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  1. Jared C

    Central Texas Creek

    I went on this hunt about two weeks ago, but only am getting around to posting it now. It was a great day at a new spot close to my usual stomping grounds. I was hunting under a bridge the week before when someone walking the path next to it asked if I had any luck - his name was Leo, and we actually recognized each other as both of us have posted about some of our Austin finds on reddit before. (PS - pardon the picture quality, most of these are screenshots from video) He invited me to hunt with him at a spot of his on the same creek close by sometime. I was of course quite curious about where that could be, as I thought I've already done some pretty boisterous trekking along this creek before in pursuit of fossils. Since he immigrated a couple years ago, he passed time walking his dog along this creek, and discovered there were fossils around that way. After training his eye a bit more than a year and half (about twice as long as me!) he's practically mastered this stretch of creek, and he's yielded a few fantastic spots. We shared some spots in common, but those that I didn't know about far exceeded my expectations for this creek. We chose a cool weekend, a week after a strong storm. I didn't film or take any pictures until about an hour in, but there were a couple small cretaceous teeth, and a nice quality bison tooth. All his finds. After an hour or so, I was finally getting into the rhythm of things. It usually takes an hour or so for me to break into a new spot, and to start spotting things. My first real find set the tone for the rest of the day: Here it is insitu: And once I pulled it out: This was my second Mosasaur tooth (likely Tylosaur) from the Ozan of Austin. My other one is larger, and better preserved, but this nonetheless had both of us blowing our tops off with excitement. About 5 seconds after picking this up, Leo picked up another tooth, this time Scapanorynchus, sitting 10 inches away. It's an epic memory On the same gravel bed, Leo then found our target for the day. He showed me some of the Ptychodus specimens he's found at this spot - all large, perfectly preserved, and from several different species. I was really crossing my fingers for one of equal stature this day. Leo, maybe about 10 minutes after our mosasaur meltdown, then pulls this beauty out of the gravel: It's a little more worn than his others, and this one is much darker, but still great quality and HUGE in my eyes. I know Ptychodus mortoni can sometimes get substantially larger, but this is by far still the best tooth I've ever laid eyes on. It's also in better condition than this screenshot implies. The air was electric now - the energy for at least two hours afterwards was full throttle, as we both were expecting to turn our head any minute and make the next great find. Here are some highlights (chunkasaur piece from me, the great Mosy vert from Leo) (Piece of what would've been a great Ptychodus from me) (Great Bison tooth from Leo - I have NEVER managed to find a completely black bison tooth from this area. I've found maybe 10 or 11, all at various stages of preservation, but never a fully fossilized (black or orange) tooth. Quite jealous! These seem to be casual finds for Leo!) (Squalicorax hiding in the gravel from me) (Some chunks like this are strangely reminiscent of wood, rather than bone... could this be petrified driftwood?) (Enchodus palatine from me) (Scapanorynchus - ol' faithful) (Particularly wrinkly mammal enamel - not so sure of my initial ID of bison I had in mind ) (Cretolamna (I think) sitting in the gravel, from me - I'll gladly be corrected if I'm wrong) Then, Leo made the next great find. If we were fired up before, NOW we were in another dimension... two big mosasaur teeth in 40 minutes! From Austin?? This was nuts! We moved maybe 20 more meters up again - this was all still on the same bend of the creek. Leo was hoping for arrowheads this whole time - me not as much - before this day they didn't really interest me... but all it took was one good find. Here was my first point of the day, and my second point ever - first insitu and then in hand. It was ID'd as a "Darl", and would've tipped an Atlatl dart. The age is between 1,000-3,000 years. A few meters away, Leo found this rib with strong signs of preservation, but not fossilized yet - It was quite late in the afternoon, and Leo still wanted to get me to a big exposure he thought I'd like. On the way there, we chatted, with me learning a bit about points while he learned a bit about fossils. We finally made it to a grandiose exposure - the tallest one of it's nature I've ever seen. Dark clays and shales filled the bottom half, and I'm sure this was where many of the fossils we found were washing down from. Ironically enough, it was not Cretaceous stuff that stood out here . I found my third point- this one broken in half. It's a "Perdenales", and is between 2,000-3,000 years old Close by, there was a large bone half buried in the gravel - I think it's the lower leg bone of a bison, that would be below the knee: And last but not least, some other finds we made heading back before the sun went down. One of the bison teeth I found, with phosphate starting to leech in the cracks of enamel to begin the fossilization process, the top of a point that Leo found, and a completely bizarre deep red piece of mammal enamel (I assume Bison). The picture doesn't do it justice - it's deeply blood red. It was a great day, and I'm grateful to Leo for showing me around his hunting grounds. Can't wait to see what last nights storm will do for this place!
  2. kaleidoscopica

    Teeth? New to teeth IDs. Austin, TX

    I am very new to fossil hunting... this started all of a sudden after I basically tripped on a big Exogyra ponderosa in my local creek the other week, and got curious what else was out there. So I've just scooped through a bunch of gravel in Brushy Creek here and found a lot of little things that I wonder what they could be. 1. Tooth? (First two photos, front and back) 2. Smaller tooth? (Single photo) 3. Maaaaybe a tooth as well, or just an exceptionally pointy rock? (Last two photos) Thanks -- let me know if any other photos or info is needed. Next time I'll use a ruler .
  3. ashsap

    Is this a fossilized tree nut

    Okay, my boyfriend and I found this in Central Texas more specifically austin. At first we thought it was just some weird iron ball as it is heavy and feels just like metal. We were really confused and wanted to know more so we took a Dremel with a diamond cutting blade and tried to slice it open, it was extremely difficult to cut almost like we were cutting metal and we did not get very far maybe a quarter of an inch deep. I left it outside for a while for a couple months and we just kind of forgot about it until today we picked it up I asked him what he really thought it was and he said a piece of a metal decoration that somebody had outside and I was like nah but whatever and just dropped it onto my concrete steps at that point it hit at just the right way and cracked open into these pieces and as you can see the inside is obviously a nut of some sort it's hard as rock through and through the nut is just as hard as the outside and we instantly thought it was a petrified tree nut! Does anyone have any idea at all what this is?! Austin is known for having petrified wood and nuts of sorts so it could be. I don't know what are y'all's thoughts. Also the light green is just from the marker where we marked where we wanted to slice it. Also as.you can see the outside is lumpy almost like a walnut but the inside is obviously not a walnut and walnuts outer shells are actually lumpy in a different way if that makes sense. And it was perfectly round when together as one piece.
  4. JamieLynn

