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Hello These are the adventures of myself and my dog Millie as we hunt for fossils and history along the Peace River. Our mode of travel is our 12’ Indian River Canoe, Balance. Im a 4th generation Polk county native, and Millie comes from a long line of Colorado ranch dogs. We do everything together. Including work, as I am a farrier for my day job, and the farm owners are more excited to see Millie than me! The goal of this journal is to document the learning along with the adventures. To go below our sieves, and learn why the river is presenting as it is. Other members have already posted pictures and info on every fossil I’m likely to find, but the river can still teach me/us why the hole I’m digging is delivering specific materials. Understanding what happened before what happened, happened. That’s what I want to know! Millie and I have been gifted this river and the ability to run it at a moments notice. That’s not the case for everyone. Even with access I still only get out for a morning or so a week. So this journal will also provide an avenue for those who can’t just jump in the boat with us. Jump in through this forum and help out along the way when you can/want. The more we learn the better the treasure!! Jp & Mille LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN! Season opener - Oct 2023 water depth day of - 8’ and falling. Like most things I’m impatient about, starting Fossil hunting this year was rushed. Millie and I ran head on into a river that’s a solid 3’ too high for me to handle any real working conditions. There’s places to work. We just haven’t found many at these depths! Yet!! After work arrived and we got started towards the river. Late arrival and definitely some dark water running ahead but at this water height you just gotta keep the boat in the middle. Got in late but just in time for a welcome back from the Peace! We woke up ready! Well, I did. Camp and my “Field Office” ready. Now to get wet! Because of the water depth I tied leashes to all the heavy tools and tied some extra pool noodle to them. That way I could drop them and just pull up the leader. Brought the “Velvet Touch” probe. No stopping us now! “What” I was after wasn’t an option this trip. I had only two available spots in mind that would be under 4’ deep. Both those spots are in a very recent deposit that I’ve been getting lots of Pleistocene and some Pliocene mammal material from. I ended up finding the time frame expected, and possibly an extinct sand shark nursery area. The river had sifted one spot completely away during the last flood so I was left with only one place to put in effort! At 4’ it was at my cap for height. I’m 5’6’’ and I could only dig 2 feet down before I ran out of shovel. So I had to figure something out. First I tried to fill the sieve on the River bottom and lift it up. FAIL! never got it to stay put long enough to do anything productive before I’d loose it and it would pop up down stream pulling on the leash. Next I tried to lift the gravel to the sifter on the surface. There was so much water the shovel load was gone before I broke the surface! FAIL! At a max depth of 2 feet down I wasn’t going to be learning much about the geography or layers I needed to work through. So I shifted gears and decided to focus on just the top 2’ as effectively as I could. The third try ended up succeeding. I would loosen the riverbed into a loose filled hole that had collapsed on itself and then use my scoop on a pole thing to transfer the loose material up to the surface. Not the best method but I’m grateful to have been able to stand there all day. I’d work forward 3’ and over 1’ then back again. All at 2’ or less deep or I’d go under. I suppose if I feel like moving a bunch of river bed again we could come back here and go deeper! One of my questions about this area is what is it old enough to find within it? Another trip! Here’s the gratuitous highlights shot! Not a bad day! The alligator tooth got a yell but the sand tigers and mammal teeth got me really excited. Millie and I were exhausted and COLD! I learned a few things this weekend to put in the journal. Before that. Let’s eat! Steak for me and steak for Millie. Yumm. Lessons: 1. I need appropriate clothes. Like wet suit stuff. Can’t be under water like that all day again. I got chilly and had to warm up several times. 85deg out too! What I wear is fine for knee deep wading but definitely time to upgrade the wardrobe. (I did try my new dive boots and that was the only part of me that wasn’t cold) 2. Regular shovel handles are way too short. Amend as needed to your stature. I need a 12’ handle to dig a hole in this water. So I’m out! 3. Jack, (Shellseeker) is insane!! This was my first time hunting this deep and it’s right in his sweet spot. You’re an animal! He tried to assist my tool tuning but until you run out of shovel that’s a new feeling to adjust to. 4. At two feet deep this area is where I will come for younger land aged fauna and I can expect the standard peace river sharks teeth assemblage with a higher than usual volume of sand sharks teeth. This was a great day hunting and I learned a lot. Maybe not about what my intended question was or the areas I’ve been thinking of but a ton about gear and technique! KEEP THE FAITH AND TRY TO DO GOOD!! Jp & Millie Here are the finds from this trip and some info used to figure out the unknowns. sand shark and some Hemi Serra Peace River mix fun and unique things - The mammal molar ended up being a Giant Tapir. By shape and size 3rd or 4th premolar. No root. Should have given it away. Mixed bag bottom to top of left- Gator tooth gator tooth Crappy Barbra’s incisor Canine- size 22mm broken suggest coyote or smaller domestic dog. 25mm would be the target. Tiny molar - it’s broken but by the face and measurements it’s most likely a rodent. Camel type tooth frag. Upper right - various tiger shark species to identify with Florida fossil hunters PDF middle - two deer horn buttons. One I already had but these were found 5 feet apart. Same deer?!? Bottom right- Eocene snail and crab shell fragments. Those are 37.5 Mya.?? Snail identification was general to the Ocala formation results of similar snail species.
