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It has been quite a while since I have written a trip report and I thought I'd share the results of some of my most recent fossiling adventures. Before diving into the fossils, this past weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage of the east coast. The Appalachians, usually quite unassuming hills that are nothing near the grandeur of the mountains to the north and west, were quite a sight to behold. The fall foliage was clearly quite popular, as I did not expect the entrance to Shenandoah National Park to be quite as backed up as it was. I made it up to the overlook as the sun was setting, as it is said that the colors are most impressive under the light of the westering sun. Unfortunately, the sun was mostly obscured by clouds, but the views were breathtaking nonetheless. Now, for what I am sure everyone has come here to see: the fossils! Over the past couple of months, I have acquired a renewed interest in the fossils of the Maastrichtian Severn formation of Maryland. As any who are familiar with this formation know, it is quite elusive and its most famous exposures were temporary construction sites in decades past. Several weeks ago, I visited a small creek that I had heard exposed the fossiliferous shell layer of the Severn. Initially, exploration of the creek did not seem promising and I only managed to locate only one poor exposure of the Severn at creek level. After some searching and many shell fragments later, I was rewarded with two relatively complete specimens: Crassatella vadosa Cyprimeria alta Although the yields had not been high, I was quite satisfied with these specimens due to the relative rarity of sites containing original-shell mollusks. A huge thanks to @historianmichael for identifying these specimens and for the preparation tips (unfortunately the shells have begun to crack but I am hoping they may remain salvageable). Inspired by my recent success and hoping for some vertebrate remains, I headed out to a new site. After taking quite a circuitous route through some woods and tall grass I made it to the exposure. The invertebrate fauna at this locality was not incredibly diverse, consisting almost wholly of the oyster Exogyra costata. A handful of Exogyra costata A more complete specimen of Exogyra costata with both valves intact. After encountering these first few Exogyra, I was left with a few hours to devote to searching for vertebrate remains. With my lack of experience with these fossils and their notoriously poor preservation, I only managed to recover a small selection of possible fragments. The entire haul of possible vertebrate remains. If any members have any insight on whether these are identifiable vertebrate remains, it would be greatly appreciated . Below are isolated photographs of some of the more intriguing finds of the day. This fragment bears some resemblance to a partial mosasaur tooth. However, it may be too fragmentary to assign a confident ID. Scapanorhynchus texanus I cannot say what this is, though I am hopeful that it might be bone. I believe that mosasaur and turtle remains can be found at this site. I am very grateful for any opinions. With the weather cooling I do not anticipate that I will be able to get out as often as I would like, but I hope to make a few more forays into the Severn before the year's end. Thanks for taking a look and happy hunting!

Found this in the Iron Mountains of Southwest Virginia in Carroll County. It was on the surface of the ground. At first thought it was a piece of wood, which is probably why my mind went straight to petrified wood when I realized it was stone. It has rings, like growth rings of a tree, but I don't have the magnifying tools to make out any smaller structures within the rings. The outer surface also has a barklike texture. Am I right?

The open access paper is: Plotnick, R., & Lamsdell, J. (2022). Eurypterids from the Price Formation of Virginia: First Eurypterids from the Mississippian of North America. Journal of Paleontology, 1-5. doi:10.1017/jpa.2022.84 An unrelated paper: Vrazo, M.B., Trop, J.M. and Brett, C.E., 2014. A new eurypterid Lagerstätte from the upper Silurian of Pennsylvania. Palaios, 29(8), pp.431-448. Yorus, Paul H.

Hi. This rock hounding, fossil finding, indian artifacts has become a hobby because of where I live. Also, excellent learning experience for not only myself but the grands. I will start slow, then post more after I get the general feel.of the group and website.

More than a dozen quakes in 30 days: What’s going on in the Southern Appalachians? By Tanasia Kenney, The Telegraph, January 11, 2021 M 2.4 - 9 km SW of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, USGS Yours, Paul H.

I've wanted an id for these trilobites for a while now. Some of my first trilobite finds. I have no clue what species these are, and knowing that will allow me to finally settle how old one of my favorite sites is. The formations exposed in the area range from the lower Silurian Rose Hill Formation to the upper Devonian Scherr Formation. Long time period, but I know there are some really knowledgeable people on the forum about trilobites and I'm sure someone would be able to give me a solid id at least to genus and period age.