    Austin Texas Creek Hunt

    In Central Texas you don't have to go very far to find fossils. But the Austin Chalk Formation is a little tricky finding good spots which are fairly fossiliferous. Fortunately, the Paleontological Society of Austin visits a couple of good spots and the fossiling was pretty decent this time, because we've had some good rains! This particular creek is really lovely, too....white limestone with green ferns and even some Mustang Grapevines! Although it was a hot day (as per the usual in Texas Summertime) the creek was at least shady and a bit cool and it felt great to stick my feet in the water to cool off, all the while keeping an eye out for that good fossil....... The Exogyra Oysters are the main thing found here, but there is a special one called a tigrena that have some of the original coloring on them. They are really fascinating, with their "tiger" stripes! 1 1/2 inch 2 1/4 inch 2 1/4 inch This one has both valves. 1 1/2 inch Nautiloids and ammonites are there, but rare. I happily procured one small slightly squished and not very well preserved nautiloid. 3 inches (one of the other PSoA members found a perfect little one, in a recent rock fall. He was faster up the creek than I was!) And this beauty was found even further upstream by my friend Melvin who let me borrow it to photograph. I thought y'all might like to see it. I think it is a Barrioceras dentatocarinatum Size 3 inches And one more big honking Oyster; Exogyra erraticostata 5 inches Wild Mustang Grapevines!
  5. Over the month of December, I've gotten the opportunity to check out several sites across the state of Texas. In my fossil interests, I have to admit that I am certainly a bit vertebrate-centric, but that does not mean I will pass up the chance to marvel at a beautiful invertebrate specimen when given the chance. For better or worse, these past four mini hunts have not really delivered on the vertebrate end, but have made up the difference in terms of inverts. I've decided to combine these smaller hunts into one report. For those with invertebrate addictions, I hope this sampler of Texas fossils will meet your medically-necessitated daily dose of invertebrate content. Enjoy! Maastrichtian No Mas Kemp Clay and Corsicana Formation Leading up to my eventual move away from Austin back to DFW, I made sure to visit a nearby site that possessed some Maastrichtian exposures. Back up in Dallas, the nearest exposures of similar age are a bit of a drive, so I wanted to take the opportunity to travel to a convenient spot while I still had a chance. I had previously seen this spot mentioned in some old literature, where it was described as exposing the Kemp Clay at the top of a bluff and Corsicana below. Since I had no prior experience with these formations, I wasn't sure what to expect or what to look for in terms of identifying formations. One Saturday afternoon, I carved out a few hours to take the drive and a brief hike out to the spot. I was excited to finally hunt a stage of the Cretaceous I had never searched before. The landscape was quite dramatic and I could see out for miles. Pictures really do not do the place justice. The drop from the trail to the creek bed is much higher than the picture makes it out to be. After navigating my way down, I was immediately confused by the formation the creek bed was composed of. Perhaps I am just too Ozan-minded, but the shale looked almost indistinguishable from my usual Ozan hunting spots elsewhere in the area. It had that classic bluish grey color and was even filled with rather large Exogyra oysters. I began to wonder if so much time and weathering had passed that the creek had finally reached down to the Ozan far below. However, a closer inspection showed that there were some subtle key differences. The wavy shells of the oysters were not indicative of the species E. ponderosa, but instead of E. costata, which is present in the Corsicana Formation at least according to the paper I had read about the site prior. There was also a pronounced presence of tiny phosphatic bivalves that I had never seen in the Ozan. With this information, I was relieved to know that my goal of collecting in the Maastrichtian could continue without issue. Some leftovers from an earlier fossil hunter. Not all of these are E. costata since they washed down from older strata upstream. With little direction as to where to look first, I decided to plop down and try splitting open some chunks of mudstone that had fallen down from a grey and brown formation at the top of the cliff (Kemp Clay I'm assuming). Initially, I didn't find much, but eventually some invertebrate fossils began showing up. I was intrigued by the presence of the original shell on a few gastropods (I hadn't been to the Whiskey Bridge at this point so this was a first for me). They were ornamented, unlike the steinkerns I had been accustomed to for the entirety of my Cretaceous fossilizing career before. Unfortunately, none of them were preserved well and were more so just crushed messes too fragile to take back. In the same rocks, I came across various bivalves that were fairly nice to look at and ended up keeping an orange 2D one, though I am having a difficult time identifying it. A gastropod with the original shell from the Kemp Clay(?) A flattened bivalve(?) from the Kemp Clay(?). It's about 30 mm across, orange, and has thin red lines between the ribbing. At first, I wondered if it was a smushed trigonia, but I'm doubting that now. Afterwards, I surface collected along the bed and climbed some of the cliff where Corsicana was exposed. There wasn't much in the way of large finds, but getting close to the ground revealed a plethora of smaller finds to be had. The first objects of interest were highly detailed button corals. The closest thing I could find online as an ID was the genus Micrabacia which is known from the Peedee formation (also Maastrichtian). I came across a couple bits of crab claws as well. My vertebrate hopes for ginglymostoma were never fulfilled, sadly. Instead, I found only three sharks teeth that were all missing roots . I don't think they can be identified, but I welcome you all to toss out ideas if you have any. An in situ of what could be a Micrabacia button coral. As I walked along the cliffs, I couldn't help but think about the time period I was traversing through. In the formations beneath me were the Cretaceous layers I had grown so used to. In those days, mosasaurs and dinosaurs dominated the world. It's mind boggling to realize that the strata just above the Kemp Clay was the geological blink of an eye that saw an end to all of it. All those billions of ammonites and not a single one made it through such a barrier. Even something so simple yet prolific like exogyra was put to a complete stop. The Maastrichtian was not a final stand by any means either. That day 66 million years ago may have started just like any other, but ended with the world being permanently changed in a way that is almost unimaginable. Speaking of days ending, the time was 30 minutes till sunset. With the day winding down, I decided to circle back and try splitting some more mudstones from the Kemp Clay in hopes of finding a shark tooth before calling it quits. Rock after rock, I couldn't seem to find anything other than the usual tiny clams and crushed snails. As the light started to dim, I was finally greeted by the sheen of shiny black enamel. It had a strange shape to it, but this being a new place for me, it could have just been a weird shark for all I knew. As I chipped away at the rock, more and more of the specimens figure was revealed. Finally, I realized that all of my labor had been put into exposing a simple enchodus fang, no different from the hundreds I had seen before! And yet, I was still happy with it. After the disappointment of the broken shark teeth from before, it was nice to at last have a complete tooth from the Maastrichtian, no matter how common the animal may be. With that, another stage of the Cretaceous was crossed off the list. Some pics of all of the finds: Strange bivalve, a gastropod, Micrabacia(?) corals, and perhaps a scaphopod? Top row L to R: Crustacean claw bits, and the enchodus (petrosus?) fang. Bottom L to R: Worm tube, and three rootless shark teeth Eocene Escargot Stone City Formation Fast forward about a week, and the time had come for me to pack my things and leave my dorm once and for all. I usually drive straight to Dallas from Austin, but this year things were different. My carless brother started his first semester at A&M, so I volunteered to pick him up on the way home for the break. Being the person that I am, I simply cannot drive all the way out there and NOT visit the world-class site known as the Whiskey Bridge. I made sure to turn in my dorm key early in the morning and head on out for a quick hunt in the Stone City Formation along the Brazos. I was hoping @Jared C could join in the fun, but he unfortunately had a final that same morning . I'm pretty sure passing the class wasn't that important, but I won't hold it against ya . Before making the drive, I had also done a bit of research into which layers yielded the most vertebrate material. Even with the information, however, I still had measured expectations as the Stone City Formation is of course much more famous for its rich invertebrate fauna. The goal for the day was to find some vertebrate material and perhaps a complete cone snail. When I arrived, the place was still covered in mud from the storm a couple days before. With hopes that the popular site had been