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I was wondering if there are any potential amber-bearing exposures of the Raritan Formation. I understand the Sayreville clay pit site has been sold and is currently under development, and as far as I could find that was the only major location. Would there happen to be any remaining deposits between New York and southern Maryland? Most records seem to originate in the early 1800s-1900s.
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From the album: Jerry's Really Old Stuff
A piece of fossil amber embedded in a pyrite nodule found at Sayre and Fisher clay mine Sayreville, NJ. Quantities of Cretaceous era fossil amber have been found at the Sayreville site, some containing insect and plant inclusions. The American Museum of Natural History in NYC has a collection of amber from this site. Amber was and still is to a lesser extent found in lignite (carbonized wood) concentrations in a generally sterile compacted gray clay. Though dinosaur remains have not been found at the site the longest series of dinosaur tracts found in New Jersey were uncovered by workers during the mid 1930s. -
Hi -- I look my young son to the clay beds in Sayreville, NJ this weekend to look for amber (or, most hopefully, something in amber). We left with just a few pebbles. But in some gravel at the site, he pulled out what he was *convinced* was a shark tooth. While I initially dismissed it as a rock, my son -- who at 7 is pretty up on his game -- made a convincing case for further analysis. There's an enamel-like substance on the "top" side, with a smooth, rounded back, and there appears to be dark fossil remains where the "root" would have been. I haven't tried to clean the clay off of it, (nor am I sure its possible, or even if its clay and not, you know, just a rock). Here are the pics: I don't know where Sayreville, NJ would fit in NJ fossil hunting eras. We usually do the Big Brook/Ramunessen Creek thing here in NJ, and are used to some late Cretaceous finds. And though I know the Sayreville site was a quarry and has a history of some fossils, I was under the impression it was primarily plant, shells and imprints found there. Oh, and rocks. Anyway -- thanks for any help with this!
