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I guess as you get older, you get a little more crazy. I had sworn to slow down a bit, particularly after my exhausting hike down the mountain recently, so I'd been visiting easy-to-work sites like the ditch and the shark tooth exposure the last few weeks. But then my colleague told me that he'd opened up another section at the Callovian site in the Wutach Valley and that I should have a look at it. Maybe you can make some good finds. Well, why not? So off I went today. At this site you have to remove a lot of overburden to get at the good horizons and then you're whacking away at a hard concretionary sandy limestone in search of fossils. I use a pick hammer and club hammer for those purposes, which makes for a bit of wear and tear on the old tendons. The first 3 hours were not all that productive for my liking. Here's what my efforts had produced up to that point. But then I finally stumbled on something interesting and quite large to boot. The photos above were taken after about an hour of overburden removal. I needed yet another hour to remove the rest, which was absolutely necessary, since the ammonite was resting in the middle of an extremely hard concretionary lager and the chances of breakage were high. I was also already pretty sure at this point that the outer whorls would not survive the treatment, since they appeared to be unstable. Here's how things looked towards the end. You can see where the outer whorls have broken off and after I was able to pry out the inner whorls, I could see that the outer whorls didn't continue around to the back, since those parts were already eroded away. So that wasn't too bad after all and the inner whorls appear to be well-preserved as you may be able to discern below. ø is 16cm. So after this action, my heart was happy, but my wrist was aching like crazy and my legs were about to collapse because of crouching and bending the whole time. So I took a break, emptied my water bottle, and packed the things up for the return trek to the car, which in this case is happily only about 500 meters. I stopped in for roast beef with onions and french fries on the way home, so that pepped me up a bit I've also just discovered that Kytta ointment is good for aching wrists.
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From the album: Decapoda
5cm. long. Needless to say I'm happy with this little crab chela. It's not every day that a new species gets named after yourself. Found in September 2012 on a lucky split in the upper Aalenian layers at the Scheffheu location in the Wutach valley. Achdorf Formation, bradfordensis zone, staufensis bank. It's now residing in a holotype cabinet in the collection at the Stuttgart Museum of Natural History. I have received a mold of it for posterity.- 4 comments
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- aalenian
- stenodactylina
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A second visit to the Wutach area in Southern Germany
Everhardus posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Since we’ve had a pretty succesful fossiltrip in Southern Germany last year, visiting the Wutach area again for a few days seemed a more than logical choice since we would be passing Germany on our way back up from Italy to Holland for our summer holidays. Sadly a few days before we arrived it became apparant that the weather predictions were very bad. Allthough the first two days were mostly dry, these daily rain showers were just enough to make everything wet and muddy and thus very slippery which isn’t helpfull in these mountains….. Against all odds we still managed to find some nice fossils. Here’s an impression….. Mud everwhere..... -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
Not quite identical twins measuring 16 & 18cm. bradfordensis zone, staufensis bank Late Aalenian From the Wutach Valley -
I hadn't visited one of my favorite Callovian sites in the Wutach Valley since last November, so since the temps have been moving up and above 30°C. over the last few days, I figured that the muddy slopes there were probably dry enough by now for me to have a go at it again. No worries about sunstroke either, since the site is in the shady woods. I spent about 5 hours at the exposure and managed to come up with a few good finds. Here are some photos of the extrication procedure. It's pretty slow going here, since marly overburden first needs to be removed and the fossiliferous iron-rich sandstone horizon is quite hard and compact, but it usually splits as wished if you work at it properly. And you are almost alway guaranteed a few good finds. Here's what I ended up with by the end of the dig. I'll post more later once I get down to prepping.
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From the album: Trace Fossils
7cm. long. Polychaetic worm feeding burrow. Middle Jurassic. Found in the Wutach Valley.- 1 comment
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- jurassic
- palaeophycus
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
ø 7cm. Zigzag zone, Early Bathonian. Found in the Krottenbach in the Wutach Valley.- 1 comment
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- bathonian
- procerites
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I was in the Wutach area again. A couple of weeks ago I posted a report about my adventures in the Aubach, and today I decided to scramble up the Krottenbach in the hopes of finding some Jurassic fossils. This creek isn't quite as wild as the Aubach, so I managed within 5 hours to move upstream to the point I was hoping to reach, despite the odd tree dam blocking the way. There were 2 huge landslides which inundated the area about 60 years ago and brought down a lot of detritus from the Middle Jurassic in the cliffs on both sides of the valley, so even though that was a long time ago, there's always a chance of finding something in the creek or tucked into its slopes. It being spring, I was also able to enjoy the budding natural scenery. Of course the froggies were also busy. And it looks like someone got stuck in the mud a dog's age ago. The area is also well-known for its huge septarians. I left it there for posterity. Oh yes! I also managed to find a few fossils. Now I'm curious to see how they turn out.