replenished, I carefully made my way down to the water, passing by a couple of hunters just finishing up their session. The plan was originally to head straight for a productive spot a ways from the bridge, but of course the newness of the place and its fauna had me stopping in my tracks every few steps to pick up a gastropod. When I finally got to the spot, I slowly climbed up the slope to meet the fine hash layers atop the ledge. There is never a dull moment at this locality. Every square inch of surface is covered with bits of white shell. The first oddball that caught my eye was a strange looking piece of coral. Madracis johnsoni Side stepping to the right while hugging the wall of soil led me to my next noteworthy find and the first of the vertebrates! The skinny crown and wrinkling of the enamel was a familiar sight for someone who has collected so many scapanorhynchus teeth in the past. However, it would seem that, for this formation, a sand tiger shark was the more likely ID. I'm guessing this is from Striatolamia macrota. The weathering on it is likely due to prehistoric reworking I would assume. Striatolamia macrota? Not so long after, I sidestepped my way into finding my first ray plate! Unfortunately this one was also in not-so-perfect condition. Myliobatis sp. fragment I couldn't stick around for too long since my brother was waiting for his pickup. I rounded off the trip by filling up a couple bags with fine shell hash matrix for future screening for microfossils. I didn't take too much though, as I have a secret side project involving many bags of micromatrix that is currently occupying most of my micro attention. If I find anything special from the hash, I will be sure to add an update to this topic. Overall, it was a solid first visit to a famous site. I managed to find some vertebrate bits and bobs that I'm happy with. I am a little bummed I never got a complete cone snail, but I guess that will just have to wait for a future outing. Overview of the finds: Top: Dentalium scaphopods Bottom L to R: Striatolamia macrota tooth, Myliobatis ray tooth fragment, reworked Carcharhinus mancinae? tooth, and Conus sauridens fragments Top L to R: Lunulites bouei and Schizorthosecos sp. bryozoans, and Turbinolia pharetra coral. Bottom L to R: Fish otoliths (not sure how/don't want to ID), Balanophyllia desmophyllum, and Madracis johnsoni Top L to R: Weathered Architectonica elaborata?, and probably Venericardia densata that looks strange since it doesn't seem to curve like others. Mid L to R: Anomia ephippioides, Vokesula smithvillensis, Notocorbula texana, and perhaps a worm tube? Bottom L to R: Large Anomia ephippiodes, and a trio of Venericardia densata Top L to R: Athleta petrosus, Ancilla staminea, and Pseudoliva vestusa Bottom L to R: Athleta lisbonensis, Architectonica scrobiculata, and Sinum arctatum Top: Michela trabeatoides Bottom L to R: Protosurcula gabbii, Hesperiturris nodocarinatus, Cochlespira engonata, and Protosurcula gabii though they look different from the one on the left of the row. Top L to R: Distorsio septemdentata, and Latirus moorei Bottom L to R: Mesalia clairbornensis, Turritella nasuta, and Gegania anitquata Phew that was a lot to identify. I'm sure I got plenty wrong, so feel free to correct me on any of these. I will probably find a ton of new species in the micro matrix that I can add in a later update!
  6. I found this item in a creek in central Texas. The creek is known for artifacts and cretaceous (austin chalk, ozan) material in the gravel bars. I don't hunt this creek much so I'm not too familiar with the finds it produces. I found this item on a gravel bar after heavy rains. I picked up this item because it has an unusual shape. I was hoping it was a tusk or horn piece but it was giving me petrified wood vibes. I've never found any tusk, horn, or petrified wood so I was open to the possibility that the item is just a suggestive piece of rock. Naturally I wrote it off as a rock and I decide to take a slice out of it with a small rock saw. I then wet sanded the slice with fine grain sandpaper. The material is very tacky, sort of sticky. I licked it and it really stuck to my tongue (ouch). The material also absorbs water very quickly. It's heavy, dense, and sounds like porcelain/ceramic tile when set down. It's not fragile. I took several picture using my phone and a small digital microscope. Any idea what this could be? Thanks in advance!
  7. There are few reasons why I would ever wake up at 5 am and begin a two and a half hour drive out to the middle of nowhere. When I saw that the PSoA was heading out to the Brownwood area, I knew it was an opportunity too good to pass up. Everything I had hunted prior might as well have been buried yesterday when compared to the mind-blowing ages of Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks. It's still crazy to think that those formations were roughly three times the age of the oldest stuff I'd seen before. When I peeled out of the parking garage to begin my drive under the stars, I didn't feel an ounce of fatigue. Instead, every part of me was overflowing with a general eagerness to explore a fantastic new chapter in the story of life on Earth. Not so long after the sun had risen, I finally spotted a glint of morning light reflecting off the end of a caravan of parked cars along the roadside. I abruptly shook off the daydreams of petalodus teeth and crinoid crowns as I got myself parked and arranged my tools. Melvin, the trip organizer, was quick to introduce himself and gave a run down of the day's itinerary along with what we were looking for. I must admit I was a little disappointed when he told me that petalodus, or any sharks for that matter, were not really known from either of our destinations. Nevertheless, there was still some pretty amazing things to find and he was adamant that the excursion would be an enjoyable experience for everyone. The first stop was in the Adams Branch Limestone of the Canyon Group, along a crumbly, slanted roadcut. No matter where I looked, the ground was buried in crinoid stems, bryozoans, and various shell bits. Carefully maneuvering my way around the cactuses, I poked and pried through the rubble at an area Melvin said was productive for smaller specimens. Faintly, I could hear the conversations up the road being carried by the wind. Some of the other folks in the party were repeat customers of the site and were on the search for trace fossils of starfish coming from an elusive layer. My involuntary eavesdropping came back to bite me when I found a strange little fossil that looked just like a leg of a starfish. When I proudly presented it to Melvin and the folks searching for traces, they kindly informed me that it was a piece of crinoid arm . Hash plates from the Pennsylvanian site. The one on the bottom is my favorite. Once I got back to my spot, I decided it was probably best to save show and tell for after I had some time to cool down and really think about my what I picked up. Luckily, the next few finds were pretty easy to identify simply off of my prior research (sporadic googling). First, I found some really pretty hash plates. Each one is like a slice of Paleozoic sea floor with so much detail it's impossible to not lose your train of thought when staring into them. Next, I snagged a handful crinoid plates and spines. When I reached down for what I thought was another plate, I stopped dead in my tracks. Laying before me was a beautiful crinoid crown. Ethelocrinus magister crown. The day continued on with neat little brachiopods, straight-shelled nautiloids, and the usual suspects. We had probably been there for a couple of hours when we got the heads up that we would soon be moving to our next location. There was definitely a little added sense of urgency to my movements from then, but I still made sure to thoroughly inspect every nook and cranny. As my eyes frantically shifted across the ground, I briefly spotted a small object of interest before losing it. With time running out, I tried to retrace where I had looked and thankfully I was met with a familiar image. When I picked up the tiny, black geometric stone, I noticed white pitting all over one of its side. If I hadn't seen something similar online before, I may have tossed it. At the time, I couldn't remember the name, but I had a gut feeling this could very well be the crusher shark/chimera, deltodus. I got to talk with Melvin one last time before we left the area. I was already pretty happy with the crinoid crown, but Melvin's excitement was contagious and made me feel even better. I took the opportunity to also show him the possible shark tooth. He seemed intrigued, but we couldn't come up with an ID for it at the time. Deltodus ~ After a quick break, we conga lined our way 45 minutes north to our next site. A short hike with lakeside scenery later, we arrived to an outcrop of Permian limestone on a private ranch. Melvin explained that this site was known to produce trilobites, unlike our first stop. At that moment, I set myself on finding at least one so I could cross that major trilo milestone in every fossil hunter's career. Permian outcrop From afar, the ground looked pretty similar to before. Upon closer inspection, however, I noticed a wide variety of brachiopod species I helped myself to. A lot of people were discussing the brachiopod, Wellerella which is known for its zig-zagged appearance. One person brought along his golf ball-sized specimen. In the field, the biggest I could find was the size of a pea . Thankfully, the lack of luck with brachiopods