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Hey forum! It’s now spring break for me and we’re out road tripping and camping all over Texas Since I’ve got time to burn between destinations I’d love to reflect on some cool fossils Ive found over the past few chilly months! *So first of all I want to throw this out there: I followed heart and I started college! Last year in summer I found out everything about how I’ve been a brain trauma victim with amnesia and when I came back to Texas after some time in Iceland the first thing I wanted to do was go back to college to be a paleontologist like I originally planned to years ago. A LOT has changed. I was tired of doctors and family telling me behind closed doors “she’s not ready yet, its only been ___months” or “she needs more time to process” so I took lessons, read, studied my tailfin off to make SURE that I WAS ready! Trying to learn again to restore lost knowledge from high school during the holidays was the hardest thing I think I’ve ever done. My amazing scuba/nat geo filmer/dental assistant mother especially believed in me and taught me to use spite to fuel my passion. In January I took my TSI tests and passed! I was enrolled in classes 3 days later, whatever seats were available for classes I signed up. I proved everyone who doubted me wrong! It’s going to be a LONG journey but I’m excited about college. I’m working a FT job and a side hussle out of pocket for each class to pay upfront and avoid loan interest rates. My science/biology undergrad is at campus & online classes mixed and then for a masters Austin is looking promising for vert & invert paleontology AND marine biology. Wish me luck! So incredibly thankful to anyone who has helped me- especially the forum people who remembered me. I WON’T forget such kindness and I’ll make ya’ll proud. ——— Moving into fossils, the reason ya’ll are here, I had SO many fun trips and already made some great friends! The end of January we had a small winter storm here in North Texas. So of course for me that means as soon as it was just warm enough to melt the ice I was going to hit up the river- no competition from other Texans still warming up! I went out camping again actually that weekend even though it was miserable. I threw on my best Icelandic wool, grabbed my rock climbing gear, and slinged down the 30ft cliff into the North Sulphur. I got VERY muddy and a little stuck on the way back up but I made it out! Me actually 90° on the cliff! Scapanorhynchus texanus I have no idea about mammals but this tooth find was cool! I held onto it just in case it’s something interesting. Pachyrhizodus tooth? Doesn’t scream mosasaur at me- not even a pterygoid. (I’m actually taking a few teeth & verts down to a friend soon in late March including ones I have questions about! ) A tooth shard of Globidens alabamensis fishy jaw Shark coprolite Quality Enchodus fang Pretty sure these are just Pachy teeth but cool finds! Later that week, my good friend @EPIKLULSXDDDDD wanted to hang out again! He also wanted to bring a friend along, @Aidan Campos would be joining us in some Grayson Marl & PawPaw adventures! I’m still regaining lost knowledge, and need to learn how to drive all over again. I was SO proud I drove with confidence from Mckinney to Denton at the meetup spot with my roommate Cole in the car- 4th time ever driving since I’ve been “back.” We drove out to the locality and it was seriously a beautiful sparkling place with crystals everywhere! The four of us marched out onto the soil: an entomologist, a botanist/photographer, an aspiring dentist, and future marine paleontologist. A diverse rainbow of scientists out to save some old dead ocean life before construction covers them to be lost again under concrete. I liked to think of us as heros out there! Little regular urchin test plates all over the place! I was happy with the amount of tiny Mariella ammonites everywhere! Despite these being common around the Fort Worth & Denton area, these were my first finds of them ever! I bet they were stinkin’ adorable when they were alive, I imagined them swimming and clinging onto things stuck to the seafloor the entire time we were here. I found this tiny little ammonite! I still have yet to ID this little one, but I know this formation is one of the “last call!” places in age for Mortoniceras here in Texas. It looks a bit like the bigger Mortoniceras I have but could be wrong. Anyone who has a better guess on baby ammonite feel free to chime in your thoughts! All the fossils here are minis so nothing big found here except oysters and urchins. Like a bright shiny penny in the sun, I spotted this fish tooth out of the corner of my vision! We’re looking in the Albian and the first fish genus that came to my mind was Aidachar- a predatory fish from over in Asia I recognized from a book. I showed the boys and after a quick google search this actually might be a little Xiphactinus a. tooth! Being so used to them in my Campanian grounds (and a bigger size!) I didn’t realize they also lived during the Albian too. All of these other fossils we were finding were “new faces” to me…so the idea of an X-fish find made me feel more at home. I found a second baby ammo! Back at home: I grabbed this at the Grayson site without an in-situ pic but I suspected this was a chunk of urchin with spines still attached! After a muddy cleanup turns out I was correct! ID’s are most welcome. Magnified 40x : After a great afternoon at the first site, all four of us hopped over to some PawPaw territory! EPIK was very kind to guide us to a new spot he found that would also be lost under concrete someday soon. The pickings were slim but it was a memorable hunt! I’ve got an eye for nodules after watching videos of people in the UK and Illinois break them open so when I find something suspiciously small & round- I break it! I managed to find my first Engonoceras s. ammonite in this nodule! Unfortunately it was so fragile, however, I managed to save it because it has that beautiful iridescent sheen to it from the aragonite layer. “Iridescent” or “pearl” is my favorite color next to periwinkle. Aidan found a nice crab carapace! It wasn’t long before I found my own as well! My books or sources could be outdated but an ID I had in mind for this is Xanthosia aspera. EDIT: Steorrosia aspera Thanks, EPIK! I was at this point bent over dying of laughter at all of us doing the “muddy shoes scrape-off dance” in the street on the walk back- we must have looked SO silly. I was so happy to hang out with friends and explore some fossils in western formations that felt a little unknown to me! Amazing learning experience and I had a blast! (Thanks again you three!) Back at home: I’m happy I held onto that Engonoceras nodule because 40x on a microscope I was rewarded with these beautiful views which would have never been appreciated. My dad who loves nautilus and ammonites would be over the moon if he could see these! PART 2 SOON- to be continued!

Took another trip out to explore the other half of the Pawpaw site about a week ago and came away with some great finds I will be posting soon. Most of the things I brought back weren't too hard to pin an ID on. This little guy has been giving me some trouble though. I know that pterosaur teeth are found in the Pawpaw a bit more often than other formations around here. This preconception may be clouding my judgement a bit, but I have a suspicion that this could be a pterosaur instead of a fish tooth (enchodus). I haven't found many teeth in the Pawpaw so far, so I'm not well acquainted with how enchodus or other fish are preserved in this formation. Some of the photos below come from my new stereomicroscope which seems to work pretty well, but I am still figuring it out (like how to get rid of the messed up timestamp). I've ruled out protospyraena as I believe they have two edges around their circumference whereas my specimen has only one. This specimen is 13mm and brown. It has one non-serrated edge and is smooth the rest of the circumference. There is some natural wear on the tip. The bottom of the tooth is fragmented which allows us to take a look a bit in the interior. It seems the tooth is hollowed out where I believe the pulp cavity once was. Not sure if this feature aligns with pterosaur or fish. The base of the tooth that is present seems to gradually flatten. If y'all know any pterosaur experts on here, feel free to ping them. Without further ado, here are some pics: Thanks!

Over the month of December, I've gotten the opportunity to check out several sites across the state of Texas. In my fossil interests, I have to admit that I am certainly a bit vertebrate-centric, but that does not mean I will pass up the chance to marvel at a beautiful invertebrate specimen when given the chance. For better or worse, these past four mini hunts have not really delivered on the vertebrate end, but have made up the difference in terms of inverts. I've decided to combine these smaller hunts into one report. For those with invertebrate addictions, I hope this sampler of Texas fossils will meet your medically-necessitated daily dose of invertebrate content. Enjoy! Maastrichtian No Mas Kemp Clay and Corsicana Formation Leading up to my eventual move away from Austin back to DFW, I made sure to visit a nearby site that possessed some Maastrichtian exposures. Back up in Dallas, the nearest exposures of similar age are a bit of a drive, so I wanted to take the opportunity to travel to a convenient spot while I still had a chance. I had previously seen this spot mentioned in some old literature, where it was described as exposing the Kemp Clay at the top of a bluff and Corsicana below. Since I had no prior experience with these formations, I wasn't sure what to expect or what to look for in terms of identifying formations. One Saturday afternoon, I carved out a few hours to take the drive and a brief hike out to the spot. I was excited to finally hunt a stage