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Quick trip report from a rather unsuccessful trip to bracklesham bay. On the lowest tide of the year I was hoping the formation would be exposed but over a metre of sand lay on top of it still. I think some onshore winds had been conspiring against me! However it was fun to hunt and I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset! 1. spot the fossil 2. sunsets 3. total finds 4. brachycarcharias lerichei 5. striatolamia macrota
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I have (finally) got around to going through my Moroccan phosphate shark teeth. I've attempted to identify them but I am still not particularly confident at identifying fossils so I thought I'd run it by the experts first. All the teeth are (supposed to be) from the Eocene, save 4 which is (supposed to be) from the Cretaceous. I attempted to label the images with my proposed identifications but there wasn't enough space for all of them so I'll list them all here: 1. Ginglymostomatid (Nebrius?) 2-3. Hemipristis? 4. Unsure 5. Pristid/Sawfish (Pristis?) 6. Otodontid (Cretalamna?) 7-10. Odontaspidid The lighting is also quite poor on these images as the enamel on the teeth is very reflective and they show up as amorphous white blobs if it's too bright as my phone camera is by no means the best. Thanks in advance for any proposed ID's Othniel
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This was found at the Stonerose fossil site in Washington state. The onsite curator identified it as an questionable egg deposit. I would like to get a definitive id. The entire cluster is 1cm across.
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I added a couple of threads on Activities connected with FPS field trip to Hallie Quarries in the vicinity of Newberry, Florida. I have some photos of the Quarry to provide a sense of what it was like and some additional finds. The Quarry I visited is just one of many at this location. and the one I was in... huge. A wall in the distance, heavy movers to stay far away from, a "tiny" FPS member searching the low wall ahead. I am walking around this mountain of rock on my left , searching for fossils that may have fallen down the cliff face. I am very careful the few times I attempt to climb the cliff face reaching for a fossil just a little too far away... There can be great rewards... Gorgeous, and and there are lots of potential shell, and echinoids in this semi hard rock, I have a rock hammer and trowel. Can I possible get this out in one piece.. I have already broken others or found that they were already broken before my arrival. So I decided not, and just walked on with a photo and a memory. As I continued around the mountain, I came to this site , took a step forward, and quickly stepped back . A sinkhole about 4 feet across, and with a single glance inside I saw it was at least 25 feet deep. This one is not particularly large. The Quarry has lost a number of large earth movers in sinkholes. This is where I recall signing the waiver stating that I am totally responsible for any of the various dumb things I might do while hunting for fossils and hold the Quarry owners blameless for any/all damages to my body. Roger Portell was our guide and Advisor and we moved a couple of times to locations that might provide different fossils. The last stop was supposed to contained marine (shark teeth) and mammal fossils. As we stepped out of our vehicles, Roger showed us another sinkhole, advised us to be careful , and described recoveries of mammal bones and teeth from this area decades past. I was fortunate to find one of those teeth, described in this TFF thread. https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/139986-love-the-surprises/#comment-1479029 It was laying on the ground 5 feet to the left of this sinkhole. Sometimes I am just blessed in the right place at the right time. Here are some other finds of the day, with what ever I currently know about them... 1) M. americanum , a Sea Biscuit, approximately 4 inches in width, encased in matrix. 2) What I refer to as Jingle shells, and a small Echinoid...On the Echinoid, I have to wash, brush , scrap off some of that concrete like matrix to figure out what it is.... 3) A couple of Oysters... there few shells free floating from the concrete like matrix like these. 4) More shells, this time in Matrix 5) Did I mention Endocasts ? All over the place.... Sometimes hard to differentiate from shells. 5a) This one reminds me of a cowrie.... but not like any modern or even fossil ones that I have seen... I had previously found exactly like this one in a bone valley creek.. Would like to Identify.. Hope you enjoyed the trip. Comments always appreciated.