was paid back in full when I found my first trilobite!.. and another... and another! The two best pygidium trilos. The left one was curled in and flattened, so it appears to have some of the head still attached. I have no idea on any possible species, so I welcome any input from our resident trilo experts. The sun was reaching its apex and the temperatures rose accordingly. Lots of people called it there and the majority decided to head home after a long day of hunting. I and another family chose to stick it out just for a little longer; we drove all this way after all. Me and Brian, the father of the family, had a nice talk about our lives and the hobby (with our heads locked on the ground of course). I don't know many fossil enthusiasts in my personal life, so it was refreshing to be able to speak face to face with someone who had similar interests. Hopefully, we'll see each other again on the November trip to Brownwood. Here are some pictures of the finds: Pennsylvanian crinoid bits and bobs. The centerpiece is my "starfish arm" . Pennsylvanian Orthoceras?, Deltodus, various bivalves, and Euphemites? gastropod Pennsylvanian Lophophyllidium horn corals, various corals?, various brachiopods. The bigger one (Neospirifer?) I might get cleaned by someone else. It's complete and I don't want to mess it up. Far right Derbyia? Delocrinus inflexus? and Ethelocrinus magister Permian Neochonetes Permian brachiopods. Top right Juresania?, bottom right Wellerella, middle top Composita. Permian crinoid bits and bobs. One of the spines is regenerating. Permian horn corals, and Archeocidaris plates and spines. I like the spiky spines. And lastly an enigmatic Permian find. Some kind of weird brachiopod? Could be weird cephalopod maybe. Has symmetry. Outside looks "woody". Thanks for reading!
  8. A week ago I made the trip out to one of the roadcuts on loop 360. I realized that I had been neglecting visiting the west side of town which, although very different, is just as rich in fossil history as the younger east. I want to also thank @erose as he has posted lots of useful information on the cuts and what sorts of things can be found. I arrived in the afternoon and slowly climbed up the gravel to get to the first bench. I made the rare good decision to hunt on the side of the road that would shield me from the sun, making the temperature nice and cool, perfect for fossiling. Despite the proximity of the road, the area felt surprisingly secluded. All atop the bench were a variety of giant boulders that had fallen from the many formations overhead. I wasn't sure which ones were best to look through, so I ended up going mostly for the softest ones. They were absolutely packed with everything from gastropods and bivalves to the occasional tiny regular echinoid or algal fruiting body. I took occasional trips up the gravelly incline to the top of the cut, but really it was just more of the same stuff so I decided to focus on the easier-to-traverse ground below. It really didn't take long before my pockets were heavy. The day was periodically graced with more unusual finds like irregular echies and a large fragment of an ammonite (whole ones are very rare here). Before I knew it, the sun was beginning to set and it was time to head back to the car. Most of the stuff was pretty easy to clean at home. A lot of the limestone popped right off, though some was a bit harder to get. An interesting thing I noticed was that some of the fossils had distinct parallel engravings on them. It looked a bit similar to the damage I have caused using vinegar on limestone fossils in the past. I wonder if acid rain was the cause for these markings. Anyways, here are some pictures. Overview of the better finds: A). Irregular Echinoids Heteraster texanus B). Regular Echinoids. All Loriolia? C). Misc: Metengonoceras? ammonite on top. Below from left to right is a Porocystis globularis algal fruiting body, Neithea texana scallop, and Ceratostreon texanum oyster D). Gastropods. Back row: Anchura. Front row (L to R): Nerinea? (From Bull Creek Fm), Unknown, and Natica I will definitely be back in the future and might check out some of the other cuts nearby. Thanks for reading!
  9. Apologies for the dramatic title. I thought it sounded cool and stuck with it even though 90 + 80 + 80 is only 250 . Anyways... This past 30 days, I decided to make it a point to check out some new spots. I won't be living in Austin soon, so I thought it would be good to branch out and scout some new locations with potential. I've found lots of creek-worn mosasaur bits and pieces over the past year. I'm ready to find things in situ, and, one day, something articulated. It's a tall order, I know, but I feel like it's the next step and really the ultimate goal I've always had. So, the first step towards this objective was to find locations and, of course, take a look. This is what I saw! Location 1. Austin Chalk: In my usual Ozan stomping grounds, I've come across a variety of fossils ranging from the Eagle Ford to the Ozan itself. Included, was an assortment of spectacular Austin Chalk invertebrates along with the occasional and highly sought-after mosasaur vertebra. They can be readily distinguished from their Ozan counterparts by their yellow-orange preservation and lack of pyritic elements. Honestly, I come across them just as commonly as I do Ozan verts, so I took this to be a sign that the Austin Chalk could be a good bet. In Austin, it's a pretty wide formation with lots of members to look into. I did some research and found a place with some potential. When I arrived, it was a hot afternoon. I picked up my backpack and swapped my school notes out for a rock hammer and a couple of icy bottled waters. Walking down a little trail, I came across the first large exposure of Austin Chalk in what I believe to be the Dessau member. Literally within the first minute, I had to take a double-take at a white glint on the ground. "Surely there couldn't already be a shark tooth," I thought to myself as I kneeled for a closer inspection. Sure enough, it wasn't just a shiny piece of shell; it was indeed the enamel to a bleached tooth from the king shark of the Late Cretaceous seas, the infamous Cretoxyrhina mantelli! Thankfully, it popped out in one piece. A recreation of the tooth in situ and after extraction. I poked around the rest of the surrounding exposure. There were a couple of mangled echinoid bits and gastropods, but not much else, so I continued on to search the main creek. Unfortunately, the only apparent path forward was along a narrow and steeply banked feeder stream. Many of you will know that navigating through these can be a real pain. The brush was densely packed and smelly stagnant water had to be avoided with every step. There were thorny vines dangling from each limb and I was constantly tasked with picking off the burrs that snagged onto my clothing and in my hair. Last year, I was in a similar situation when I was suddenly attacked by a hive of wasps (don't worry, I managed to avoid getting stung too much). It's a fun story to tell friends now, but I must admit that the thought always crawls back into my mind when I am in a position that's a bit difficult to get out of in a hurry. Anyways, after about twenty minutes, I took the final hop over a fallen tree to get to the main creek. It was nice to breathe in the fresh, open air as I sat my backpack down and took a rest, of course, with my eyes perusing along the limestone bed. After the brief sit-down, I began to notice the beauty of the area I was in. The air was filled with the drip-drop of water leaking from the fern-covered bank and the reflection of the greenery was simply mesmerizing. I couldn't help but snap a quick photo. A beautiful, hidden place away from the city. Though, not too far... there's a shopping cart wedged in the gravel just out of frame. In terms of fossils, this place was loaded. Just about everywhere I stepped, I was standing over piles of clams and oysters along with the occasional baculites segment. I didn't bother taking any of these with me, however, as I have plenty already. I noticed there was a decent amount of chert as well, so artifacts were on my radar when I came across a preform. A little farther down the creek, I found a nice ammonite fragment. I didn't intend on keeping it, but sometimes it's nice to have something to hold so I took it along with me. By now, much of the afternoon had come and went. It was about time I turned around and faced the prospect of navigating my way through the dreaded feeder creek in reverse. As I was coming to a stop, I saw a girl walking along the slanted banks of the creek who almost certainly did not enter the way I did. I tried my best to get her attention without spooking her (keep in mind I look and smell like a swamp monster at the moment). She was nice enough to come close to the limestone ledge and introduce herself as I trudged my way through knee deep waters towards dry land. Turns out, she's a local who often hikes by the creek. We chatted for some time and I ended up giving her the preform and ammonite fragment, hopefully inspiring a future hobbyist. After explaining the situation I was in, she laughed and pointed out a trail that led back to the road. When I climbed out and exited the trail sore and tired, I kicked myself. My car was right in front of me. I could have taken this path from the beginning, but instead I took the road never traveled and boy did it make all the difference. Location 2. Ozan Formation: Although many of the mosasaur verts I come across are from the Austin