak creek, Cretaceous. Not sure what I'm looking at, don't recognize usual root, is that a chunk of gum attached to tooth? Looks like it was part of larger piece that broke off and left the impression beside it .

Hi everyone! I wanted to post one of my new favorite finds from this past week of collecting in the Hell Creek formation of Montana. I found this little partial claw at a microsite which proved to be quite productive, making for a great day. While the articulating surface is missing, I still feel that it could be identifiable and my first guess is bird. Avisaurus in particular as I remember seeing similar claws being labeled as such on other platforms. It’s about two centimeters long and the bottom is flat, giving it a somewhat triangular cross section. photos from the field. Pics I just took from the motel. Unguals from the paper describing Mirarce, a close relative of what’s present in Hell Creek. I’d love to read some opinions.

This stone was found 40 years ago in the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. I am trying to date the fossils. I guess it is Cretaceous but I am a newbie.

So, since the price of gas is skyrocketing, i have a quick trip to Big Brook planned for the end of the month. I will be driving down from New Hampshire, moaning at the cost of gas! I have been to BB three times now, this will be the fourth. I have only entered from two spots, both on the east side of the park- I am wondering where other people like to start? I have no idea how to GET to the brook from the internal parking lot! Are there better/different ways to get into the brook? I don’t want any Secret Collecting Spot info, I just like variety :) i also know there’s a site further up the street, adjacent to a school (the name is escaping me)- is that a site worth making a day visit, or a quick wander? I’ll be visiting on a weekday. Attached is a super technical drawing of the two spots I have entered Big Brook from, always starting from the east and moving upstream/west.

Hello! This topic will show my personal finds from the Ignaberga Quarry, Sweden. Ignaberga is a quarry in Skåne County, Sweden. It is in the Kristianstad Basin. The age is Upper Cretaceous. Santonian to Maastrichtian. But most of the outcrops are Lower Campanian in age. The environment was a warm to subtropical shallow inland sea with an archipelago and small Peninsulas. I will be updating this thread with pictures of my finds. Enjoy & regards - Adriano

On Sunday I was in North Texas collecting from several Cretaceous sites when I came across this object at an exposure of what I believe to be the Denton Clay (Washita Group). I do not discount that it is perhaps just a strange geological anomaly but it was interesting enough and reminiscent enough of orthocone cephalopods I have collected in the Texas Pennsylvanian (particularly Pseudorthoceras) to pick it up. What is strange is that the cross section of the object appears to be simply a mud filled tube, which is usually not characteristic of a cephalopod, which would have septae capping it off. The fact that there is hard matrix inside the "tube" and matrix glued to the outside makes me believe that it is natural rather than man-made. Any guesses on what this could be? I am truly stumped.