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Very young fish (27mm) in which the scales have not yet ossified. Juvenile specimens of Diplomystus dentatus can easily be mistaken for juvenile specimens of Notogoneus osculus. But juvenile Notagoneus can be easily recognized by the larger skull and the position of the anal fin, which is set far back. For comparison a specimen of a juvenile Diplomystus dentatus preserved on the same slab: Taxonomy from Fossilworks.org. Revised generic diagnosis from Grande and Grande 2008, p. 10. "†Notogoneus differs from all other genera in the family Gonorynchidae by the following characters: (1) the subopercle bears a series of deep clefts along its posterior margin; (2) the first and second hypurals are not fused to each other; (3) the parhypural is not fused to the vertebral column; (4) the first and second hypurals are not fused to the vertebral column; and (5) scales in adults are nearly the length of a centrum. Also, the frontal is a paired element in †Notogoneus (vs. median in Gonorynchus)." Line drawing from Grande & Grande 2008, p. 4: References: Cope, E. D. (1885) Eocene paddle-fish and Gonorhynchidae. American Naturalist, 19:1090–1091. Woodward, A. S. (1901) Catalogue of Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History), Part IV 1-63. Hay, O. P. (1902) Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179:1-868. Grande, L. and Grande, T. (2008) Redescription of the type species for the genus Notogeneus (Teleostei: Gonorhynchidae) based on new, well-preserved material. The Paleontological Society Memoir 70:1-31 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
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Over the last month I've been staying with my partner in Queensland who lives close to some amazing fossil sites, namely the Redbank Plains Formation. This formation is well known for its Paleocene/Eocene plants, insects, fishes and turtles. It was extensively collected from during the 1900s when the area was mostly comprised of pastures and bushland. Most of the fossils were found in iron-rich mudstone nodules which weathered out of the soil and gullies, although many plants and insects were collected from a clay pit and found directly in white mudstone. Nowadays, much of the formation has been covered by housing development, making it difficult to collect from. One exposure was protected within a council reserve, but fossils in there were difficult to find as they had to naturally weather out of the formation. I didn't have high hopes for finding anything in the area but after scouring geology maps I noticed one exposure which looked promising. It was mapped as Redbank Plains Formation but easily could've just been part of the surrounding Triassic/Jurassic sandstones. After finally being able to visit, we found it to be a new exposure of the Redbank Plains Formation! It didn't yield many fossils but the geology was terrific. At the top, a sandstone horizon which I think still belongs to the Redbank Plains Formation overlies the fossil bearing black carbonaceous shale, with a white clay type horizon below. Some more interesting geology just to the right of where the previous photo was taken. Just above the white clay horizon is a thin layer of tuff, overlain by more carbonaceous shale, then overlain by a thin layer of basalt, with more carbonaceous shale above. A different part of the exposure which was very rich in nodules. Fossils in these nodules were very rare in comparison to other Redbank Plains Formation sites, with just occasional plant material or fish bits. After suffering in the 34˚ summer heat for a few hours, we left in search of a different site a few hours away which yielded nothing. But then, on our way home, we noticed another potential Redbank Plains Formation exposure. This one was much more successful in terms of fossils, and also previously unknown! A partial fish as found in situ. Note the characteristic black shale it has weathered out of. The cross section of fish bones can be seen in this weathered nodule. A leaf, perhaps a Banksia sp.? A mash of fish bone in a nodule we split. Our best find of the day, a beautiful articulated fish! In situ: After some preparation (will post photos of it finished when I complete it). Unfortunately the nodule this was in fractured in many places, a result of the drying mudstone matrix. A tiny fish before and after preparation (also not finished, waiting on a replacement tip for my airscribe). This species is Notogoneus parvus. That is all for now, will update with more photos as I prepare everything! The Queensland Museum has been made aware of this new and potentially significant site, so hopefully it can be protected.