Chalk, a significant portion are still from the good ole Ozan. With that in mind, I took a trip to a creek I usually don't hunt that had a decently-sized exposure. Something in a book tipped me off to this particular site, so I had high hopes. The trip from the road to the waterway wasn't as troublesome as the feeder creek from the week before, but it was still a challenge. I worked my way along the dirt bank to a place I could safely enter the waters when I saw what I was more so wary of. Across the lazy stream was a tent set up along a slope with a clothesline and shopping carts around it. On the initial drive to this spot, I did take notice of the pronounced homeless presence in the area. From the cover of the trees, I took a moment to scope out the tent and the surrounding area. The last thing I wanted was to have an unexpected encounter in a secluded place like this. Luckily, it seemed nobody was home, so I entered the creek, though making sure to have my rock hammer visibly in hand. When I approached the first gravel bar, I was greeted with tons of broken down blocks of Ozan shale and various Austin Chalk fossils. Curious, I started splitting the blocks open to see what the area had to offer. Each one was filled with heart urchin spines and plates! Most were fragmented and all were extremely fragile. Still, I took this to be a good sign. After hours of splitting the loose slabs, I finally found a complete irregular urchin. It's a definite upgrade from the half of one I had found a while back in the Ozan (though that one did have a nice red color). A compressed heart urchin. Looks to be Pliotoxaster/Hemiaster? It may appear round, but it is totally flat! The slab splitting continued with some compressed ammonites and enchodus teeth, but not much more, so it was time to move on to the main event. As I walked the rest of the gravel bar, however, I was forced to once again stop in my tracks. Lying in the mud right in front of me was, by far, the largest mosasaur vertebra I had ever seen in person. It had the preservation of what I assume to be Austin Chalk (of course as soon as I return to the Ozan). The underside of the vert was badly weathered, but it was, nevertheless, far heavier than any others in my collection. Plus, I only need one decent side to show in my picture . Gargantuan mosasaur vertebra. I wonder how long the whole lizard was. Welp, there's really no better motivator than something like that, so I took the short walk to the main exposure. A large expanse of creek bed was Ozan shale ripe for the picking. I got straight to working chiseling out every strange thing just poking out of the ground. Most of them were only oddly shaped pyritic accumulations, I'm guessing originally bivalves and poop. Now and then I would come across a Hamulus squamosus worm tube or piece of fish bone. The bed was a little difficult to see as the lack of recent rain meant that the detritus and algae had yet to be washed away. I didn't find much in the water. Thankfully, the dry parts of the bed were easy to probe. Eventually, I came upon something unmistakably bony. Before I could stop myself to snap a photo, I was already digging. It popped out easily and was instantly apparent of being mosasaur, the very thing I was seeking most. Frantically searching for a continuation of the vertebral column, I spotted what I thought was the head of the next vertebra behind. In my mind, I could see it all right in front of me. The ultimate prize was right there! Just some minor excavating and I'll have done it! Perhaps in theme with fool's gold, I was fooled by the imprint of the very fossil I had just pulled out . I was bummed out for a second, until I had time to realize that this was my first ever mosasaur vert found in situ! Out popped my first in situ mosasaur vert! Cleaned up, it is a real beauty. The color of the cuboidal pyrite outgrowths looks amazing when moved under the light. "Fool's gold" is a real disservice as far as names go. And with that, the sun was already starting to set. The finds of the day. 2 mosies, a flattened echinoid, a Hamulus squamosus tube, an Austin Chalk ammonite, and an Austin Chalk Exogyra tigrina. Location 3. Ozan Formation: After crossing such a major milestone, I had no choice but to head out for the Ozan again once a brief rain had passed. This new location was similar to number 2 in that it was a large expanse of Ozan creek bed. Unfortunately, the route to reach it from the road was a treacherous one. I didn't intend on swimming across a sudden deepening of the creek waters, so I had to search along the steep banks for ways to traverse the barrier. There was somewhat of a flattened trail along a slope with various obstacles that seemed the most doable to me. For the most part, I side-stepped my way across, hugging the dirt and tree limbs to avoid losing balance or putting too much weight on the unstable ground. Now and then, I'd have to cross through a bush that would replenish the population of burrs covering every part of me. By that point, I couldn't have complained too much as things were going relatively smoothly. That is until I made one misstep and had to quickly catch myself by snagging an exposed tree root. Regaining my composure, I heard the rustling and sliding of a plastic bag followed by a loud splash of water from underneath my feet. I usually carry my dirty pair of tennis shoes in a plastic bag since I swap between them and water shoes on my excursions. Now they were just a white shimmer far beyond reach. I hopped off the bank and landed on firm ground. Most of the bed was readily exposed to the air. There was a high density of deer and raccoon tracks. I was entertained most by the shale claw marks I saw at the bottom of shallow pools that I interpreted to be raccoons taking a refreshing swim. From way up the creek, I even caught a glimpse of a coyote jumping from out of the foliage. He sniffed around a bit before noticing me and darted off the other way. I settled down to catch my breath and inspected broken bits of Ozan shale nearby. Pretty soon I spotted the first regular echinoid I've seen in the Ozan. Unfortunately, it was too fragile and didn't survive the journey home. A regular echinoid and a mess of urchin spines surrounding. This portion of the Ozan is rich in echinoid material, though heavily compressed and often very fragile. Denture clams are the other most common find of which fragments can also be seen here. After some rehydration, I got up to start looking for bone. It took some time, but I eventually found a peculiar specimen sticking out of the shallows. It was too suspect to ignore, so I began excavating. Spongey thing as originally found. I was hoping it would be a rib or something, but it just didn't look right. The pores of the cancellous bone were much larger than what I was familiar with for reptiles and the thing didn't seem like fish at all. Typical for fossils in this layer, there was pyrite all over. However, there was an additional mineral I hadn't encountered before. Encrusting the entirety of the underside were selenite(?) crystals in prismatic shapes. As I dug deeper and deeper, the form continued on. The spongey thing was long and had curvature. There was another short one layered just underneath it intersecting close to the hammer. If it's vertebrate, I have no idea what bone it would be. I suspect it's invertebrate in nature. Revealing more of it showed that a separate, shorter piece was present just underneath. Both structures were flattened, fragile, and had to be removed in chunks. From what I could tell, their spongey structure remained consistent across the entirety of their lengths. Once extracted, I searched the surrounding space, but found no sign of continuation. Post extraction I was completely stumped by what I had found. All I could think was spongey, pores, spongey, pores. I am embarrassed to admit it took me way too long to cut off the "y" and realize that it's likely a sponge. Pore bearing (porifera) is about as accurate as you can get when describing it. So, I settled with that as my final guess for what this mystery structure could be. Though, this is still up for debate, so let me know if there are any opposing opinions. From there, I took a couple of paces before stumbling upon the next thing of interest. It was a robust black protrusion with some apparent symmetry. Okay, if the last thing was pseudo-bone, surely this had to be the real thing. As per usual, there was pyritic encrusting on it. From how it was positioned, it was hard to say how long it could be - if there was much more to try and dig out. I got to chiseling and it popped right out within the first few swings. Instantly, I knew I had once again fallen for some pseudo-bone. That being said, it was the first time I had found carbonized wood in the Ozan. I don't usually keep fossil wood, but this guy is interesting enough to warrant it. A pyritized deposit of coal, pretending to be a mosasaur rostral. The fossil wood with a pyritized denture clam and Serratolamna(?) tooth on top. A piece of an artifact and irregular urchin on top. The clam on the right is a cool optical illusion. It's only 3/4 of an inch tall. Here and there I made some other nice smaller finds. A fragment of an artifact, some shark teeth, and an even better flattened irregular urchin to name a few. Though, I had spent a lot of the recent weeks hammering away at things in creeks, so I thought it would be best to call it early and head home to have a nice meal and reflect on my prizes. No articulated mosasaur bits, but a great many lessons learned and special memories to reminisce upon in the future. I know I'm preaching to the choir with this one, but there are few things as magical as traveling alone and exploring a side of the outdoors you hadn't encountered before. It's hard to explain, but I love just parking somewhere and walking into a part of the brush where few people go, if ever. It's freeing in a sense. But for now, I've creek walked way too much. I'm gonna go hunt a roadcut or something