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Some of you may be wondering what and where the Aubach is, so first I'll explain (Of course @Everhardus already knows what I'm talking about, since he recently inspired me here to make the trip). The Aubach is a creek in the Wutach area whose undercut slopes expose in sections the entire Early Jurassic from the Hettangian to the Toarcian with even the Aalenian stage of the Middle Jurassic at the top. This is one of the very first exposures studied by the pioneering German Paleontologists and Geologists such as Quenstedt. Geology students from all over southern Germany visit this site to learn on hand about the stratigraphy from their professors. The last time I was here, which was quite a few years ago, I bumped into a group from the University of Tuebingen. I didn't think to get a photo of the classic exposure before it was too late, but here are a couple of typical ones a bit farther upstream. My plan was to duck down to the classical exposure and then work my way upstream to the waterfall at the top. I wasn't expecting to find much, since this creek has been picked over by countless collectors over a stretch of almost 200 years, but new stuff comes down each year , so you never know. I was just in the mood for a nice adventure with no great expectations. I didn't quite make it as far as I wanted to, but more about that later. I was however in for a big surprise when I arrived at the parking spot above the creek. I was just about to don my knapsack as I glanced down the hill and saw a bunch of fossils scattered about. Some other collector had obviously disposed of a few things which didn't aspire to his high standards. They weren't perfect, but some of them were worth having a closer look, so I dumped them into a bag and put them in the trunk. Off to a good start! Here's a photo I took of them once I got home. I then clambered down the slope to the creek and spent some time at the classical exposure breaking stone. Not to much avail, though. There were a lot of imprints and the odd piece of a living chamber lying about. Here's a typical looking one which didn't contain much. I then moved on upstream some more, taking my time and studying the rocks closely. There had been another collector there before me recently according to the fresh bootprints I kept seeing, so I decided to go other ways than his prints were showing. Good thing I did! There it was. Just lying in the stream under a fallen-down tree. A good size at ø 20 cm. Lucky me! That really made my day! Although the day was far from over for me, so off I went again. The going got slower as I moved on upstream, since it was getting narrower and an increasing number of slipped down trees were hindering my progression. I managed to get through this lot. But then just around the corner I was confronted with this. And it didn't look like it was going to improve farther on. I had found a few other tidbits along the creek, so, since I had already been underway for almost 6 hours, I clambered up the slope to the footpath which winds its way along above the creek with the intention of continuing on along it up to the waterfall at the end. After about a 20-minute hike, however, I realized that I had not come along nearly as far as I thought I had, so, since dusk was setting in, I turned around and headed back to the car. I must admit that I was pretty tuckered out at my journey's end, but it was well worth it, as well as the Doner Kebab which I picked up in Blumberg. Here's the ammonite and the few other things I found in a photo I took once I got back home.
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From the album: Brachiopoda
3cm. Sinemurian. Early Jurassic. Found in the Aubach in the Wutach Valley.- 1 comment
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- spiriferina
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Marcel @Everhardus and his wife Josette are spending their holidays in the area right now. I had agreed to show them around and so we spent the day together visiting a couple of sites in the Wutach area. Here they are enjoying keeping their balance on a slope at the Scheffheu. I was happy that they were able to make a few nice finds and Marcel emailed me today to tell me that they'd had more success at the Callovian site. I unfortunately didn't make any more photos, but maybe they can post something here if he checks in. Meanwhile, I can at least show you the ammonites from the south of France which Marcel graciously gifted me as a thank you and which I managed to get prepped today. They are from the iron-rich Late Toarcian aalensis zone and all belong to the genus Pleydellia sp.
