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  1. As promised, my second trip report covering my day trip last October to the two most famous Pennsylvanian-aged fossil locales in Texas is here! That same Saturday after visiting Mineral Wells and finally finding my first trilobites I made the hour drive north to Lake Jacksboro. For those who don't know, the Lost Creek Dam on the southeastern side of Lake Jacksboro was constructed from earth dug out of a borrow pit a short walk away. As the lake and its dam happen to sit on top of the Finis Shale Member of the Graham Formation (although there is debate that , which dates back to the Late Pennsylvanian (or the Late Carboniferous for any international fossil hunters), the digging of the pit exposed a multitude of fossils that are still regularly being eroded out after every rain today. It's one of my favorite sites I've ever visited for the incredible diversity of the fossil species on display and the extreme ease with which someone willing to sit down on the shale can find them. Having just visited Mineral Wells, the variety of brachiopods, bryozoans, gastropods, bivalves, nautiloids, and corals was a welcome respite from the endless landscape of crinoid columnals I had just walked all over in my search for trilobites. Making my way across the dam and walking up to the expose shale slopes of the borrow pit, I was instantly greeted with the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet for fossils. Everywhere I looked I saw something new. Right away I found a tripmaker: a huge shiny blue conulariid. It was complete too which was nice considering every one I had found on my first trip had been a broken fragment barely two centimeters across that I could only identify because of their ridged texture. Similar in appearance to modern day sea anemones when they were alive, there's nothing really like conulariids around today so I really enjoy finding such strange animals. Immediately following the conulariid was a second tripmaker: my first complete goniatite! Although small and lacking the ornate sutures that some species possess, I was just happy to finally find one that was complete. Broken fragments of other coiled nautiloids litter the shale slopes and I can only guess that there must be an incredibly short window to find one whole after it erodes out before it is destroyed. My guess is this one is Schistoceras. On the heels of one nautiloid find came another. I saw another mistakable coiled shell on the top of one of the slopes. Although it was flattened, I wasn't too upset. This specific specimen is most likely Domatoceras sculptile. Next up was a change of pace, with the largest brachiopod I've ever personally come across. The pedicle valve was speckled with stout but tiny spines and the shell material was partially stained a pinkish-orange in places which made a nice find even nicer. Identifying it wasn't hard as only one brachiopod at the site gets this large, Linoproductus. It was after finding the Linoproductus that I returned to the tops of the shale slopes. I had heard that the strata exposed here were the likeliest to produce the one type of fossil I was holding my breath hoping I might find. As everybody knows, my fossil interests lie with vertebrates first and foremost. I had never found one of the teeth that are colloquially said to have come from Pennsylvanian sharks but that actually come from a strange family of extinct cartilaginous fish called the Petalodontiformes. They would have cut an unusual figure during the Pennsylvanian with their buck-toothed grins featuring teeth that weren't sharp or even particularly hard like almost all fish and shark teeth that have evolved since. Fortunately I was in luck that day and the extra attention I had been paying to anything with a white enamel-ish look to it worked out. The tooth was missing the fragile root, which was expected, and about half of the blade, but I didn't care - I had found the oldest vertebrate fossil of my fossil hunting career! (Unfortunately I don't have any in-situ picture as I was too excited when I first saw the tooth to remember to take one. ) A couple paces in a different direction along the top of the outcrop and I had found a second tooth - this one possessing most of the blade but still no root. There was some matrix encasing the very tip that I later cleaned off when I returned home. Here are the two teeth side by side: Plus a picture of the smaller tooth once it was prepped: I tentatively identified these as either Petalodus ohioensis or Petalodus seratodus, but the in-and-out curving edges of the teeth don't perfectly match pictures I've seen online. I can only guess that this is just variation depending on the tooth's position in the mouth, or there might be a species of Petalodus at Jacksboro that just hasn't been noted yet. The sun was starting to go down by this point and I decided it was time to make my way back across the dam and to my waiting car. But as luck would have it there was one final surprise in store for me. Piled at the bottom of the slope were several huge chunks of nautiloid shell, arranged almost as if someone had visited the site before me and picked them up, before eventually deciding they weren't worth