Back in April of last year I started a new job based in Texas. I had planned to work remotely until we returned to the office and then make a road trip down to Texas that would involve making several fossil pit stops along the way. When the time came for my move to Texas, my road trip unfortunately coincided with Hurricane Ida and I had to sadly scrap all of my plans and simply hightail it through the Gulf Coast to avoid the storm. Fortunately though I was given off from work the week between Christmas and New Years and I was even more determined to not let my research go to waste. The delay in my road trip also had the added bonus of time- I ended up visiting several sites that I had not known about during my move to Texas. Funnily, while I did not have to dodge hurricanes on this trip, I did have to dodge two tornado warnings. I guess extreme weather is just something you have to deal with when you fossil collect along the Gulf Coast. The road trip ended up being ten days of late nights and early mornings. I found a ton of really interesting fossils, which consequently meant that I have only now been able to finish cleaning, prepping, and identifying all of my finds. The road trip involved a number of firsts for me- it was the first time I have ever done a several day fossil road trip without my dad; I found a number of fossils that I had not found before; and I made my first ever donation to a museum. I would not have had it any other way! I can't wait to do it again soon! Day One I had a long drive into Mississippi in front of me so I had hoped to get an early start to the day. Fortunately or unfortunately that did not happen. I was to met a property owner early the next morning so my plan was to just get as close to tomorrow's site as possible. I could not pass up the opportunity though to do a little fossil collecting along the way. I had read about some old Oligocene sites that I thought could be worth checking out just to say that I had been there. Sadly one of the sites was simply too overgrown to be collected and at the other I was only able to find some incredibly fragile Pecten byramensis scallop shells. First find of the trip! Day Two Early the next day I drove another hour to a stream exposure of the Upper Eocene Moodys Branch Formation. In the time that had passed from my planned trip in September to my trip in December the site had changed ownership, but the old owner was kind enough to pass along the new owners' contact information. With a little convincing the new owners granted me permission to visit. I was excited! I had been warned about the fragility of the Periarchus lyelli sand dollars at the site but with the right tools and the right mindset I was ready to get into the creek and do some exploring. I had thought that my visit would last only a few hours, but, after walking the section of creek several times looking for the sand dollar bed and making several trips to my car to bring in more tools and carry everything out, before I knew it was already the late afternoon. While the turn of events meant that I could not visit some of the other sites I had planned for the day, it did mean I had the opportunity to meet both of the owners. I showed them what I had found and they asked if I would send them one of the sand dollars, which I was happy to do. With an invitation to come back whenever I wanted and some holiday wishes, I hit the road to my planned stop for the night. Not much to see when first found, but when they are properly prepped... Far more abundant than the sand dollars where the wealth of shells, corals, bryozoans, and other tiny fossils. I ended up washing and screening some excess matrix I collected. I was astonished by what I found, including tons of tiny shells, fish otoliths, fish teeth, crab claws, bryozoans, juvenile sand dollars, shark teeth, etc. Calyptraphorus stamineus Cirsotrema nassulum Venericardia apodensata Glycymeris idonea Eburneopecten scintillatus Nucula spheniopsis Balanophyllia irrorata Flabellum cuneiforme Endopachys maclurii Platytrochus goldfussi Crab Claws Arm Plates of Comatulid Crinoid Himerometra louisianensis Sea Star Ossicles Juvenile Periarchus lyelli Negaprion gibbesi Fish Vertebra Paralbula marylandica Ariosoma nonsector Preophidion meyeri Sciaena aff. Sciaena pseudoradians Jefitchia claybornensis Orthopristis americana Day Three With a quick change of plans in light of the expected weather later in the week I drove through Mississippi into Northern Alabama to hunt the Mississippian Bangor Limestone. When I had told a friend that I was planning a road trip through Alabama he had recommended several sites in the Bangor Limestone worth checking out. He recommended going in the winter time though since one of the sites was only exposed when the lake is drained. With six sites on my list I knew that I would have to be efficient with my time. While I could have easily stayed longer at some of the sites, an hour and a half to two hours turned out to be just enough time for each site. While I had heard that the Alabama Paleontological Society had been to two of the sites only the week prior, some recent rain had helped refresh things and there were plenty of fossils to be collected. I was thrilled to find some Mississippian blastoids and crinoids. Some in-situ photos of the blastoids Pentremites pyriformis Pentremites godoni Zeacrinites wortheni Pterotocrinus depressus Onychocrinus pulaskiensis Phanocrinus bellulus While I had added several Bangor Limestone sites to my list in hopes of finding Mississippian crinoids and blastoids, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Mississippian trilobites Kaskia chesterensis I also found. Crinoid Cup and Trilobite Tails A visit to the Bangor Limestone would not be complete without adding some Archimedes bryozoan to the collection. I found this plate with one large piece on it. At the end of the day, as the sun was setting, I made a very quick stop at an exposure of the Hartselle Sandstone. Using whatever light I could use, I contrasted the loose rocks with the sun and added a few Mississippian ichnofossils to my collection. Olivellites implexus Lockeia cordata Lockeia siliquaria Day Four The same friend who recommended I visit several Bangor Limestone sites also recommended I visit a couple of Monteagle Limestone sites while I was in the area. While my first two full days of collecting had brought riches, including beautiful sand dollars, blastoids, and crinoids, today was the first unproductive day. Having driven quite a distance to get here and having spent by then several full days out in the field, I was ok to take a bit of a break. With a gray sky and a light drizzle, I stopped at four sites, with only one of the sites being fruitful for a quick stop. Although my friend promised crinoids and blastoids, I only found a few loose brachiopods, crinoid stems, and bryozoans, and a single crinoid plate. Schellwienella sp. Punctospirifer kentuckiensis Punctospirifer transversa Inflatia inflata Petrocrania chesterensis Hederella chesterensis Agassizocrinus conicus Seeking to not waste the day and with still many hours in the day left, I decided to make the most of things and visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. When you drive into Huntsville on the highway you can see two massive model rockets standing up in the horizon- it is really a sight to see. As I learned from the museum, while Houston has Mission Control and Cape Canaveral has the rocket launch pad, it is Huntsville that builds and tests rockets. I am really glad I got the chance to visit. Full Size Models of Saturn I and Saturn V Rockets Prototype of Saturn V Rocket Used To Test Lifting Mechanism Before Sending Apollo Astronauts To The Moon Apollo 16 Command Module Day Five Today marked the first of several days I would be focusing on the Upper Cretaceous Period. Having grown up collecting in the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey, the Upper Cretaceous has always had a special place in my collection and I was excited to see what the Gulf Coast could offer. Ralph Johnson, the curator of the MAPS Collection, had asked me to collect a few representative samples for him to compare against the ones from the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the MAPS Collection, so I had added reason to fit a few stops in. My first stop was a stream exposure of the Eutaw Formation, Tombigbee Sand Member. I had heard rumors and got confirmation from the President of APS that the owners of the property can be a little careless in their target practice, so I made sure to fit in a stop to the site in the early morning on a weekday and to wear an orange vest while there. Prepared for the worst but hoping for the best, I was happy to hear nothing while I collected. After grabbing a few echinoids and finally speaking on the phone with the owner of a property I had hoped to visit later that day, I made my way to my next stop. Hardouinia bassleri Trigonia sp. Inoceramus sp. Exogyra upatoiensis Flemingostrea cretacea Ostrea sp. My second stop was a roadside exposure of the Prairie Bluff Chalk. I was really fortunate to get permission to visit when I did because the site abounded in phosphatic molds of bivalves, gastropods, and ammonites. The ground was literally covered with fossils. I was excited to see many fossils that I recognized from my collecting in New Jersey. Discoscaphites conradi Trachyscaphites alabamensis Eubaculites carinatus Baculites lomaensis Baculites sp. C Dunnicrinus mississippiensis Ossicles Turritella tippana Turritella encrinoides Longoconcha sp. Anchura noakensis Napulus sp. Bellifusus sp. Ellipsoscapha mortoni Graphidula sp. Eoacteon sp. Gyrodes spillmani Gyrodes petrosus Anisomyon sp. Crassatella vadosa Cucullaea capax with Cliona microtuberum boring sponge trace Solyma sp. Veniella conradi Scabrotrigonia thoracica Granocardium lowei Cyprimeria alta Spondylus sp.