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From the album: Fossils
2.4 inch Otodus aksuaticus shark tooth from the Eocene Nanjemoy Formation of Maryland. This is a good example of the transition from obliquus to auriculatus, with serrations extending about halfway down the crown.-
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From the album: Fossils
A nicely preserved one inch Phyllodus toliapicus crushing tooth plate from the Eocene Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia. -
Was wondering if it would be possible to ID this plant, seems to have roots attached. Muddy creek formation Montana usa
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This was my first winter fossil hunting in NJ (or anywhere, as a matter of fact). Definitely a different experience from summer and fall. Less people, and much better fossils! Although the people I have run into were pretty devoted, which I can appreciate. Thought I would document my 4 hunts between December and this past weekend. First up, 12/16. On of my favorite Cretaceous brooks. Found an awesome variety of fossils, one of which turned out to be a Theropod tooth! Group Shot Devonian glacier erratic with Crinoids, Bryozoan and Brachiopod or Bivalve impressions. Gastropod Steinkern Ammonite Steinkern Crustacean claw piece A. phasolus Crusher Tooth Enchodus sp. Tooth w/Jaw fragment Squalicorax sp. (Crow Shark) A. kopingensis (Mackerel Shark) Theropod Tooth
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From the album: Fossil Amber and Copal: Worldwide Localities
8.0g prepared rough specimen displaying a partially polished face, measuring (mm) 50x22x14; this piece is a transverse section, and displays numerous layers or flow lines with sequences of micro bubbles as well as sediments. This material was recovered from the Malvern Clay Pits, east of Malvern, Arkansas. FTIR spectrum comparison of Claiborne amber to modern Shorea sp. resin points to the Dipterocarpaceae as a probable source for this middle Eocene-aged amber.© Kaegen Lau
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Shark Vertebra (possibly Otodus/Carcharocles auriculatus or angustidens) from the New Bern Quarry in North Carolina
shark57 posted a gallery image in Vertebrates
From the album: Fossils
1.5 inch lamnid type shark vertebra in matrix from the New Bern quarry. Not sure if this is from the Oligocene River Bend Formation or the Eocene Castle Hayne Formation. If you think you recognize which formation this is from, leave a comment.-
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My family and I went on a trip to Yellowstone, the Green River Formation and the Blue Forest in Wyoming. Although my son found by far the best Blue Forest specimen, I thought smaller specimens were also of interest. The attached image illustrates a common theme of the petrified wood specimens. Typically, the outer bark results in a fluffy white deposit of calcium carbonate. The inner bark is often composed of what the locals refer to as "blue opal" (likely chalcedony), and then the center part appears to be silicified wood. Some specimens had iron oxides as well. I highly recommend a trip to the Blue Forest. It is very out of the way and directions are hard to find. The directions we found at one point stated that we should turn left at the gravel road with a rusty barrel at the intersection. We traveled down the gravel road for many miles until we spotted dig sites. It is very remote and you would want to make sure you vehicle is in good condition with plenty of gas and that you have plenty of water.
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From the album: Vertebrates
Masillosteus janeae Grande, 2010 Eocene Lutetium Kemmerer Wyoming USA Length 17" / 42cm References: Grande, L. (2010): AN EMPIRICAL SYNTHETIC PATTERN STUDY OF GARS (LEPISOSTEIFORMES) AND CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES, BASED MOSTLY ON SKELETAL ANATOMY. THE RESURRECTION OF HOLOSTEI. Copeia, 2010, No 2A, 1-863- 1 comment
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Howdy! I found this fossil on a river bed last Fall in eastern Texas. I did a little research and it looks like this region is known for Eocene epoch fossils. I think its a vertebrae (or piece of a vertebrae) but can't seem to ID it beyond that. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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Hi. I'm a final year undergraduate student doing my dissertation on sharks. There are a few teeth I found which I feel I should be able to identify given some features preserved, and I don't want to just leave them as indet. They were found at Walton-on-the-Naze, UK, from the lowermost London Clay Formation, Eocene (Ypresian) in age. All photos show teeth in the best view that I could capture with me camera/have most of the specimen in focus. Scale bar on the right = 1cm. For all teeth they are in lingual (left), labial (middle) and mesial (right) views where applicable. Apologies for the lateral photos being so blurry, didnt get the chance to run them through focus stacking Thanks in adavance. Also, if people want to ask me any questions on the disso feel free to.