of the Cretaceous I had never searched before. The landscape was quite dramatic and I could see out for miles. Pictures really do not do the place justice. The drop from the trail to the creek bed is much higher than the picture makes it out to be. After navigating my way down, I was immediately confused by the formation the creek bed was composed of. Perhaps I am just too Ozan-minded, but the shale looked almost indistinguishable from my usual Ozan hunting spots elsewhere in the area. It had that classic bluish grey color and was even filled with rather large Exogyra oysters. I began to wonder if so much time and weathering had passed that the creek had finally reached down to the Ozan far below. However, a closer inspection showed that there were some subtle key differences. The wavy shells of the oysters were not indicative of the species E. ponderosa, but instead of E. costata, which is present in the Corsicana Formation at least according to the paper I had read about the site prior. There was also a pronounced presence of tiny phosphatic bivalves that I had never seen in the Ozan. With this information, I was relieved to know that my goal of collecting in the Maastrichtian could continue without issue. Some leftovers from an earlier fossil hunter. Not all of these are E. costata since they washed down from older strata upstream. With little direction as to where to look first, I decided to plop down and try splitting open some chunks of mudstone that had fallen down from a grey and brown formation at the top of the cliff (Kemp Clay I'm assuming). Initially, I didn't find much, but eventually some invertebrate fossils began showing up. I was intrigued by the presence of the original shell on a few gastropods (I hadn't been to the Whiskey Bridge at this point so this was a first for me). They were ornamented, unlike the steinkerns I had been accustomed to for the entirety of my Cretaceous fossilizing career before. Unfortunately, none of them were preserved well and were more so just crushed messes too fragile to take back. In the same rocks, I came across various bivalves that were fairly nice to look at and ended up keeping an orange 2D one, though I am having a difficult time identifying it. A gastropod with the original shell from the Kemp Clay(?) A flattened bivalve(?) from the Kemp Clay(?). It's about 30 mm across, orange, and has thin red lines between the ribbing. At first, I wondered if it was a smushed trigonia, but I'm doubting that now. Afterwards, I surface collected along the bed and climbed some of the cliff where Corsicana was exposed. There wasn't much in the way of large finds, but getting close to the ground revealed a plethora of smaller finds to be had. The first objects of interest were highly detailed button corals. The closest thing I could find online as an ID was the genus Micrabacia which is known from the Peedee formation (also Maastrichtian). I came across a couple bits of crab claws as well. My vertebrate hopes for ginglymostoma were never fulfilled, sadly. Instead, I found only three sharks teeth that were all missing roots . I don't think they can be identified, but I welcome you all to toss out ideas if you have any. An in situ of what could be a Micrabacia button coral. As I walked along the cliffs, I couldn't help but think about the time period I was traversing through. In the formations beneath me were the Cretaceous layers I had grown so used to. In those days, mosasaurs and dinosaurs dominated the world. It's mind boggling to realize that the strata just above the Kemp Clay was the geological blink of an eye that saw an end to all of it. All those billions of ammonites and not a single one made it through such a barrier. Even something so simple yet prolific like exogyra was put to a complete stop. The Maastrichtian was not a final stand by any means either. That day 66 million years ago may have started just like any other, but ended with the world being permanently changed in a way that is almost unimaginable. Speaking of days ending, the time was 30 minutes till sunset. With the day winding down, I decided to circle back and try splitting some more mudstones from the Kemp Clay in hopes of finding a shark tooth before calling it quits. Rock after rock, I couldn't seem to find anything other than the usual tiny clams and crushed snails. As the light started to dim, I was finally greeted by the sheen of shiny black enamel. It had a strange shape to it, but this being a new place for me, it could have just been a weird shark for all I knew. As I chipped away at the rock, more and more of the specimens figure was revealed. Finally, I realized that all of my labor had been put into exposing a simple enchodus fang, no different from the hundreds I had seen before! And yet, I was still happy with it. After the disappointment of the broken shark teeth from before, it was nice to at last have a complete tooth from the Maastrichtian, no matter how common the animal may be. With