Weather was really good today so I went out hiking near my home and picked some rocks/fossils up on the way. I was along a stream the entire time, and the stream exposed sediments from the Potomac Formation, a Cretaceous deposit that has some plants and reptilian stuff in it, as well as Piedmont schist. Top down I think it's a bone fragment (?), bone/tooth/plant (?), plant, and silicified wood (??). Some of the stuff is still covered in dirt, so sorry if i's not clean/covered in mica flakes (there's a lot of that around here.)

The Mesozoic is an area that is sorely lacking in my collection. I don't know why, but I just never got around to collecting in it. I never fell in love with dinosaurs or mososaurs like a lot of other people. That was until fairly recently, when I finally took it upon myself to diversify my collection and get to know better my area's (and in some ways own backyard!) geology and paleontology. I set out to discover more about Maryland's Mesozoic Park. I guess it would be best to start off from the beginning. I started the journey not knowing what I'd find, but knowing what it was I hoped to find. I wanted a piece of the hallmark of the Mesozoic, the age of reptiles - my very own Old Line State dinosaur! There was only one problem - I didn't know where to find one. I knew generally what formations to look in, but not where, nor even what to look for. So I took up the ole' Google machine and my own literature at home and started uncovering more about where to start looking. That's what lead me to the first site. A TREK INTO THE TRIASSIC It would be disingenuous to say that I did this all by myself, and I would like to thank @WhodamanHD for helping me out tremendously. Without him I likely never would have gotten this together. For those who don't know, I'll take the liberty to describe the geology of the Free State. In Maryland, the only Triassic aged rocks exposed are those of the Newark Group, here divided by the Maryland Geological Survey into two formations - the New Oxford and the Gettysburg Shale. Both units are exposed in the Culpeper Basin (centered around the town of Poolesville, Montgomery County, Maryland) and the Gettysburg Basin (centered around, in Maryland, the town of Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland). After several months of searching I was never able to find a good exposure near the famous former quarries around the Seneca region in Montgomery County, which is what lead me to the area near Frederick. Here the Triassic rocks are more readily exposed, with reports of numerous fossil discoveries of dinosaur footprints, plants, fish, and others in the area near Mt. St. Mary's University and Rocky Ridge. The Gettysburg Shale in this region is the most fossiliferous, and that is the one I ended up collecting in. Thanks again to @WhodamanHD for giving me info about the site! I spent a good hour or so at the Gettysburg Shale site, my mind full of images of that amazing Grallator sp. print I'd know I'd find. Unfortunately, as the shadows started growing and the day grew colder, I was forced to give up my quest without any dinosaur specimens from this unit. Still, it was nice to finally be able to collect in it and get to experience these amazing rocks up close and personal. The vast majority of the finds from this site were simple trace fossils of I assume to be annelid worms, these being most common in the glossy looking shale.

I've had so much fun hunting teeth in Post Oak Creek that I decided to try some of the other creeks in Grayson County. Last week's visit to another creek didn't produce much, but today's new spot had lots of interesting finds. Like Post Oak Creek, this one is Austin Chalk on maps, near the Eagle Ford boundary. Here are a few finds as they lay. There are two teeth in photo 2. Photo 4 requires a close look.