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I don’t want to say more about the specifics of the location quite yet- i’d like to actually make sure this place is a fossil bed, and that this one find wasn’t just a fluke. I also have to talk more with the land owners, ensure they’d be okay with the site becoming publicly known, as well as work out if they are okay with me doing some more extensive searching and digging in the bedrock. But nonetheless, i wanted to share the find itself because i am so so so happy, as this is my first fossil (and potential site) that i’ve ever found by doing my own geological research, and i wanted to share it here. I hope once i speak with the landowners more, as well as find at least one more fossil to confirm its not a fluke, i can get permission to post the location!

Hello Good Folks from the Fossil Forum. We at Gofer Prospecting are precious Gemstones and Metals prospectors who have been tossed into fossils it seems! Started staking off a new acreage a few weeks back in S. Colorado and was surprised to see dinosaur eggs, Cretaceous Period! More looking showed us many fossils onsite! Hadrosaur is the best guess.

Looking for some pointers on fossil hunting in Southern Texas. I’ll be in Nueces co., Kleberg co., Duval co., and Dimmit co. Last time I was down there I didn’t have any luck locating fossils or fossil sites. Any idea where the checkout within 2 hours on any of these areas?

In my advancing years I have been contemplating how to dispose of my fossil collection. For many years my wife and I have collected primarily Texas fossils and purchased other fossils that caught our interest. While our children, in their youth, avidly helped us collect fossils their interest did not extend into adulthood. Likewise, our grandchildren have little interest in fossils. Fortunately, I found that my alma mater, Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas, has recently started a museum, the Sam Houston State University Natural History Collections. I contacted Dr. William Godwin, Curator for the museum. He told me that their paleontology collections were woefully inadequate and they would be happy to accept my collection and maintain and curate it. As a result of my discussions with Dr. Godwin I have transferred my entire collection collection to them. All my specimen were labeled as to age, formation, location found, and genus/species. I must say that as I prepared the fossils for transfer, reviewing labels, cleaning specimen, making new labels as necessary, ect, I recalled many happy memories of the family collecting trips and findings. I was amazed at some of the specific memories of fossil finds I could recall from as long ago as 50 years. Well, so much for nostalgia. If others here on the Forum are contemplating dispersing their collections I can recommend the Sam Houston State Natural History Collections. I think they would welcome any and all collections. JKFOAM

Found this years ago while doing excavation work. On a mountain between Napa and Sonoma counties in California (large dormant volcano nearby) can anyone help identify?

I recently went camping near Petersburg, WV. And, while in the river, I found this fossil on the bank. I can see shells and some other possible fossil formations, but I don't know much about fossils or rocks and would like any information or help to ID this. If you would like more pictures or angles, let me know. Note: Images taken from Canon DSLR and compressed to ~19mb from ~30mb.

Hello! Long-time lurker here who finally decided to make a profile This forum is amazing and I look forward to making some NM connections and learning more!

Hi all! I am new to fossil hunting/collecting and came across these two on an island shore off the northwest coast of Michigan. It would be fun to know more about them. Thank you for any help in identifying the fossils. Chuck

Mostly the title! I live in northern New Jersey- i’m aware that NJ used to be heavily submerged, and is host to many locations where you can find marine fossils such as ammonites, trilobites, and other small marine invertebrates- however, i have no clue as to how i can effectively search for and find fossils. I’ve gone to some dried river beds, dug in the banks, layered rock, and panned- but i realize that i dont quite know what i’m looking for. How do i determine if there is a fossil within a rock? How do i find good hunting locations? What are some of the key giveaways that a rock may contain a fossil or series of fossils? And how can i identify sedimentary rocks properly, so i know i’m looking at the right types?

Hello to all. Some photos from a recent trip.

Hi, does anyone know what these are, I found them on the shoreline in the sand

Today I drove about 25 minutes to the Kane County Fairgrounds to visit the Chicagoland Gem and Mineral Association Show, this is the 46 year for this show. The show is on Saturday (10a-6p) and Sunday (10a-5p) and it is a really nice show to attend and there is always a long line to the opening and the people keep coming throughout the day. There were 32 different vendors from 13 different states. The vendors had fossils, gem stones, minerals, geodes, etc., something for everyone. Continued on next post.

Hi, I am new to fossil hunting. I found this today on uk beach where the rocks are from the triassic/jurassic period. It is quite large and is corrugated, similar to corrugated iorn. does any body know what it is? Many thanks