that, another stage of the Cretaceous was crossed off the list. Some pics of all of the finds: Strange bivalve, a gastropod, Micrabacia(?) corals, and perhaps a scaphopod? Top row L to R: Crustacean claw bits, and the enchodus (petrosus?) fang. Bottom L to R: Worm tube, and three rootless shark teeth Eocene Escargot Stone City Formation Fast forward about a week, and the time had come for me to pack my things and leave my dorm once and for all. I usually drive straight to Dallas from Austin, but this year things were different. My carless brother started his first semester at A&M, so I volunteered to pick him up on the way home for the break. Being the person that I am, I simply cannot drive all the way out there and NOT visit the world-class site known as the Whiskey Bridge. I made sure to turn in my dorm key early in the morning and head on out for a quick hunt in the Stone City Formation along the Brazos. I was hoping @Jared C could join in the fun, but he unfortunately had a final that same morning . I'm pretty sure passing the class wasn't that important, but I won't hold it against ya . Before making the drive, I had also done a bit of research into which layers yielded the most vertebrate material. Even with the information, however, I still had measured expectations as the Stone City Formation is of course much more famous for its rich invertebrate fauna. The goal for the day was to find some vertebrate material and perhaps a complete cone snail. When I arrived, the place was still covered in mud from the storm a couple days before. With hopes that the popular site had been replenished, I carefully made my way down to the water, passing by a couple of hunters just finishing up their session. The plan was originally to head straight for a productive spot a ways from the bridge, but of course the newness of the place and its fauna had me stopping in my tracks every few steps to pick up a gastropod. When I finally got to the spot, I slowly climbed up the slope to meet the fine hash layers atop the ledge. There is never a dull moment at this locality. Every square inch of surface is covered with bits of white shell. The first oddball that caught my eye was a strange looking piece of coral. Madracis johnsoni Side stepping to the right while hugging the wall of soil led me to my next noteworthy find and the first of the vertebrates! The skinny crown and wrinkling of the enamel was a familiar sight for someone who has collected so many scapanorhynchus teeth in the past. However, it would seem that, for this formation, a sand tiger shark was the more likely ID. I'm guessing this is from Striatolamia macrota. The weathering on it is likely due to prehistoric reworking I would assume. Striatolamia macrota? Not so long after, I sidestepped my way into finding my first ray plate! Unfortunately this one was also in not-so-perfect condition. Myliobatis sp. fragment I couldn't stick around for too long since my brother was waiting for his pickup. I rounded off the trip by filling up a couple bags with fine shell hash matrix for future screening for microfossils. I didn't take too much though, as I have a secret side project involving many bags of micromatrix that is currently occupying most of my micro attention. If I find anything special from the hash, I will be sure to add an update to this topic. Overall, it was a solid first visit to a famous site. I managed to find some vertebrate bits and bobs that I'm happy with. I am a little bummed I never got a complete cone snail, but I guess that will just have to wait for a future outing. Overview of the finds: Top: Dentalium scaphopods Bottom L to R: Striatolamia macrota tooth, Myliobatis ray tooth fragment, reworked Carcharhinus mancinae? tooth, and Conus sauridens fragments Top L to R: Lunulites bouei and Schizorthosecos sp. bryozoans, and Turbinolia pharetra coral. Bottom L to R: Fish otoliths (not sure how/don't want to ID), Balanophyllia desmophyllum, and Madracis johnsoni Top L to R: Weathered Architectonica elaborata?, and probably Venericardia densata that looks strange since it doesn't seem to curve like others. Mid L to R: Anomia ephippioides, Vokesula smithvillensis, Notocorbula texana, and perhaps a worm tube? Bottom L to R: Large Anomia ephippiodes, and a trio of Venericardia densata Top L to R: Athleta petrosus, Ancilla staminea, and Pseudoliva vestusa Bottom L to R: Athleta lisbonensis, Architectonica scrobiculata, and Sinum arctatum Top: Michela trabeatoides Bottom L to R: Protosurcula gabbii, Hesperiturris nodocarinatus, Cochlespira engonata, and Protosurcula gabii though they look different from the one on the left of the row. Top L to R: Distorsio septemdentata, and Latirus moorei Bottom L to R: Mesalia clairbornensis, Turritella nasuta, and Gegania anitquata Phew that was a lot to identify. I'm sure I got plenty wrong, so feel free to correct me on any of these. I will probably find a ton of new species in the micro matrix that I can add in a later update!

