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I was on call at work all week which meant I had to be within an hour of my work and have cell phone access. I wanted to go fossil hunting so I google mapped an area in Tarrant County, Texas. I found a few potential spots with some exposure and I headed that way. It was an hour drive from home. I’ve been seeing lots of echinoids come out of the area. I had made 3 separate trips to the area not knowing exactly where the echinoids could be found. Two previous trips resulted in abundant ammonite finds. Ammonite hunting often requires a lot of gear and tools. Ammonites are generally big and heavy. I wanted a break from the heavy duty hauling and labor intensive retrieval, but I had no clue what I might find at this new location so I came equipped. On the way to the first stop I passed a large area of exposed rock and soil. I had passed it at least 3 times before, but yesterday I decided to take the detour and stop at this site. It was right off the freeway, but yo access it I looked around to what I thought would be the back side. It was a couple mile loop to get there. I ended up in a daycare parking lot across from the area. I had looked at the weather in the morning and it said the high would be 74. I came hydrated for 74. I got my little bag with a single gardening tool and crossed the road to the site. Initially I thought the place was a construction site dump for dirt and rocks that had been flattened out, but I eventually realized that wasn’t the case. I think it was initially a housing development that fell through and the land was still sitting there after being somewhat grated and leveled. Here is a view of the terrain. Lots of exposure. I walked around for about 2 minutes before I saw the first fossil. I was dubious this place had any potential, but that one little fossil gave me the motivation to continue investigating. I walked on for another 15 min without spotting anything. The side had two sections. I had explored maybe 20 acres of the first many 40 acres. I decided to mosey over to the back 40. While in this area I realized it wasn’t a construction site dumb. I saw layering in the soil. I found a couple of ammonite fragments and while bending down to pick one up I found a shark tooth. Then a little while later I found another. They’re pretty small. About 1 cm I’d say. No idea what genus though. While in the back 40 I saw my first hint of echinoids. I found a fragment that was about 2.5 inches across. Bingo! This is what I have been looking for and what I had made 3 other unsuccessful trips to Tarrant County for. I knew I was in the right spot. I walked about 10 feet and saw my first large echinoid. When I look at these pics some of them have this optical illusion quality. It looks like there are a bunch of holes in the ground. If that is what you see go to the pic above, focus on the small rocks and come back to this one and refocus. There aren’t any holes in the ground. They’re all rocks sitting on top of the ground. It’s the weirdest thing. They’re my own pics, but I keep seeing the inverse picture so they look like depressions in the ground rather than stones on top of the ground. Anyway, there’s my first large echinoid in situ, upside down. Here is that sweet not so little find in my hand. It was the biggest I had ever found up to that point, but I found bigger than this yesterday. A couple more with top side view. Bottom side view. One in situ sitting on its side, just begging to be picked up and loved on. It’s like he’s saying “come scratch my tummy.” About this point I started not feeling that great. I was feeling a little over heated, but since the high was only supposed to be 74 that didn’t make sense to me. I drank some Gatorade I’d brought with me and went on. I kept walking around hunting for another 20 min or so, but the feeling got worse. I hadn’t found any echinoids for a few min so I decided to head back to my car. It would take me a while to get back. But then I stumbled across another patch of echinoids. Another one with an ammonite fragment. There were a lot of ammonite fragments everywhere. Here is a decent little ammonite I found. A couple more. I had just picked up the ammonite and another echi. I think I found 3 or 4 paired echies sitting right next to another. The feeling of being over heated and dehydrated got worse. I can take the heat reasonably well. So I wasn’t sure what was going on. Maybe my age was beginning to show (I’ll be 50 this week). I’d had oral surgery a couple weeks before and thought maybe I wasn’t back up to par yet, despite feeling fine even a day after the surgery. I had to sit down once, but didn’t really improve with sitting. I had wondered if I was going to make it back before fainting. I had stated to have a few short blackouts when I stood up after bending over, but I finally made it back to my car. To my surprise the temperature was a whopping 93. If I had known it was going to be 93 I would have hydrated completely differently than I did for 74 degrees. I can handle 93 if I hydrate for it. I went hiking last Summer in Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah when it was 115 degrees and did fine. Anyway, I went to get gas and a drink and something salty. I found my favorite chips, Funyuns. I only eat them when traveling though. They’re too dangerous to keep around the house. I’d eat the whole bag. I’m a bit of a health nut, but not a fanatic. So I try to not keep junk food around the house that I’m tempted by. With temperatures like that it is clear that Spring is here and summer is on its way. Driving back home, blue skyes and yes, even a little smog in Dallas. The Bradford pears and red bud trees are in bloom here in Texas and things are turning green. I found 23 echinoids in all. 2 shark teeth and a few ammonites. It was a pretty productive day fossil hunting. That might have quenched my appetite for echinoids for a short while. I’ll post a pic of them all tomorrow.
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- echinoids
- duck creek formation
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Cretaceous Echinoid from the Basal Naversink, NJ.
Jeffrey P posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Cretaceous
Catopygus (Oolopygus) williamsi (echinoid) Upper Cretaceous Basal Navesink Formation Monmouth Group Bayonet Farm Holmdel, NJ. A gift from John W. (fossilsofnj)-
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- echinoids
- basal navesink
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From the album: Collection
© fruitoftheZOOM
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- echinoids
- mississippian
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From the album: Grayson Co. Texas finds
Various urchins that I have found. Grayson co. Texas found in a creek that runs right through the middle of town in Denison, Grayson co. Tx. I think that this creek is in the Pawpaw formation, but could be Main Street or Duck Creek?-
- echinoids
- heart urchins
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From the album: Grayson Co. Texas finds
Bottom of two Urchins were found in a creek that runs in north east Grayson co. Texas. I believe that they are in the Pawpaw formation, but could be Duck creek? -
From the album: Grayson Co. Texas finds
These two Urchins were found in a creek that runs in north east Grayson co. Texas. I believe that they are in the Pawpaw formation, but could be Duck creek?-
- Echinoids
- Heart urchin
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From the album: Echinoderms through the Ages
Psephehinnus serratus M.Jurassic Degre,Sarthe,France© copyright by Herb Miracle
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- echinoderms
- echinoids
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From the album: my collection 2013
All of these I have collected from near where I live. Mostly a few types of Echinoids, but also brachiopods, gastropods, corals and oysters.-
- Echinoids
- Australian
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From the album: Eocene echinoids from Yankeetown, Florida
Oysters growing on the echinoid. Size= 3.5" wide -
From the album: Eocene echinoids from Yankeetown, Florida
Size = 0.75" (20mm)