Seems that it's about a year between my Echies of Texas posts now, because it's getting harder and harder to find something new!! So far I have collected : Cretaceous: Macraster - texanus, elegens and washitaensis Heteraster - mexicanus, obliquetus and texanus Phymosoma texanum Goniopygus - zitelli, whitneyi and sp. Leptosalenia - mexicana, volana and texana and possible sp. Pliotoxaster - whitei and comanchei Hyposalenia phillipsae Pygopyrina hancockensis Holaster simplex Tetragramma texanum Loriolia - rosana and possibly whitei (if that is considered a viable species) Polydiadema travisensis Anorthopygus texanus Heterosalenia sp. Paraorthopsis comalensis Coenholectypus - planatus and ovatus Pseudodiadema aguilera Plagiochasma texanum Goniophorus scotti Hemiaster - calvini and bexari Washitaster sp. Diplodetus americanus Echinothurid sp. plates Balanocidarid spines Not Cretaceous Eocene Protoscutella mississippiensis Pennsylvanian Archeocidaris plates and spines Pronechinus plates and spines So I am happy to add a few new ones to my list! A not recent find (from last year) but newly prepped and all kinds of pretty ( it's actually kind of scrappy but I love it!!) is one of my absolute best finds: Codiopsis stephensoni Next up is kind of a heart breaker because I only found a fifth of it. When I saw it in the dirt, my heart skipped a few beats, thinking it was a whole one! It's so beautifully preserved and while I do have a very nice Paracidaris texanus in my collection, it was a gift and not self collected. SO I am happy to have at least found on my own....a fifth of a Paracidaris! And speaking of cidarids - I was super excited to find not one, not two, but three Balanocidarid spines in close association - all within 18 inches or so of each other. (Only two in the picture because my hunting partner actually found the third one, so she has it in her collection) Perhaps a test will reveal itself one day?? If I am to understand correctly, only spines have been found in Texas. Weird. Next up was a total surprise find (again, pretty scrappy, but hey, I'll take what I'm given) while walking a creek that I have found some good stuff in....just wasn't expecting to find a nice little urchin! It's a Globator whitneyi! And finally, from the Eocene - what are affectionately called BB Urchins....a tiny Fibularia texana from the Eocene. This was a gift as well. I didn't get to go on the East Texas field trip, but apparently lots of these can be found and so my friend Melvin gifted me one! It's about 1/4 inch well, and I just wanted to show off an absolute beauty of a Leptosalenia mexicana.....I have a few but this one is beautifully preserved and has amazing color!! Thank you to @JohnJ for my first L. mexicana....I was trying SO hard to find one and just couldn't so he gave me a tiny one. I have since found....quite a few. SO just keep looking....those critters are out there! PS...still trying to find that dang Tetragramma taffi.....

Heres a fun thread for those to show off their widest and fattest looking megalodon teeth fossils in thier collections. I'll set the tone with the widest fat boy in my collection, I don't have digital calipers but it measure roughly 5.4 inches wide by 6.1 inches long. When I close my hand together it looks even more monstrous. Share yours and join the wide boyclub Got the idea while thinking about what the widest megalodon tooth ever found measures, if anyone does know do share in this thread!

Hi everyone! I'm moving from my current country of resident, the Netherland, to Canada. Through the years I've amassed a semi-large fossil and mineral collection, and I want to take some of that collection with me to Canada. My only concern is that I might run into problem at the airport, so I wanted to ask around here if anybody had any experience with air travel with fossils/minerals in the Netherlands/Canada. I couldn't really find any information about this from the Netherlands, and Canada just vaguely says "it may be illegal to bring cultural property into Canada, such as antiques or fossils". Would anybody mind sharing their experiences the've had with these countries? Thanks in advance!

There are certain types of fossils, that I like to see polished. Petrified Wood, Ammonites, etc. There are certain types of fossils, that I do not like to see polished. Shark Teeth, Bones, etc. What are your preferences; about Polished, vs As Found?

Hey all, My Scottish friend and I (both first year students in Palaeontology and Geology) are planning a fossil trip to Scotland starting next Monday. Our main interests are vertebrate fossils, and Scotland is well known for its Carboniferous deposits where sharks, fish and tetrapods can be found! The 2 problems are: although we have a car, we wouldn't want to drive more than 2h to get to a site (we will be staying in Melrose, Scotland), and we also don't know many sites that are accessible to the public, not over vegetated or depleted, that contain abundant vertebrate fossils like shark teeth or Rhizodont teeth. Does anyone have any good locations me and my friend could go to find vertebrate fossils? Thank you so much and regards.

Hi everyone im terry from Kansas and ever since I was a little kind I love pteranodon and all sorts of flying reptiles. I have 1 fossil pteranodon from china that is the crown of my collection. Anyone else here like them please let me know !!! Terry d.

These 2 Fossils, with matrix attached; came out of a fossil rich pile of soil, at the Bone Valley Fossil Farm. This soil contained Megalodon Shark Teeth, Hemipristis Serra Shark Teeth, Dugong Rib Bones, etc. These 2 Fossils, were the only ones I found; which were these colors. (The Dugong Bones were White, and the Shark Teeth had Black Enamel and Greyish White Roots.) I believe both of these, to be Mammal Teeth. What say you? 1st Specimen:

