Search the Community

With the end of the semester approaching, school has picked up and I have been too busy to embark on many adventures. When my schedule finally cleared up one afternoon following a brief rain in Austin, I jumped at the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. One of my goals right now is to check out new parts of the creek I hunt on. Scanning through my list of potential spots, I decided to try and be the first one out to a very promising location. Like my previous hunts, this place ran through the Ozan formation, so my expectations were set on some nice Cretaceous specimens as well as the usual native artifacts that Central Texas is so famous for. After I parked and carefully scaled my way down to the water's edge, I was immediately met with several pairs of shoes and jackets. Thinking I had been beaten to the punch, I decided I might as well head down the stream and meet whoever it was to discuss the location and fossils in general. Thankfully, the trip was saved when they turned out to be a kind group of fishermen. After a brief chat, I carried on to get the hunt started. The mud was an absolute nightmare. I had never been up to my knees in it until then. Somehow, I managed to trudge my way through without getting one of my water shoes sucked away into a different dimension. When I finally reached the first gravel bar, I was instantly rewarded with the nicest Ptychodus tooth (E) I have found yet. Scattered around the bar were tons of flakes and a couple of larger worked pieces (G, I) that were unfamiliar to me. Before moving on, I also stumbled upon what would've been the largest point I'd ever found (H). Unfortunately, it was pretty banged up. The previous rain wasn't that big in terms of flooding, so I spent the most time scouring the gravel still under water as I reasoned that the stuff on dry land was less likely to have been moved around in the storm. It was during this moment that I found my first mosasaur vertebra of the day (A). This one was exciting to me as I personally thought it very much resembled the verts that famously come out of the NSR's Ozan formation. Within a couple feet of it I found another half piece of mosasaur vertebra (B). With the close association of these two bones, I went into a bit of a frenzy. Nothing else came up, but I knew that there was a massive exposure just up ahead so I hurried on. Along the way I ran into a fragment of the smallest point I've come across (F). At its size, I wonder if the original piece would've been a true arrowhead. Once I reached the main exposure, I immediately got to probing around. I came across two more pieces of bone that I believe are both belonging to mosasaurs (C, D). They have bony structures, but they are also pretty beat up and may have come from a different formation in comparison to the other two verts I collected. With the day winding down I picked up a nice big Exogyra ponderosa for my dad's friend as well as a couple of preforms. I tried to look around in the exposure for any hints of mosasaur, but that shale is extremely difficult to get through. All in all, it was a great success. I think I've found my new go-to spot! With the addition of potentially 4 new mosasaur verts, that's a 400% increase in my total mosi collection! P.S. Does anyone else get "Tetris Syndrome" after scanning gravel bars for way too long? For hours after the trip, I literally could not stop seeing gravel and chert flakes every time I closed my eyes. An overview of the finds: Closeups for ID: A: First mosasaur vert of the day. To me, it strongly resembles those found in the NSR's Ozan formation. This one was covered in a clay-like matrix. B: The second vert of the day. Seems to be broken in half and from the same formation as A. Appears to have pyritization on some parts of it. C: Third vert which I believe is mosasaur. This one is beat up and seems to be of differing material from A and B. Could it be from the Austin Chalk which is present farther up the creek? D: The last "vert" of the day. This one I am least confident about. It appears to have a bony texture, but is very worn and has a confusing shape. It seems closer to C than A or B, but it also feels very distinct in it of itself. What do you guys think? I suppose it could be something else entirely! E: A nicely preserved Ptychodus tooth. I'm thinking anonymous or mammillaris, but my ID skills are pretty lackluster. F: "True" arrowhead fragment? G: Strange artifact. The angle seems too wide to be a point. I think it's too thin to be an adze. Obviously missing a huge chunk from that fresh curved break. What do you guys think? H: Fragment of a large point I: Another strange fragment. I think it may be an adze since it's a bit more robust. Fresh break on one edge. Let me know if you want any more close-ups. Thanks for reading!

My family and I love to explore creeks on the weekends. We've found many fossilized oyster shells before, but this is by far the largest specimen to date.

I've probably looked at thousands of oysters and have seen them attached to each other but can't recall seeing any at this stage assuming that's what it is. While researching came across a new term, oyster splat, the name given to free floating larvea after they reach the stage of landing and attaching to something. Given this looks like a tiny transparent oyster would this be splat? Would different species attach to each other? Can't recall ever seeing that either. It must have been a long hard day for the person assigned the task of naming them splat.

OK, I posted about going to the North Sulphur River on Friday (Hwy 24 bridge), and now I could use some help to identify some of these specimens. I know these are oysters, but in this first photo of 12, these shells all look different. 1) Are they all different species, or just variations of the same species? Photo #1: 2) Is this a clam, or an oyster? Photos #2a, 2b, 2c, 2d 3) Clam, oyster, other bivalve, or just a rock? Photos #3a, 3b: 4) What about the red one? Clam, oyster, bivalve, or awesome rock? Photos # 4a, 4b: 5) Is this an Ammonite impression, or something else? Photos # 5a, 5b: 6) I know I'm stretching this one, but are these shinier, or round ball spots, possibly pearls? Photos # 6a, 6b, 6c: 7) Tooth, claw, or shell fragment? Very small. What possible creature could it be from? Photos #7a, 7b: 8) These dark gray markings were inside the rocks when I split them open. Is this anything? Photos # 8a, 8b: 9) And finally, is this red spot anything? Photo #9: Thanks in advance to everyone who might respond. I appreciate it.

This may be a very Texas-centric post. Hopefully my fellow Texans will be able to help. I am sorting out specimens from the Walnut Formation here in Austin. These particular fossils were collected from the Bee Cave Member. The Walnut is part of the Fredericksburg Group and the age is Albian (Lower Cretaceous). There are three species of the oyster Ceratostreon known from our local rocks: C. texanum (Roemer), C. weatherfordensis (Cragin) & C.hilli (Cragin). If anyone is more familiar with these and can confirm my tentative identification I would be grateful. So the QUESTION regards the ones I have labeled C. weatherfordensis. The others that are C. texanum I have no doubts about. Those are classic marker fossils for the Fredericksburg Group and are distinct. take a look at the pics...