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I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Morocco last year in May and tour the wonderful geology of the country. This will be a very short recap of the experience because frankly there are just too many things to share. For starters, the culture is fantastic. Morocco consists primarily of the Berber people and they are some of the friendliest people I've encountered. Very welcoming and ready to share some tea with you. Tea is by far the most common thing you will drink in country. I'm quite certain there were days that I had tea at least 8 separate times, and the tea was fantastic. If you've never had Moroccan tea then you are missing out (the mint tea in particular is wonderful). The cuisine is beyond amazing, and there honestly wasn't anything in country that I didn't like. Trying to replicate some of the foods has been a challenge (my tagine is getting close), but I suppose that just means I'll need to return some day. The country is also very safe throughout. As a solo female traveler, I felt comfortable at all times and was not concerned. However you should know that few people speak English. The most common languages people know are Arabic, French, and Berber, so there was some language barrier but as with most things, it was doable. My arrival to Morocco began in Marrakech where I was met by my guide who drove me out of the city, through the Tizi n'Tichka mountain pass at 2200m in elevation. Eventually we made our way to Tamdahkte and I stayed at a wonderful riad that was (as I would come to find out) quite open air just as most riads and buildings are in Morocco. On the way we stopped at a salt mine and walked through.
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Hello, I managed to obtain this nautilus from the internet. The former owner told me she got it 60 years ago from an employee from Shell. He took it from the desert in Oman. He told her, there where many more fossils to find there, but that the accesibility was very complicated. She could'nt tell me the age from the deposits. So I tried to google some information. At first, looking at the pictures I thought about a jurassic nautilus. But the more I am diving in to search the possibilities and the fact that it is quite slender for a nautilus I'm leaning towards a Eocene nautilus. Deltoidonautilus would be a possibility. It is 27 cm. Can anyone help me with the ID, or pherhaps put me on a good path to find it? Greetings Walter
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Good morning everyone, I think a couple of people of this forum already posted some of their finds from the Arabian peninsula (Saudi Arabia/Qatar) here but here are some shark teeth that I’m struggling to ID. mom thinking that those might be some kind of Brachycarcharias? Thank you guys for your help!
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Juvenile Priscacara can be easily distinguished from juvenile Hypsacantha by their distinctly rounder body shape. Grande distinguishes two forms of Hypsiprisca: Hypsiprisca hypsacantha (originally described by Cope in 1886 under the name Priscacara hypsacantha) and a second yet undescribed, closely related form Hypsiprisca sp. H. sp. is more common than H. hypsacantha: H. sp. are mostly very small individuals less than 60mm long. Quotation L. Grande (2013): "The second species that remains undescribed differs from H. hypsacantha in being more slender-bodied and having a more convex posterior tail fin margin (H. hypsacantha has a very slightly forked tail margin)." References: Whitlock, J. (2010). Phylogenetic relationships of the Eocene percomorph fishes †Priscacara and †Mioplosus Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Volume 30 – Issue 4, pages 1037-1048. Grande, L. T. (2013). The Lost World of Fossil Lake: Snapshots from Deep Time. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 13: 978-0-226-92296-6.
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A juvenile Prisacara serrata (the length is about 2.5 cm), but already showing the typical roundish body proportions of an adult Priscacara and differing from Hypsiprisca sp. Distinguishing characters for Priscacara serrata and Cockerellites liops (old name Priscacara liops): References: Cope. E. D. (1877). A contribution to the knowledge of the ichthyological fauna of the Green River shales. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey 3(4):807-819 WHITLOCK, J. A. (2010). PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EOCENE PERCOMORPH FISHES †PRISCACARA AND †MIOPLOSUS. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(4), 1037–1048. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40864383. Grande, L. T (2013) The Lost World of Fossil Lake: Snapshots from Deep Time. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 13: 978-0-226-92296-6.
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From the album: Fossils
3.75 inch Carcharocles auriculatus from the Castle Hane Formation in the now defunct Martin Marietta New Bern Quarry.-
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From the album: Fossils
Otodus aksuaticus shark vertebra form the base of the Woodstock Member of the Nanjemoy Formation, Early Eocene. The diameter varies from 3 to 3.25 inches.