Hello all, Found some nice fossils. Around Vaals in Limburg (the Netherlands), Cretaceous sediments occur. The Kalksteen van Vijlen (Vijlen chalk), Orsbach Kreide (Orsbach chalk) and Kunrader Kalksteen (Kunrader chalk) or Vetschauer Kalksteen are present. Fossils from these sediments consist of belemnites (Belemnella (Pachybelemnella) sumensis (Jeletzky, 1949) and/or Belemnella (Pachybelemnella) cimbrica (Birkelund, 1957), some forms are described as Belemnella ex gr. sumensis/cimbrica and Belemnitella sp.), sea urchins (Echinocorys sp. including Echinocorys scutata (Leske, 1778) and Cardiaster granulosus (Goldfuss, 1829), oysters (Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806), shark teeth (for example Carcharias sp., Cretalamna lata (Agassiz, 1843) and Pseudocorax affinis (Münster in Agassiz, 1843) and other fossils. Many fossils are from the Vijlen Chalk (early Early to early Late Maastrichtian). Fossils from the Vijlen 0-3 and Vijlen 4-6 (Vijlen chalk) are approximately between 70.6 and 69.3 million years old (the basis of interval 0 of the Vijlen Member could be dated at 70.6 Ma). Lithology and bioclast contents for intervals 5 (upper part) and 6 of the Vijlen Member at Mamelis (Mamelis 62D-78) have indicated an age of 69.7-69.3 mya. Including the latest part of the late late Maastrichtian (Formatie van Maastricht), fossils can be between 70.6 and 66 million years old. Internet https://www.somniosus.be/Homepage_set.htm Literature Birkelund, T. (1957). Upper Cretaceous belemnites from Denmark. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Biologiske Skrifter, 9, 1–69, Copenhagen. Christensen, W.K. (1995). Belemnitella from the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian chalks of Norfolk, England. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 51, 1-84. London. Felder, P.J. & Bless, M.J.M. (1994). The Vijlen Chalk (early Early to early Late Maastrichtian) in its type area around Vijlen and Mamelis (southern Limburg, The Netherlands). Annales de la Société géologique de Belgique 116: 61–85. Felder, W.M. & Bosch, P.W. (2000). Geologie van Nederland, deel 5. Krijt van Zuid-Limburg. NITG TNO, Delft/ Utrecht: 192 pp. Jagt, J.W.M. (2005). Stratigraphic ranges of mosasaurs in Belgium and the Netherlands (Late Cretaceous) and cephalopod-based correlations with North America. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. 84. 10.1017/S0016774600021065. Jagt, J.W.M. (2012). Belemnitellid coleoids (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the type Maastrichtian, the Netherlands and Belgium. Scripta Geologica. Special Issue, 08, 93–112. Jagt, J.W.M, & Jagt-Yazykova, E.A. (2012). Stratigraphy of the type Maastrichtian – a synthesis. Scripta Geologica. Special Issue, 08, 5–32. Keutgen, N., Jagt, J.W., Felder, P., & Jagt-Yazykova, E. (2010). Stratigraphy of the upper Vijlen Member (Gulpen Formation; Maastrichtian) in northeast Belgium, the southeast Netherlands and the Aachen area (Germany), with special reference to belemnitellid cephalopods. Geologie En Mijnbouw, 89, 109-136. Jeletzky, J.A. (1949). Über den taxonomischen Wert einiger morphologischer Elemente des Rostrums der belemnitellenartigen Formen (Familie Belemnitellidae Pavlow, 1913), sowie über die Gattung Belemnella (Nowak, 1913,subg.) Jeletzky, 1941, ihre Phylogenie und einige Vertreter.Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, B9, 257–287. Keutgen, N. (2011). The belemnite zonation of the uppermost Cretaceous in the Maastricht-AachenLiège, Brabant-Méhaigne and Mons areas (Belgium, southeast Netherlands). In: Jagt, J.W.M., Jagt-Jagt. Belemnitellid coleoids from the type Maastrichtian. Scripta Geol., Spec. Issue 8 (2012). Keutgen, N. (2018). A bioclast-based astronomical timescale for the Maastrichtian in the type area (southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium) and stratigraphic implications: The legacy of P.J. Felder. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 97(4), 229-260. doi:10.1017/njg.2018.15 Nestler, H. (2002). Die Fossilien der Rügener Schreibkreide (4. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage). Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 486., Hohenwarsleben (Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH). Schulz, M.G. (1979). Morphometrisch-variationsstatistische Untersuchungen zur Phylogenie der Belemniten-Gattung Belemnella im Untermaastricht NW-Europas. Geologisches Jahrbuch, A47, 3–157. Van der Ham, R. & van Birgelen, M. (1992). Zeeëgels uit het Maastrichtien van de Schneeberg en omgeving (Aken, Duitsland). Natuurhistorisch Maandblad, 81(8/9), 139–153.

Will someone who has knowledge about this subject, please explain how and why we have so many interesting color variations in the world of fossils? Shark Teeth, Ammonites, Petrified Wood, etc. There are so many different color variations. And I like it!!!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share some pictures from 2 trilobites I just got back from the prep lab! They were collected in February by me and @KompsFossilsNMinerals at Lafamilia quarry. Top to Bottom. 6 inch Isotelus gigas Gravicalymene sp.