  10. I decided to take a trip to an Ozan spot after some rain a couple weeks ago. The gravel finds were sparse, but I fortunately remembered to bring some of my trusty excavating tools with me from Dallas to Austin. After the trek to the main exposure at this site, I got to scouring the shaly creek bed. In previous trips, I usually didn't spend much time doing this as I had limited tools for digging. With some newly acquired technology by my side, I encountered a facet of this location I hadn't experienced before. A lot of the fossils that preserve in this formation are too fragile to survive once exposed to the elements. I was surprised to see the wide array of species I had been missing out on in the past. Some things were easy to recognize. I came across a chunk of matrix filled with fragments of heart urchins. Not much of it was worth keeping even after I poked and pried my way through it. In the end, I only decided to keep what I think is a long urchin spine (B) with some echinoid bits on the underside. I also found some crustacean parts for the first time in the Ozan (C). I believe I managed to find the scattered remains of what once was a decently sized crab. It's extremely fragile and there appear to be limbs scattered every which way. I got to this ID by spotting a couple of spiny shelled projections poking out at various points. Later cleaning revealed some more. The thing is so destroyed, however, I might give up on it. I also came across what looks like a piece of a crab claw. My most enigmatic find was something I almost overlooked completely. Here and there throughout the exposure were these broad, dark patches of shale (A). I assumed they were flat, but when I accidentally kicked one, a section popped right out of the matrix and revealed its 3D nature. After working out the others parts by it, I noticed that these things had some regularity to them and perhaps were the remnants of an animal or plant or whatever. On both sides of the specimens, there appears to be a darkened indention running down the midline. I also noticed curved lines running across the pieces in a pattern reminding me of the banding found on the shells of baculites. The cross section of these finds appear to just be shale and do not present much information. The pieces start off wide and gradually thin themselves towards one side before ending in a point. I wish I took pictures of them in situ, but I unfortunately only have pics from my room. One specimen had pyritic inclusions which are typical for fossils from this exposure (I've seen pyrite in bones, crustaceans, urchins, oysters, etc.). When I look at them, I start thinking of cephalopods, but that's a big jump. They could be some sort of trace fossil, but that doesn't quite feel right. I don't know if any Ozan experts on here will recognize these, but I am really curious to try and pin down some ID if there is one to be found. To round off the trip, I also came across a horn-shaped coral (D) that I suppose washed down from the Austin Chalk up stream. Some more typical finds (E) were also to be had. It was nice to get back out and enjoy the cool waters of an Austin creek. I won't be sticking around long, however, as I am about to make a couple of trips across Texas for school interview stuff in the near future, so look forward to future posts outside of my usual grounds. Picture: A). Main Enigmatic Finds. This is the bigger piece. It continued under the shale below the unstable wall of the creek. Decided it was dangerous to dig to the end of it. Second piece I brought back. Much smaller, has pyrite, and still partially in the matrix B). Urchin Spine? C). Crustaceans. The top shows the pyritic scattered one. The bottom shows the claw. D). Coral I think washed from the Austin Chalk. E). Typical finds (Goblin Shark teeth on the left and enchodus tooth on the right. Small mosasaur vert on the bottom I think from the Austin Chalk) Thanks for reading!
  11. Hi, I’ve recently been searching through some sifted gravel from a creek. I’ve been looking for microfossils, which I’ve had plenty of luck finding. All sorts of marine Cretaceous invertebrate micros are abundant in the creek gravel, as well as the occasional micro shark/fish tooth, scale, and bone fragment. I encountered a tooth that stood out from anything I’ve found so far. It has a conical shape, and is recurved. Something about this tooth seems very reptile-like. Almost looks like a tiny version of a crocodile or mosasaur tooth. The tooth measures 1 millimeter in length. I tried searching the internet for something similar, and have been unable to find something like this. The closest thing that I found was teeth from a jaw of a Coniasaurus that was found in North Texas. Here is the tooth that I found. It’s 1 millimeter from base to tip. The creek is located in Central Texas close to Austin, and passes through sediments spanning the whole Cretaceous geological column of Texas. From the Glen Rose Limestone to the Navarro Group. (~110-66 myrs). What do y’all think of this little tooth. Could it be from a small reptile like Coniasaurus and other dolichosaurs?
  12. Howdy y'all! I have found a few interesting things that I could use some help with ID. These are all either Eagle Ford, Del Rio or Georgetown Formation. Any help is appreciated! First are the teeth: Are these Protoshyraena teeth? That's what I was able to find online because they look an awful lot like Barracuda teeth I've found in the Miocene. 1 and 2 :Two teeth - top row and bottom row. Both are about 1/4 inch 3, Assuming this is some kind of Fish Tooth 1/8 inch 4. This is an odd thing. I have found Ray teeth here, but this doesn't look like anything I've seen. 1/8 inch 5. Not even sure if this is a tooth..possibly a spine? And now some other thingies: 6. I have found MANY of these things. I have no idea what they are. Part of a starfish? It's a weird little thing 7. Another little thing I'm finding quite a few of is this little foram. I'd love to get an ID on it. 8. And lastly, this odd little round bicolor thing! I have heard of fossil pearls being found in the Eagle Ford! But I think the indent precludes that idea:. Size 1/8 inch
  13. School starts next week and my 10 yr old kiddo and I are both trying to extend summer as much as possible. We decided to go on a hunt yesterday afternoon. His focus was on the ever shrinking pools within the creek for turtles, snakes, and frogs, and my focus is on finding a mosasaur. It’s frustrating because I’m finding all sorts of shark and fish material but I have yet to stumble upon marine reptile. There seems to be several types of rock that yields teeth within the creek. The rocks range from dense shell mass, crumbly bits of pulverized things, light shell hash and shale, dark shale, sandy shale mix, and sandstone. After a bit of prospecting on loose rocks in the creek bed, I went to my go-to rock. This one rock is the most productive rock ever. It’s a big slab that was previous covered in water. It moves each time it rains, and teeth erode out from the bottom. Yesterday I loped off a 2ft section of the slab and explored it. At one point I uncovered a nice tooth that I was trying to gently break free. In doing so, I uncovered several additional teeth. In total, I probably found 15 ptychodus and 30 shark teeth. I've also posted a picture of a previous find of two teeth stacked, and of the various teeth we've found in a couple of trips. Most of the teeth are in the matrix so it takes some patience to work them free. Luckily the material is soft and crumbly, and can be worked with fairly easily. I might shift my focus to Dallas and try to do a road-trip hunt to a few spots along I-35 in Ellis, Tarrant, and Collin County for mosasaur. I'll read the old geology publications, paleontology papers, geology apps, and google maps, and jot down addresses to hunt. Probably a lot getting skunked but maybe one will pan out and I'll get that mosasaur tooth I'm after. Feel free to send a direct message if you can point us in the direction of the elusive marine reptile, or if you'd like to meet up and do some hunting.
  14. My son and I realized that we hadn’t been fossil hunting nearly as much as last year. Last year we found a quite a few interesting finds in the creeks of central Texas. We decided to jump back into hunting this week with a few expeditions. I hear there's a few super-hunters lurking Austin so Jack and I decided to see if the early bird can get the worm. We headed to a new spot around Austin, Texas at 4pm with a temperature of 104 (40 degrees). (Fortunately I was able to fool my son into carrying the heavy backpack.) I like this spot because it’s cretaceous and I’m always hopeful of finding something special. I’ve posted my finds for this location including some Squalicorax, Ischyrhiza mira, and Plicatoscyllium. As you can see the creek has very nice cliffs. Material usually erodes out as black but is pretty sparse. This location reminds me of the north sulfur river/ ozan. We hunted until the water ran out and can't wait to go there again. I plan on finding a globidens soon (whole). Enjoy the trip!
  15. Jackito

