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Hi all! Here's a short trip report to show the diversity of fossil hunting conditions in the Jurassic. We have very few places with large inflated mid-Oxfordian ammonites, most of them are shown below. The red mark is on the site I discuss. It's on the Volga too, but much less accessible and productive than others. The site is situated some 10km to the east of Kineshma, a not-so-rich middle-sized town. I visited it in various seasons but couldn't catch a suitable water level. The shore is either under snow or the water is already high and remains high throughout the year.

Hi all! This time I'd like to inform you on a short, but diverse trip to several Volga river locations. The finds were not too impressive unlike the weather, endless fields and various outcrops. First I went to the southern part of Ulyavovsk Volgian shore: (These are Hauterivian concretions. They are roundish in form) These are Volgian Volgian boulders Beige rocks are Volgian, overlaying black clay is Hauterivian. Volgian section ends nearby (to the left) as the corresponding rocky layers gradually go underground

Hi all! As winter is getting nearer I tried to catch the last glimpses of summer and went for a one-day trip to the Volga river, taking advantage of unusually low water level and a good weather forecast combination. And I wasn't disappointed with scenery and finds, which I'd like to share with you. Last warm days of November before snow cover:

Hi all! Another report in continuation of the previous ones. This time I had 2 days to visit the site and used them to monitor my preferred 3 km of the shore. It was literally the last days of autumn, so by the end of my stay snow started to slowly cover the place for the 5 upcoming months. The water level was a bit lower than in 2020, but much higher than last year. This time 3 boars on the shore: one of them

Hi all! In continuation of the previous reports. Less text, more pics Bits of scenery:

Hi all! This time I'll show you a very special site, located on the Volga river near the city of Rybinsk, 250 km north of Moscow. The site is famous for its huge Volgian ammonites, the biggest in our Jurassic (big Cretaceous ones are no surprise). The largest ammonites here reach 70 cm, they are inflated and surprisingly common. If you find an ammonite in concretion, it will most likely be big and whole (but often broken inside). The main outcrops are situated by the village of Glebovo, they occupy about 6 km of the shore. Glebovo:

Hi all! You know I visit my favorite Volga river site (Ulyanovsk Oblast) more or less often, but this time I decided to give a try to another well-known Jurassic-Cretaceous site on the Volga river, located in the nearby Samara Oblast (city of Syzran). It's famous for its iridescent ammonites as well as marine reptile finds. I hoped to discover a real alternative to the Ulyanovsk site particularly as the conditions are very similar: surface collecting on river bank. Here the Ulyanovsk site is to the north, Syzran to the south. The latter is home to two distinct locations: in the city itself (Oxfordian-Volgian, 2km) and by the Kashpir village (to the south): Volgian to Barremian, 4 km.

Hi all! Those who follow my reports know I was planning another trip to Ulyanovsk in spring. Well, here is the report, in continuation of 1, 2 and 3. This time I was on the shore for 3 days. In short, the weather was fine, the ice abundant, the competition high and the finds scarce. The trip felt more like an extravagant outing than a productive fossil hunt

Hi all! I was finally able to visit the Volga site thanks to a water level/ good weather window. The journey was mostly a success, I got a better understanding of the site, used new means of transportation and examined more of the shoreline. Among the finds were two dozens of marine reptile verts and bone fragments and LOTS of ammonites and other mollusks. Unfortunately the river level was not low enough, 1m higher than during my 1st trip, 0,5m lower than in the 2nd. But it was at least possible to walk the shore. There's still a lot more to do, but now I have a pretty clear idea how to maximize the hunt results for the next trip. The report will be picture-heavy and divided into several blocks I'll be adding in the next few days. Let's start with the scenery.

Hi all, Last week I had theopportunity to visit the place once again (first described here). Unfortunately the trip went way worse than I expected. I knew the water was high, but was not prepared enough. I thought with high water I could still access small beaches and concentrate on small stuff - not necessarily big bones and verts, but maybe teeth, echinoids, crustacean fragments etc. I hoped having seen the pictures from the forum I woudn't miss interesting material. Having arrived to the coast I immediately saw the passage was blocked by fallen and washed ashore trees. I surely tried to move along but didn't make it far due to numerous trees, slippery clay and algal bloom.

Hi all, Would be great to have the following pieces ID'ed. Jurassic shallow water sea (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, possible Hauterivian). Sorry for varnish. Thank you. 1. Large vertebra, that doesnt look like usual plesiosaur, weight 1,4 kg. If it is something terrestial, it would have high scientific value. Already asked for ID but didnt get many replies.

Hi all, This is a report on my recent fossil hunting trip to Ulyanovsk region, Russia, inspired by the most interesting stories and pictures I read and looked up here. I took many photos myself in an attempt to convey the atmosphere. I dont think you know much about Russian fossil hunting spots, so I start with a short description of the place I visited. Ulyanovsk Oblast (region) is located in the middle Volga basin and much of its territory is covered by a part of the Kuybyshev Reservoir (largest in Europe). Its sometimes called Kuybyshev sea and for a reason: with distance between coasts reaching 30-40 kilometres, unless the weather is super clear, the other coast is not visible. Add frequent stormy weather with high waves and the impression of a sea is almost complete. Creating the reservoir lead to big scale soil erosion with prehistoric layers coming to surface. They are constantly washed away with fossils becoming available by simply walking along the shore. Basically all the western coast in the region is covered with late Jurassic-early Cretaceous deposits, mostly Kimmeridge clay (155 ma) with Hauterivian layers (130 ma). The fossils are good quality and do not require any preservation except the fact they are often pirytised thus subject to oxidation. The place is (or was) very rich in sea fossils: ammonites, belemnites, reptile remains etc. They say at least 3 reptile genus and 20 species were recentlydescribed by the remains found here, for instance Undorosaurus (name derives from local village's name), Makhaira rossica, Luskhan etc. Paleontology sections of three regional museums (Ulyanovsk, Tatarstan and Samara, with some going to Moscow) feature impressive exhibits taken from here including compete or almost complete sea reptile skeletons. (You can see some of them here, here and here). Unfortunately there have been too many guys looking for fossils and fine pieces of local yellow calcite to sell, passing like a vacuum cleaner picking up everything valuable from early spring to late autumn. By the way, a nature reserve (zakaznik on a regional scale, which itself is pretty weak) was created here in 1980s right to counter this situation, but with lack of effort it turned into a joke. The local village museum was charged with enforcing the reserve status - let's assume its management did not have the funds or personnel to prevent anybody from picking up fossils (not to assume they were picking them up themselves alongside the poachers without reporting them to the public). Anyway as a law-abiding citizen, I was collecting outside the reserve's boundaries. Here the fossil-rich shore is marked in green, the reserve in red and 3 main fossil-related villages in blue. I used to spend vacations in a local sanatorium as a schoolboy and accumulated quite a collection of local thingies ( I sure was fascinated by my findings and paleontology in general). In April I decided to spend there a couple of days again. The receptionist asked if I had been there before. Only in childhood, I replied. She laughed - nothing had changed since then. Well, I hoped so:)

Hi to all! I will post my shark teeth collection here from time to time. Hope somebody will enjoy it ))