With time running out before the start of the school year, I decided to spread my attention across three DFW formations to get a little taste of what each has to offer. Instead of shooting out a handful of smaller topics, I've decided to combine my trips into a single larger post. I wouldn't say any individual find is a jaw-dropper or museum-worthy, but they, all together, give a nice glimpse into what each formation can yield. In order from oldest to youngest: Goodland This adventure took place in Oliver Creek with the Dallas Paleo Society. It's a regular spot for the group on private property. The site is well known for its plethora of echinoids and highly sought after Oxytropidoceras (still working on the pronunciation) ammonites. A huge crowd of hunters arrived in Justin for the meet-up. I was worried it would be too crowded for the creek, but there was plenty of elbowroom and something for everyone. I'd say about half of the people spent the morning scouring the gravel beds whereas the others got to hammering away in the limestone ledges. Once my brother and I found the good layer, we were nonstop working out urchins and ammonites. The echinoids (A) were literally everywhere and preserved in great condition. We came out with a baggie full of them, but left many more behind. It was pretty easy to find ammonite fragments too. However, finding a complete ammonite with at least a little structural integrity was a tougher challenge. Luckily, fortune was on our side and we came away with four decent Oxytropidoceras's (B). The two pictured below are the largest and prettiest ones. Prepping them will be a challenge though. They are too fragile for the hammer and chisel, but a little too tough for my new dental pick (I bent it a bit already ). Along with these, we also got a neat selection of gastropods and bivalves (C). The Society continued on to a second location, but we decided to call it a day early since my brother was a bit tired of the heat and rock dust. A). Several Holaster whitei from the Goodland Limestone. The ones straight from the ground have amazing preservation. One urchin is covered in oysters (Plicatula?). A coating of b72 gave them a nice sheen. B.1). An Oxytropidoceras ammonite. B.2). The best Oxytropidoceras of the bunch. Its got an interesting feature that I am curious about. There seem to be some fragments of the original shell still attached in a couple of locations. These "shell fragments" have reddish orange splotches on a white base and have a distinct texture to them (I'm not sure if porous is the right word). I wonder if the red coloration is just staining or if they could be indicative of the shells original coloration. When I first noticed them I immediately thought of the red striped shells of modern nautiluses... but I am probably getting ahead of myself . C). An assortment of bivalves and Tylostoma snail. The two smallest clams appear to be Protocardia texana while the scallop is, I assume, Neithea. The largest clam is smooth and difficult for me to ID. Denton Clay Took a trip to a construction site. Didn't find anything and then got my leg cut on a rusty post. Got a tetanus booster and no lockjaw thankfully. 0/10 would not come back! Pawpaw I've been poking around a couple of construction sites located on the Pawpaw formation west of Ft. Worth. They've both been decently productive, though I wish I could've had more time to really look through them thoroughly. It's a really interesting layer with some notable dinosaur finds and shares some visual similarities with the Woodbine in my opinion. The sites I went to cut through I variety of levels in the Earth. I think they are all still within the Pawpaw, but I am honestly not sure. In a more elevated cut, I found the specimens shown in (A). I was super excited when I pulled my first Coenholectypus only to realize that it was very poorly preserved and covered in lots of matrix. I tried some vinegar on it which cleaned it a bit, but the way it's shattered and degraded on the other side makes me think this is as far as I'll go with it. In a lower layer, I found some really interesting fragments of purple ammonites and a bivalve (B). I tried hard to find something complete, but the best I could come away with was the tiny purple heteromorph I added additional pics of. I think the sites needs some rain as many of the fossils were covered in dust and hard to spot. Definitely places I will check out again when I'm back home. Lastly, I decided to include an updated pic of the micro Engonoceras that is seen in my pfp (C). I only just recently acquired paraloid b72 and have been enjoying it immensely. After applying some to my micro ammonite, it has obtained that beautiful "wet" look that really brings out its color and details. I've got some older pyrite ammonite encased in paraffin wax that I may try replacing with b72. I have a feeling they will look much better. A). Bivalve and damaged Coenholectypus urchin. B). Purple fragments of typical ammonites, heteromorphs, and a bivalve. A complete ammonite of this nature still eludes me despite my efforts. C). My Engonoceras with a fresh coat of b72. Eagle Ford Despite the fact that I've been actively fossil hunting for about a year, my experience with the Eagle Ford is focused mostly on only a couple of brief visits to Post Oak Creek. I decided that now