    Tooth?

    I found this fossil in Austin, Texas. Looks very tooth-like but unusual. Any ideas? We found a couple other teeth as well. The cliffs at that area are very high and I haven't had luck determining where things are eroding from.
  16. Mikrogeophagus

    Pycnodont Tooth Plate?

    Hey everyone! This came from the same Ozan spot as my previous post. I found this little specimen on a gravel bar. I think it's a fossil, but it could be man-made... I'm really not sure. My best guess is a pycnodont tooth plate which would be a first for me. I have hesitations because the teeth are "holey" as opposed to little black bulbs. Maybe this is from weathering? Here are some pictures: Thanks for reading!
  17. Hey everyone! I thought I'd share a few of my finds from the past couple months and get yall's opinions. Over winter break, I went back home to North Texas and did some searching around Ammonite Beach at Texoma and the NSR with my family. At Texoma I had a nice time hammering out a few ammonites, collecting teeth, and surprisingly finding lots of smaller, pyritized ammonites that I did not expect to be there. The NSR was a bit slower, but I at least got a nice Squalicorax as shown in the pics below. Since school has started, I've been down in Austin. I've been finding the usual stuff, but the pyritized disk I've attached is new to me. I'd love to hear what you guys think! Austin Finds: Pictured above is the pyritized disk and a pyritized clam found in a gravel bar next to what I believe to be an Ozan exposure. The area has a decent amount of the pyritized clams and other marine fossils that I assume are cretaceous in age given the local geology. My initial reaction was that it could be a vertebrae, but the bulging center and distorted shape throws me off. It has very apparent concentric rings on both its faces. In pics 1 and 3, you can see that underneath that outside layer there is a lot of pyrite. Parts of the edges are also pyritized while other sections have an iron concretion look to them. The face shown on pic 2 resembles and feels like petrified wood. I suppose this could be a pyrite sun, but I'm not seeing anything too similar to what I have on google images. Super interested in what you guys have to say! Texoma Tooth (left) and NSR Tooth (right) Left (Leptostyrax macrorhiza?): Pretty tooth found by my little brother at Texoma in the Duck Creek Formation. Did some quick googling and found that Leptostyrax macrorhiza was in that formation and saw some pictures that were similar to what I have. Right (Squalicorax): Had a bit of a slow day at the NSR, but managed to at least find this at the end of my cold, muddy adventure there. It's preserved very nicely. Looks like Squalicorax to me. Would love to know the species. If you guys would like any additional closeup pics feel free to let me know! I might share some of my other finds later on, but I don't want to inundate the forum with my rocks lol. Thanks for reading.
  18. Jackito

    Shark denticle? Tooth?

    My faithful assistant and I found a clump of dirt/clay/rock on a creek bank. The creek has a couple long and steep hills that look Ozan-ish. Well, I took the clump home and slowly wiggled it apart. That clump held a couple of small teeth, tons of tiny little shells, and this mystery object. It's less than 1mm and very tooth like. I can't seem to match it to anything. Ideas?
  19. Mikrogeophagus

    Bony Oddities of the Ozan

    Following the brief rains from earlier in the week, I decided to make a return to my new favorite Ozan outcrop where I had previously found so many mosasaur vertebrae. Though I did not get to add any new verts to my collection, I did manage to come across plenty of unique fossils and artifacts that have taken up my attention for the past couple of days. One interesting thing I have noticed from this outcrop is its abundance of pyritic bony material among other pyritic fossils (including "rusty" exogyra shells + bivalves). Most of them are unidentifiable chunks, but a few have enough distinctive features that I feel hopeful they can be identified. Some give off the flaky appearance of fish bones while others are more spongy and reptilian to my eye. I wonder if any others have come across similar fossils as I haven't seen much online that resemble these. Does anyone know what these strange little balls of bronze rust are? I assume it's pyrite degrading, but I'm not 100% confident. They seem to enjoy popping up on bony bits that come from this Ozan outcrop. Anyways, I have compiled the most interesting bony oddities from my two trips to this spot. I know there's a lot to take in, so I only included closeups of the most distinctive pieces in order to have the majority of the focus fixed onto them. If you would like additional closeups of anything here, feel free to let me know! Here is an overview of the finds: Closeups and Descriptions: A: Here is a 360 view of my favorite one of the bunch. A key feature is on the sixth image, where you can see a hole that runs through the bone (the white speck towards the top end). This give off a flaky look, so I think it may be fish. Then again, I could see this being the end of some sort of long bone. There is a symmetry to the bone as well as the little rusty protrusions that are characteristic of the things I have been finding. The grooving seen towards the bottom on picture 5 is very pronounced. I feel this might be to something really cool. Curious to hear what y'all think! B: This is an interesting piece that is unfortunately almost entirely covered in pyrite chicken pox. It's difficult to tell what exactly the bone's texture is, but I would flaky as well. One side (pic 4) is mostly flat. The opposing side (pic 2) has a groove running down the middle that converges at one end. Pic 6 shows this convergence pretty well. C: The spongy texture in pic 5 leads me to think this is reptilian. I get a vague sense that this may be turtle, but who knows. At first glance, the notch in it seems like a random natural fracture. However, the grooved patterns on two of its faces radiate out of that notch, so I think it must have always been like that. D: A flat piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish E: A flat piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish F: A 3D piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish G: A spongy bone that resembles turtle in my opinion H: This is a pyritized disk that I included in a previous post. I decided to throw it in here since it is similar in nature, though not collected from the exact same location. I think it may be a shark vertebra, but its protruding center throws me off. Someone has suggested it to be an intravertebral disk. It is fairly degraded. I tried to look around the outcrop itself for bones, but didn't come across any. However, I spotted and managed to pry out a pretty little cretolamna tooth so I will make sure to always check it out in the future. Thanks for reading!
  20. Mikrogeophagus

