Search the Community

Need help identifying. Thank you in advance for your help. Laura Location: Ladonia Fossil Park, Ladonia, Texas, North Sulphur River Weight: 13.83 Ounces

Hello, I am new to this site so I apologize in advance if I post incorrectly. I went to Ladonia, Texas, to the fossil park and found a lot of "red" type rocks or fossils. I need help identifying what they are and basically if they are even fossils. I have a lot of them, so to keep this simple, I will just post photos of all the same item, but in various angles. Thank you, Laura Location: Ladonia Fossil Park, Ladonia, Texas Period: From what I have read, fossils here are from the Cretaceous Period/Mesozoic Era. Weight: 5.34 Ounces

Hello, folks. I'm not totally new to fossil hunting, but I am new to trying to identify fossils. As a kid growing up I always search fossils on Grand Lake, Oklahoma, but never tried to identify anything. I recently went to the North Sulphur River, Ladonia Fossil Park and have many finds that I plan to post for help identifying, I'm still in the process of taking pictures. I look forward to your help and, thank you in advance for your time. Laura

Hello all, I'm originally from Maine but currently live in Western Massachusetts just outside of Amherst. Throughout my life I've had a deep love of natural history and the sciences. On a work trip to Texas this past week I was planning some adventures while on the road, and stumbled across this forum and the references to Post Oak Creek in Sherman, TX. I booked a hotel in town and adventured along the creek; not knowing what I might find. When I found my first cretaceous sharks tooth laying on the bank of the river, I was thrilled to no end - and the fire was lit. A love of paleontology was born. I spent a couple days hunting along the creek and made a trip out to the North Sulphur River as well. I've got a lot of great finds to share and could use some help identifying a few mystery specimens. I'll be following up with some posts to the fossil ID discussion. Looking forward to benefiting from all the knowledge and information available from this site and its members! Having scanned through many of the topics and posts already, I'm impressed by the organization and overall decorum. Thank you to all those that contribute to making this forum possible. Here's few of the specimens I found at Post Oak Creek. I'm still sorting the collection after shipping it back East and will post more photos later: Warm Regards, Nate

Made another trip to the Sulphur and had a couple questions regarding two of my finds: First, is this coprolite? Not sure how to identify it, other then it looks like it. Second, I assumed this was a shark centrum when I found it, but looking at other images online, they are seem to be quite a bit thicker. Mine is about 2" in diameter and 1/4" thick. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Finally made it out to the Sulphur. It's been 9 months so I was eager to get a big hunt in. Pulled an all dayer, 10 miles in the mud. Was quite a workout and I'm still sore. We haven't had a big rise in a while so I wasn't expecting much but I ended up with a decent haul. Favorites are the jaw sections and coprolite. Looking forward to spring storms hitting soon

Fossils from the red sandstone layer in the North Sulphur River. Ladonia, Texas. Does anyone know why the fossils in this layer are black, or what mineral it is?

My girlfriend found this on the Sulphur River this spring and it looked interesting. No idea what it is. Now that I'm on here I thought you guys might be able to figure it out.

Really really hot yesterday in Ladonia but found some really nice things here is something that my husband found would it be a fossilized petrified nut? I have a lot more photos to show but it keeps saying all my photo images are too large so here's one I hope this helps

This is an addendum to my last post in this forum. Once again, I appreciate your help

First, here is a link to the story of our adventure this weekend http://www.thefossil...ctive/?p=680185 I wanted to post some of our finds and a couple more obscure ones too. I numbered them for easy reference. Thank you for you help in advance! I'm excited to learn more about what we have found.

My sons are 5 and 9. I wanted to do something new that would indulge their adventurous side! So, we went to the Sulphur River for our first fossil expedition! We drove the hour from Plano and parked at Ladonia Fossil Park on 34. I had read about what to expect, so I was as prepared as a mother can be. -Sunscreen (no shade folks, so re-application is vital) -Bugspray (we didn't need this) -Bandaids (we needed this) -Antibiotic ointment (see above) -Snacks and Bottled water -Hammer (don't laugh, I'm a new adventurer) -Garden trowel (most useful) -Buckets, small shovels, and sand strainers (99 cent store) -Swim shoes (some folks wore rain boots) -Towel (at some point my youngest said he was cold from all the wading) -Hat to prevent sun over-exposure (I could have used this) -Extra clothing (left in car for the drive home-perfect) -Plastic bags for smaller fossils There is a steep embankment with some paved stairs we used to carefully climb down to the river. The boys wore their tennis shoes but we changed into swim shoes at the riverbank. This was important because my oldest son got stuck in the mud up to his knees at one point and lost both swim shoes to it's deep sticky force. Thank goodness we had his socks and tennis shoes waiting for us on the gravel bar! He had to walk back a good 30 minutes to retrieve them, slowly navigating river rock and watching for any potential hazards, but he made it! Our new and more experienced friends dug through the mud in an attempt to retrieve his swim shoes but they relented and gave them up to the river bed. We all decided we had just left a potential artifact for future generations to identify. The boys had fun making some friends and wading in the river. It was shallow enough to see through, and safe enough to wade in. I did note some rusty metal pieces on land as well as a few pieces of glass, but it isn't rampant. Just caution your kiddos to be vigilant. The boys had the most fun digging and throwing clay mounds at one another. Meanwhile, I enjoyed looking for fossils on the gravel bars. It took some time to pick up the pace and begin identifying what was fossil and what was rock, but I had a nice foundation going. I asked some regular's for assistance in identifying some of them. My youngest had a tough time catching on but was excited to bring me lots of rocks for our collection. I think my best advice is don't wander too far because you have to walk back. Also, stay away from the slick banks where the creek meets the river. This is where my son fell victim to the savage mud. Of course, we retrieved him, but he thought it was hilarious and continued to "fall" in time and again. Stay vigilant and walk slowly! As far as fossil finding, look for what stands out. I found my best pieces on the gravel bars, not in the creek. There is also great potential in sifting through the mundane little gravel within the shallowest of water because something nice can come from it! (See photo 1) I am going to post some of our finds. Feel free to help identify. I found so many different things and it was worth the trip fro this newbie! Here are links to our other finds that day! http://www.thefossil...hur-river-trip/ http://www.thefossil...r-river-trip-2/