was a good time to finally jump in and try to figure this famous formation out. I hit up a few spots at a local creek with huge exposures of bluish shale. Despite the urban sprawl immediately surrounding the area, the tranquility of the creek made me feel like I was out alone deep in the wilderness. There was plenty of foliage and animals to populate it. Something about the place made me wonder if I had somehow traveled back in time. I was quick to get to work, scanning the shale and splitting open some slabs. The matrix was loaded with tons of fragile fish parts. Every slab contained a smattering of scales (I think) and other miscellaneous fish parts. Most of the small things were so delicate they would poof away when exposed to the air. The bigger things were a bit stronger and I was thankfully able to stabilize them before they were mostly destroyed. Early on, I got lucky with a beautiful little Enchodus jaw (A). I believe it's a piece of the lower one. To go with it I always came across a couple of jaw sections with larger fangs (B). Unfortunately, the tips of them immediately popped off and disappeared into the ether before I could preserve them. One slab surprised me with a broken shark tooth that I assume is Cretoxyrhina mantelli (C). It was the only shark tooth I came across that day, but it gives me hope for future expeditions. Of the thousands of fish scales I found, I decided to try and preserve a larger one (D). These guys were very fragile so I'm happy he made it out mostly in one piece. Once again, a slab surprised me... this time with a tiny ammonite, something I don't usually associate with the Eagle Ford (E). And to round off the day, I noticed some protrusions jutting out of the shaly bank. When removing them, I noticed they were rounded orbs containing a concentration of fish parts. I assume that these are coprolites. I don't know much about these sorts of ichnofossils so please inform me if I'm wrong. If they are coprolites, are they from a fish or a reptile and how can you tell? A). Lower Enchodus jaw? B). Some Enchodus fangs and jaws. Tips broke off when revealed. These guys are both consolidated in b72 and were originally in multiple pieces. Reattaching the fangs was some tedious work. C). Cretoxyrhina mantelli? D). Fish scale preserved in b72. E). A tiny ammonite in the shale F). A crappy ending with some suspected coprolites. In Conclusion I had a nice summer break with plenty of time spent exploring the world of fossils surrounding where I grew up. It was a lot to take in, but I truly learned a great deal about the oceans that once swept over North Texas. The diversity of marine creatures is astonishing and it impresses me every time I split open that next slab of shale. With the school year starting up again, I am moving back to Austin. It's been a hot second since I've traveled to my usual Ozan spots and I am excited to get back into business. I'll take the sudden burst of rain today as a sign of good things to come. I can't help but think of all the freshly revealed marine fauna that have finally gotten the chance to take their first gulp of water in roughly 80 million years.

This last Sunday, I decided to dedicate the afternoon to scoping out a couple of prospective Woodbine sites and eventually make a return to my Pawpaw/Mainstreet spot from my most recent post. Unfortunately, the two Woodbine sites were complete duds. I left the high ninety degree weather with nothing but a tan. Thankfully, I saved the best site for last, so I was hopeful that my luck could still turn around before the sun left the sky. Things started off not being so productive. It was just rock after rock with the occasional concretion stealing away my attention. I was directing most of my focus to the smaller side of things as I was looking to find a complete specimen of my favorite ammonite genus, Engonoceras. About halfway through the hunt, I came across two interesting finds from the Mainstreet Limestone. The first was a Mariella heteromorph ammonite (A) that was better than the one I had come across last week. The second piece was unrecognizable to me at first glance. Its obvious symmetry is what initially caught my eye, but the long and slender figure was perplexing. After dusting it off a bit, I noticed the hinge that gave it away as a bivalve (B). I have never found a clam with such exaggerated features. With a little research, I have come to the possible ID of it being from the genus Arca, but I would love to hear what the invert experts have to say. After pocketing these, I really made an effort to focus on the smaller things in order to not come out of the day with my original goal unfulfilled. Just when I was beginning to feel sorry for myself and call it quits, there it was (C). Gleaming in the light of the setting sun was the bronze shell that had eluded me for so long. To say I was in disbelief would be an understatement. I probably could've milked the moment a bit more, but I was reaching down and picking it up before I could even stop myself. Suffice it to say, the juice was well worth the squeeze! Here are the pictures: A). Mariella heteromorph from the Mainstreet Fm. B). Arca texana? clam from the Mainstreet Fm. C). Pyritic micromorph Engonoceras serpintinum from the Pawpaw Fm. If you would like any additional pictures, let me know. Thanks for reading!

