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Post Oak Creek, July 29th


BudB

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I seem to be having a slow week at work, and didn't have much at home demanding attention, so I decided to spend a day fossil hunting yesterday. I got up with intentions of checking out a new spot on the NSR, but when I looked at weather radar, there were showers in that area. The parts of NSR that I have seen are pretty tough to get into and out of when things are wet, so I changed my mind and made a drive to Post Oak Creek. One trip this spring was the only time I'd been there, and I didn't know what to expect in mid summer, but it is one of the most fossiliferous places I've ever seen, so I was sure a trip there would be fun.

 

And just like my first trip there, I found teeth. I've found very few teeth of any kind in all the other places I've fossil hunted, so I really enjoyed my time crawling on knee pads, looking for teeth. I considered bringing my sifter, but decided I would just stick to searching the sand bars. It was a dark day for the most part, with light rain on and off, so not the best day for trying to spot tiny teeth on the sand bars, but I did find enough to really enjoy myself, and the clouds did help keep the heat from getting too bad.

 

The really small tooth in the upper left corner was the only Ptychodus tooth I found yesterday. Lots of the teeth are broken, damage from tumbling on the rocks, I guess. I always marvel at how sharp many of them are.

 

poc00201.jpg

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The number of bivalve and oyster fossils at POC just amazes me. They're everywhere. I always have to pick up a few of the most beautiful ones. Look at the striking pattern on both sides of this bivalve.
 

poc00202.jpg

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I always seem to find things I can't identify at POC. Anyone have an idea what this is?
 

poc00203.jpg

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This little bone caught my eye. It looks like a femur from some kind of small creature. I have no idea what it was.
 

poc00204.jpg

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And then there's this. Here are four views of it. The upper left looks so squared I almost thought it was manmade. The little bubble on the upper right view almost looks like an embedded shell. The pattern on the lower left side almost looks like a turtle. Anyone seen anything like this?
 

poc00205.jpg

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47 minutes ago, BudB said:
47 minutes ago, BudB said:

The number of bivalve and oyster fossils at POC just amazes me. They're everywhere. I always have to pick up a few of the most beautiful ones. Look at the striking pattern on both sides of this bivalve.
 

poc00202.jpg

These are Cameleolopha bellaplicata oysters: link

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287588150_The_Late_Cretaceous_oyster_Cameleolopha_bellaplicata_Shumard_1860_guide_fossil_to_middle_Turonian_strata_in_New_Mexico

46 minutes ago, BudB said:

I always seem to find things I can't identify at POC. Anyone have an idea what this is?
 

poc00203.jpg

This is also an edge of a Cameleolopha bellaplicata oyster. 

45 minutes ago, BudB said:

And then there's this. Here are four views of it. The upper left looks so squared I almost thought it was manmade. The little bubble on the upper right view almost looks like an embedded shell. The pattern on the lower left side almost looks like a turtle. Anyone seen anything like this?
 

poc00205.jpg

These are parts of calcite septarian nodules. The dark “ribs” are where calcite filled cracks in a dehydrated mud ball. See attached photo and link to Collections: 


 

Although I have a backbone, I will defer to other members that do to help you ID the shark teeth and the bone since I am much better at IDing invertebrates.

FABABA10-13AE-4F67-A20E-F1EA320AF719.jpeg

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My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

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Wow, thanks for that info. I never even thought of cracked mud for that last piece, though you can certainly see that if you know what you're looking at. I'll add Septarian Nodule to the list of things I've found. That's a really spectacular one in your post.

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12 hours ago, BudB said:

I seem to be having a slow week at work, and didn't have much at home demanding attention, so I decided to spend a day fossil hunting yesterday. I got up with intentions of checking out a new spot on the NSR, but when I looked at weather radar, there were showers in that area. The parts of NSR that I have seen are pretty tough to get into and out of when things are wet, so I changed my mind and made a drive to Post Oak Creek. One trip this spring was the only time I'd been there, and I didn't know what to expect in mid summer, but it is one of the most fossiliferous places I've ever seen, so I was sure a trip there would be fun.

 

And just like my first trip there, I found teeth. I've found very few teeth of any kind in all the other places I've fossil hunted, so I really enjoyed my time crawling on knee pads, looking for teeth. I considered bringing my sifter, but decided I would just stick to searching the sand bars. It was a dark day for the most part, with light rain on and off, so not the best day for trying to spot tiny teeth on the sand bars, but I did find enough to really enjoy myself, and the clouds did help keep the heat from getting too bad.

 

The really small tooth in the upper left corner was the only Ptychodus tooth I found yesterday. Lots of the teeth are broken, damage from tumbling on the rocks, I guess. I always marvel at how sharp many of them are.

 

poc00201.jpg

The one complete tooth you’ve got there belongs to a goblin shark, specifically Scapanorynchus. 
 

Would love to see a better picture of that Ptychodus tooth. Most teeth there are whipplei but yours isn’t one. In fact, it looks quite odd in the picture but that could be lighting or any number of things.  

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7 hours ago, Captcrunch227 said:

Would love to see a better picture of that Ptychodus tooth. Most teeth there are whipplei but yours isn’t one. In fact, it looks quite odd in the picture but that could be lighting or any number of things.  

 

 

It's very small. And broken. Broken teeth seemed to be the theme for the day. The bottom photo here is more of an end view of it.

 

 

poc00206.jpg

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Definitely isn't P. whipplei since it doesn't have the distinctive "bump" in the middle. The ridges in the second picture match P. decurrens. Like @Captcrunch227 said, anything other than whipplei is quite rare in the creek. Congrats! 

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I’m going to actually disagree with @Wendigo1014 here. I think that is a whipplei. The lighting is terribly dim on the pictures so it’s difficult to tell for sure, but it does look like just the crown of a whipplei. 

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On 7/30/2020 at 12:28 PM, BudB said:

This little bone caught my eye. It looks like a femur from some kind of small creature. I have no idea what it was.
 

poc00204.jpg

 

 

I think that's a turtle femur.

 

Jess

 

 

 

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I see my mistake now. The tooth in question does in fact belong to P. whipplei, I just didn’t realize that the ridges present in the picture are actually on top of the bump that is so characteristic of that species. 

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17 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

 

I think that's a turtle femur.

 

Jess

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that. Those breaks on the end make it harder to tell, but I think you're right.

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17 hours ago, Captcrunch227 said:

I’m going to actually disagree with @Wendigo1014 here. I think that is a whipplei. The lighting is terribly dim on the pictures so it’s difficult to tell for sure, but it does look like just the crown of a whipplei. 

 

I should probably be moving outside to take these photos, especially on things as small as teeth. I will keep that in mind in future posts.

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