Wife and I spent the day at the sulphur on Saturday. We didn't get the rain we expected the week before but still came out okay. Fav was probably the mosasaur tooth, has a nice yellow tint to it. Good day for enchodus jaw fragments got 6 of those. Found a nice bird point in a nearby creek as well.

I made a last minute trip after my schedule cleared today. Started out in a creek near the sulphur and found 2 points 5 inches from each other, a first for me. Also found 3 shark teeth. Then I headed over to the big River. I didn't expect much cause I knew it would be full of prints. I got a nice workout, took me about a mile and a half to find my first piece. Ended up doing okay. Got a few mosy verts, 2 fish jaw frags, mosy jaw frag, enchodus jaw frag, shark tooth,and a point. Nice relaxing day out there.

The stars aligned and was able to spend some quality time in the Sulphur yesterday. Cold and winds 30-40 but it's always fun. I don't go very often but when I do I hike 6-8 hours straight. Started off very slow, only finding a few fragments in the first 3 hours. I decided to take a chance and hit an area that normally doesn't produce much. This time it paid off, I found almost everything there. I was surprised to see quite a few folks and footprints out there. Can't wait to go back.

Was looking through boxes for an ammonite and found what I thought was a starfish arm but now not sure. This is an old find from the Sulphur R. Ozan Form. Any ideas, the back side is featureless and the front not much better Tom

4 hours in the 93 degree heat, but I found everything AND the kitchen sink! Nah jk, nothing too amazing but it was a good day out there. Perfect time to hit the river. We've had 20-25 in. Of rain in may. 3rd wettest month of all time for Dallas. Now it's dry and hot!

Well the river was way high but I managed to find a few things. This fish head is it X-Fish? The odd shaped bone, a mosasaur scapula or other part? Thanks for input.

Went out for a bit today with some friends from out of town. The weather was fantastic and I found a few nice things. Just a few odds and ends. The pycnodont tooth was a nice surprise (sp, anomoedus barberi?) Love finding these fossils covered in crystals. This is a clam with crystal coating. Some nice Molds of different Gastropods Trachyscaphite spiniger.

I "think" the tooth may be a Mosasaur tooth that's split in two but I may be fooling myself so please tell me what you think. All I know about the bone is that it's bone and it's big :-) No idea from what or what kind of bone it is so again, please chime in with your opinion. Thanks in advance for your help, Mark P.S. I have a lot more pics of stuff found at the NSR in my gallery I can't identify so if you like identifying things I sure would appreciate the help. I've been doing this since March this year and I'm getting pretty good at finding things, but still struggle identifying...but I'm gettin there :-)

I checked the National Weather Service website to check water levels for the Sulphur River near Cooper 19/24 bridge thanks to the link that sward was kind enough to pass along to me ( http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/river.php?wfo=fwd&wfoid=18693&riverid=203577&pt%5B%5D=143755&allpoints=143755&data%5B%5D=all ) and it looks like the water level rose to just over 7 feet after the storms and has come back down to just under 2 feet as of this morning. I've been told that the river changes dramatically after each heavy rain so I wanted to know if anyone had a chance to check it out yet. I was thinking about heading out there this weekend but am considering waiting until next week so some of the mud has a chance to dry up. I've only been there twice, but one of those trips was about four days after a fairly light rain and certain parts of the river were still like quicksand. You could make it through, but then it was like having cinder blocks for boots from all the caked on mud. In my previous two trips I spent most of my time sifting (looking for shark teeth...haven't got one yet) and found some pretty good stuff, but I think on my next trip I want to just take a really slow hike from east to west and see what I can find covering more ground. So I'm wondering if anyone's been out there and if so; how has the mud effected walking ability, has the recent rain/rise in water level mixed up the gravel beds very much, and should I go this weekend to beat the rush or wait till next weekend when things have dried out some? Thanks everyone...and especially sward for the great link -Mark

I am the leader for my son's (7) Cub Scout den and we're heading to Ladonia next weekend to camp and look for "fossil gold". We know how to camp, but fossil hunting is new to me and the rest of the dads. Ultimately, we just hope that each boy can find at least one good fossil to cherish and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for a rookie. I grew up across the street from a creek so digging around and getting dirty I can do...knowing where to dig and what to look for is the problem. I spoke with the the Mayor of Ladonia Jan Cooper (who may be the nicest person I've ever spoken to on the phone) and she mentioned a local woman who likes to give fossil hunting tours down the river for kids but she's out of town next weekend so it looks like it's me and the other dads. Jan also directed me to this forum (which is fantastic by the way) since I told her I've always wanted to get in to fossil hunting since I was a kid but somehow life took over and now that I have two young children (5 & 7) I have a second chance to get involved in fossil hunting with them. So here I am :-) Sorry this is so long winded, but I really want to get in to this and know my kids would love to as well because they are fascinated with dinosaurs (just like almost all kids) so I know I would have some partners in my hunting trips in the future...I'll have to work on the wife. Thanks in advance for any help/advice you all can provide. I plan on visiting this site frequently from now on...it's great!