    Second Mosasaur Vertebra

    From the album: Favorites

    Marine reptile. Mosasaur vertebra from Austin, Ozan Formation. 3/23/22
  21. Mikrogeophagus

    Arrowhead

    From the album: Favorites

    Arrowhead from Austin. 11/6/21
  22. Mikrogeophagus

    Mosasaur Vertebra

    From the album: Favorites

    Marine reptile. Mosasaur vertebra from Austin, Ozan Formation. 11/6/21
  23. Mikrogeophagus

    4 Mosasaur Verts in a Day! Austin TX

    With the end of the semester approaching, school has picked up and I have been too busy to embark on many adventures. When my schedule finally cleared up one afternoon following a brief rain in Austin, I jumped at the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. One of my goals right now is to check out new parts of the creek I hunt on. Scanning through my list of potential spots, I decided to try and be the first one out to a very promising location. Like my previous hunts, this place ran through the Ozan formation, so my expectations were set on some nice Cretaceous specimens as well as the usual native artifacts that Central Texas is so famous for. After I parked and carefully scaled my way down to the water's edge, I was immediately met with several pairs of shoes and jackets. Thinking I had been beaten to the punch, I decided I might as well head down the stream and meet whoever it was to discuss the location and fossils in general. Thankfully, the trip was saved when they turned out to be a kind group of fishermen. After a brief chat, I carried on to get the hunt started. The mud was an absolute nightmare. I had never been up to my knees in it until then. Somehow, I managed to trudge my way through without getting one of my water shoes sucked away into a different dimension. When I finally reached the first gravel bar, I was instantly rewarded with the nicest Ptychodus tooth (E) I have found yet. Scattered around the bar were tons of flakes and a couple of larger worked pieces (G, I) that were unfamiliar to me. Before moving on, I also stumbled upon what would've been the largest point I'd ever found (H). Unfortunately, it was pretty banged up. The previous rain wasn't that big in terms of flooding, so I spent the most time scouring the gravel still under water as I reasoned that the stuff on dry land was less likely to have been moved around in the storm. It was during this moment that I found my first mosasaur vertebra of the day (A). This one was exciting to me as I personally thought it very much resembled the verts that famously come out of the NSR's Ozan formation. Within a couple feet of it I found another half piece of mosasaur vertebra (B). With the close association of these two bones, I went into a bit of a frenzy. Nothing else came up, but I knew that there was a massive exposure just up ahead so I hurried on. Along the way I ran into a fragment of the smallest point I've come across (F). At its size, I wonder if the original piece would've been a true arrowhead. Once I reached the main exposure, I immediately got to probing around. I came across two more pieces of bone that I believe are both belonging to mosasaurs (C, D). They have bony structures, but they are also pretty beat up and may have come from a different formation in comparison to the other two verts I collected. With the day winding down I picked up a nice big Exogyra ponderosa for my dad's friend as well as a couple of preforms. I tried to look around in the exposure for any hints of mosasaur, but that shale is extremely difficult to get through. All in all, it was a great success. I think I've found my new go-to spot! With the addition of potentially 4 new mosasaur verts, that's a 400% increase in my total mosi collection! P.S. Does anyone else get "Tetris Syndrome" after scanning gravel bars for way too long? For hours after the trip, I literally could not stop seeing gravel and chert flakes every time I closed my eyes. An overview of the finds: Closeups for ID: A: First mosasaur vert of the day. To me, it strongly resembles those found in the NSR's Ozan formation. This one was covered in a clay-like matrix. B: The second vert of the day. Seems to be broken in half and from the same formation as A. Appears to have pyritization on some parts of it. C: Third vert which I believe is mosasaur. This one is beat up and seems to be of differing material from A and B. Could it be from the Austin Chalk which is present farther up the creek? D: The last "vert" of the day. This one I am least confident about. It appears to have a bony texture, but is very worn and has a confusing shape. It seems closer to C than A or B, but it also feels very distinct in it of itself. What do you guys think? I suppose it could be something else entirely! E: A nicely preserved Ptychodus tooth. I'm thinking anonymous or mammillaris, but my ID skills are pretty lackluster. F: "True" arrowhead fragment? G: Strange artifact. The angle seems too wide to be a point. I think it's too thin to be an adze. Obviously missing a huge chunk from that fresh curved break. What do you guys think? H: Fragment of a large point I: Another strange fragment. I think it may be an adze since it's a bit more robust. Fresh break on one edge. Let me know if you want any more close-ups. Thanks for reading!
  24. Jackito

    Dinosaur Tooth from Austin, TX?

    My loyal assistant and I were exploring in area by the airport in Austin, Texas a couple days ago and we came across a head-sized shell hashy rock. I think we were in Maestrichtian rocks (corsicana marl?)and I found an unusual tooth fragment in the center of the crumbly rock. I also found several small shark teeth and a lot of little shells in the same rock. This tooth is interesting because of the size (1.5 mm long and .7mm) thick and serrated edges. Ok ok... I've come a long way since posting that tooth shaped rock last summer. Since then I've found a lot of teeth in Austin in 4 separate locations but this tooth just seems unusual. The serrated edges and size.. the texture of the outside enamel... Naturally I jump straight to some sort of dinosaur. But it might just be a squalicorax.... but...abelisaur? carcharodontosaurus? Troodon? Gorgosaurus? Or just a shark... What do y'all think?
  25. ossomania

    Possible fossilized bone?

    The owner of this item picked it up in the vicinity of Austin, Texas because he thought it was a "cool rock." It is about 5 inches long and reasonably heavy. Too heavy to be a bone from something recent; it's definitely mineralized. But the shape, the visible cellular-like structures, and the rounded bit that looks like a socket for a joint seem to point in the direction of fossilized bone rather than "bone-shaped rock formation." We have not licked it (!), as it's been floating around a public school classroom as a pet rock, so I can't attest to whether it sticks or not, or if there is any identifiable mineral content. As you can tell, it's had a lot of love from pencils and pointy objects. Any ideas on what kind of creature it might have come from? Approximate age? I'm no geologist, but my limited research seems to suggest late Cretaceous. Thanks in advance! update to add: sorry I don't have the item with me; I will try to use an international scale when I'm back to take more photographs. update 2: silly newbie didn't look at the file extension and wondered why the pictures weren't loading. #facepalm. fixed. IMG_1558.jpg IMG_1557.jpg IMG_1559.jpg IMG_1561.jpg
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