the trouble on their way out and dumping them on the ground. That there were two different species present seemed to support this. The two large chunks towards the top of the photo are from the grypoceratid nautiloid Domatoceras sculptile, absolutely the largest variety of coiled nautiloid you can find at Jacksboro. The smaller chunk with the bumps along the rim is a different nautiloid, Metacoceras. Here are some additional pictures of the Domatoceras chunks: And that was it for my Pennsylvanian day trip! Just a couple of weeks before I had put together a bucket list of all the different types of fossils I most want to find, and I was very happy that after this trip I was able to cross my first trilobite, a complete goniatite, and a Petalodus tooth off the list. A return trip is definitely in order! The day's best finds: Top: Petalodus ohioensis/seratodus Top Row: Parajuresania sp. (2 individuals), Unknown, Linoproductus sp., Domatoceras sculptile Bottom Row: Astartella concentrica, Condrathyris perplexa, Composita ovata (2 individuals), Schistoceras sp., Conularia crustula - Graham
  2. The Paleontolocigal Society of Austin monthly field trip was last weekend - we planned to hit a couple of spots in Brownwood. Well it's a bit of a drive from San Marcos, so I decided to make a mini two day trip out of it and stay in an Air BNB (a great option for traveling these days - no shared air source like a hotel!) . So instead of just the two sites on Saturday with the Society, I headed up to Lake Jacksboro for some solo hunting! And boy was it solo.....not a SINGLE person at the site! I was astounded. Had the whole place to myself for HOURS! It was a beautiful day - 70s and sunny. I can't believe no one was there! I was really hoping to find a whole Goniatite (had found one small fragment in the past) and thought I had hit the jackpot when I saw that arced edge sticking out of the dirt - praying to whatever omnipresence was available that it please please be a whole one! Alas....it was not. But still a better piece than I had! Found a couple of other nice goniatite fragments too. Goniatite Gonioloboceras sp. 2 inches Goniatite Pennoceras sp. (I think - if anyone has a better ID, lemme know) 1 inch I was super excited to find a couple of Conularias too (I'd not found them before) 1/2 inch Also found this odd Cephalopod Poterioceras sp ( I think) 1 1/2 inches Then I found this weird thing - I think it is an odd brachiopod called Collemataria nobilis 1/2 inch And lastly I finally found a nice (honking big) Derbyia crassa bivalve 3 inches So after a really nice time at Jacksboro, I headed back south to hit Mineral Wells fossil park - a great little public fossil hunting spot. I pulled up and there must have been 25 cars in the parking lot! SPRING BREAK! Each car had a family of at least 4 (mostly little kids) out digging in the dirt. Fortunately, it's a big place, so you could avoid everyone, but so many people had been out there digging instead of surface collecting, that is was pretty much a waste of time. I found a few nice little things, but left pretty quickly. A nice Crinoid cup fragment 1/2 inch a tiny bit of echinoid spine 1/4 inch and a nice sized Gastropod Goniasma lasallensis 1 inch My last stop of the day was a roadcut I had found last time up in that area - unfortunately, there was a very large, very dead hog t the site and it was, of course, upwind. So I didn't stay long because that's just unpleasant. Did find a couple of nice things there, though! What I think might be a Stenopoceras nautiloid 1 inch and a whole mess of really gorgeously preserved echinoid plates - Archeocidarid I think I stayed in a little Cottage (Air BnB) in Dublin Texas - and yes, they have outdone themselves with the Irish theme in the town (plus it was just 2 days after St. Patricks Day so there may have been a little "extra irish" going on). Nice little town. Got up early and met the Society for our fieldtrip. We started out going to the Brownwood Spillway - a dramatic landscape for sure! Huge overhangs of heavy limestone (stay away from those overhangs, y'all). The fossiking was sparse, but the finds were amazing....those who found stuff. I came away with a really nice 6 inch hashplate full of bryozoans and crinoid bits. Then, we headed out to the second site where I KNEW the fossiling would be good! And boy was it....first I found my first trilobite from this spot (just the trilobutt, but hey, I'm not picky) Ditomopyge sp. 1/2 inch and then, my next best find (or first best, depending on your preferences!) I found the arm fragment first, uphill, and then the base downhill!! An "almost' crinoid crown! Delocrinus sp 2 1/4 inches My last and final adventure of the day (I decided I'd had quite enough fun and was ready to go home after this....) My First Rattlesnake Encounter! Yep, was poking around some big rocks up a hillside looking for shark teeth when I heard that distinctive rattle......I think I actually flew down the hillside (I know I leapt over a couple of cactus and some really large rocks on my way down). So that was enough fun for one weekend! (See the snake? He's under that big rock....hahhaha!! The one halfway up the hillside.....)
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