Following a refreshing swim at the lake with a few friends over the weekend, I decided to take a spur-of-the-moment stop at a construction site I happened to be driving by. The sun was setting, cooling the area and finally making it hospitable despite the recent heat wave. I was not familiar with the exact geology of where I was, but with only an hour and a half of daylight left I decided to not waste too much time and immediately began scouring the dirt. I quickly noticed that the ground was composed of two distinct formations. The higher layer was a grey limestone while the layer underneath was bright red and filled with a wide range of greens and yellows among other colors. It was only until I got home that I realized these were the Grayson Marl (/Mainstreet limestone?) and Pawpaw formation respectively. My first find was an unexpected, but welcome one. Coming from the grey rock, I noticed a rounded form that stood out against the jagged terrain surrounding it. After prying it out, I was surprised to find that it was indeed a large nautilus (A). Not too long after, I found a couple more that were in slightly worse condition. Continuing my search in the greyish area led me to later find a chunk of Mariella heteromorph ammonite (B) as well. I particularly like this specimen as it is interesting to compare it with my Mariella micromorphs from the Waco Pit and other locations. I also managed to snag a few pretty little brachiopods (C). I have a really difficult time differentiating between brachiopods so my ID for them is a bit iffy, but for now I'll go with Kingena wacoensis. The cool thing about this site is the fact that it sits on the border of two very distinct formations. As a result, one can find a wide variety of fossil life. The rest of the things I brought home from this trip were found in the red Pawpaw formation. For whatever reason, Texas loves to produce pyritized micromorphs. I was surprised to come across a multitude of ammonite genera with that classic bronze coloration I've come to be all too familiar with. I found a few un-pictured fragments of Mariella and other ammonite pieces. I was also able to pocket a few chunks of my favorite ammonite, Engonoceras (D). I didn't really capture its beauty well on camera, but something about the way light bounces off of the broad reflective shell is mesmerizing. I hope to one day come across a complete one. To round off the hunt, I found one last slightly enigmatic specimen (E) that came out of the Pawpaw. Its a big rock with lots of holes running in and out of it. The holes are covered with countless tiny divots. My guess is they are what's left of some crustacean burrows as they bear some resemblance to the poopy burrows I have seen elsewhere online. Some of the burrows have crystallization. Here are the finds: A). A large nautiloid and a smaller one coming from the Grayson Marl. I believe them both to be Cymatoceras. There is some extra matrix on the outside that I am debating on chiseling off. B). A fragment of Mariella heteromorph ammonite from the Grayson Marl. C). Kingena wacoensis? from the Grayson Marl. They have some nice detail! D). Pyritized Engonoceras fragments from the Pawpaw Formation. E). Crab burrows from the Pawpaw? All in all, I'm glad I made a quick stop at this particular site. It's a pretty interesting place with a wide variety of things to be found in a couple of formations I have only just begun to explore. I will likely make another trip there in the future! Thanks for reading!

I found this in a creek west of Waco, Tx. From the maps I looked at, it seems likely this is the Pawpaw formation. My guess is that the item is the ribs of a brachiopod, but I wondered what better informed collectors might say. The item is about one and a half inches long. The other pictures show the fossiliferous layer that it is still in, as I did not think I could get it out of the lateral crack that exposed the layer without shattering it. Anyway, this is my only picture of it and I look forward to your comments.

I took a advantage of the cool weather today (low 90's) and headed out to Central Texas near Waco. This was first time hunting in the Texas Paw Paw formation ( The Paw Paw Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the late Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation). I didn't find any dinosaurs , but found plenty of ammos on the cliff and in the creek bed. It was an interesting experience finding few ammonites. Here are few photos that I snapped today. Beautiful day lower 90's. Creek water level is always low this time of the year. I found this complete ammo sticking out of the cliff. Typical Paw Paw formation. Got my trusty old tools out and hammering out the ammo. Other Ammos are in the creek bed, but badly worn. Got one out!

Here's an old find that I had totally forgot about and filed away after only taking one picture. This is some sort of phyllodont fish or similar family I think. Has anyone seen this before and know exactly what it is from? I'm not able to prepare it properly. Lance