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The weather has been so accomodating lately, that I figured that the snow should be gone by now from the slopes of the Wutach area in southwest Germany. I'd been thinking about a particular spot in the Middle Jurassic Callovian and decided to spend some time there. Sure enough, the snow was long gone, so I could scramble down the slope to the site. There are a few other local collectors who visit this site fairly regularly, but it was obvious that no one else had been there yet so early in the season. So I first made a quick inspection tour and found a few blocks which had weathered out over the last months. Here are the ammonites that came out of them. Then I got down to some serious work on the exposure. After a while, I noticed this. I was hoping for a large Macrocephalites, but unfortunately it turned out to be just the outer whorls. The inner ones were completely weathered away. However, as luck would have it, a few smaller ones nearby popped out. Another large one showed up a little later. It's not easy to see. Just to the left of the point of the hammer. Once again, it was just a partial, but there was a good Macrocephalites right next to it. It broke in two, but I was able to salvage the pieces and shall repair it once I get down to the prep work. I spent about 5 hours working the exposure and then decided to call it a day. Here's a photo of the harvest. Now it's time to get under the shower.
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Choffatia (Grossouvria) sp. (Siemiradzski 1898)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
4.5cm. From the herveyi zone, early Callovian in Wutachtal. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
10cm. Practically complete specimen with shell preservation. Just missing a few millimeters at the mouth aperture. murchisonae zone Late Aalenian Found in the Wutach Valley- 1 comment
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- aalenian
- ancolioceras
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
9.5cm. haugi subzone murchisonae zone sinon banks Late Aalenian Achdorf Formation Found in the Wutach Valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
9cm. herveyi zone Early Callovian Found in the Wutach valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
8cm. herveyi zone Early Callovian Found in the Wutach valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
6cm. herveyi zone Early Callovian Found in the Wutach valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
14cm. in circumference. Another one from Wutach. Upper Aalenian. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
Ovale Zone, Lower Wedelsandstone Member, Lower Bajocian, Middle Jurassic. Found in the Wutach area. I'm quite proud of this one, since it represents the stratigraphically oldest record of the Genus Emileia in Germany and one of the oldest records worldwide. Recently published in Zittelania and now in the collection of the Stuttgart Museum of Natural History. -
Kepplerites (Gowericeras) cf. metorchus (Buckman)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
3.5cm. This specimen with its shell mostly intact shows the innermost whorls of this subspecies. The venter at this stage is flat, but it rounds off at a later stage and gets covered up as it grows. From the koenigi zone, lower Callovian. Found in the Wutach area.-
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We're still allowed to move about freely here in good old Baden-Wuerttemberg, so I figured as long as this is still the case, I'll mosey along to my spot in the Callovian in the Wutach Valley. A friend of mine has been working there recently, so I was hoping for some more fresh exposure and sure enough, he'd opened up some new possibilities for me. Spent the good part of the day prying and hammering and came up with a few nice things. Here's the first and probably the best which I just finished prepping this evening. A multiblock measuring 12x12x6cm with 4 x Choffatia sp. and a bit of belemnite. The 4th small ammonite can't be seen in the photos since it's tucked away tightly on the back.
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
ø35cm. laeviuscula zone, Early Bajocian, Wedelsandstein Formation Found in the Wutach area With a Chlamys textoria perched at the edge of the living chamber in the photo below.-
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- bajocian
- shirbuirnia
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Kepplerites (Toricellites) cf. lahuseni (Parona & Bonarelli 1895)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
3.5cm. koenigi zone Callovian From the Wutach area.-
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- kepplerites
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I just couldn't resist revisiting the Callovian site again which I recently reported about here. I was figuring on removing some more overburden to get back in at the productive layer. To this purpose I brought along my heavy pickaxe this time. That saved a lot of wear and tear on the wrist, although my elbows were beginning to ache a bit later on in the day, but that was no worse than playing a couple of sets of tennis As usual, my first finds were little stuff. But then the hope-for big one appeared. It also wasn't quite complete in the end, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to restore the missing parts once I get down to it. I had already begun to hear thunder in the distance as I began working on this and it was starting to get closer. So at this point I figured that my collecting day was soon to come to an end and started packing things away. But as luck would have it, it was just a bunch of noise and nary a drop of rain fell for the rest of the day. I managed to dig out another large ammonite which looked quite promising even after I had removed most of the overburden.