Yet another trip to the Danube Valley

[Ludwigia]

Man was it hot today! Would you believe it? 30°C on the 9th of May! I did a lot of sweating, but even though it was somewhat exhausting after 7 hours of digging, I did have some fun too. I cleaned out this area during the first few hours.

 

And came up with at least a few things.

 

I then decided to move to another spot.

 

And promptly found the best one to this point.

 

The fossiliferous area in the hypselocylum zone which I am working consists of two ca. 20cm. thick concretionary limestone beds separated by about 20cm. of friable soft marl. The fossils in the marl, which are numerous, are mostly flatly pressed and usually fall to bits. The ones in the limestone beds are strongly cemented in and there is a lot of ammonite brekzie and an awful lot of sponge material within. So I spend a lot of time whacking away at them once they are extricated, which necessitates a lot of energy, since they are extremely hard. They don't always come out complete, so there's some glueing to be done at home, but every once in a while I get a lucky split as above. The up side of this is that the fossils from the concretions are very well preserved, once you manage to get them out intact.

Here's my booty at the end of the day. Tomorrow I should be getting down to some preparation.

 

[FossilNerd]

Another nice haul from the Danube Valley, Roger. Congrats on the lucky split!  

 

Can’t wait to see them after prep. 

[Fossildude19]

Nice haul, Roger!

[Jeffrey P]

I wish I could have been there. A fine looking haul, Roger. Can't wait to see you do your prep magic on those specimens. Good luck and best wishes. 

[Ludwigia]

8 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

I wish I could have been there. A fine looking haul, Roger. Can't wait to see you do your prep magic on those specimens. Good luck and best wishes. 

Thanks, Jeff. Maybe after covid? There's still enough exposure available to keep us busy for years to come.

[Everhardus]

You probably picked the hottest day of the week, it was pretty hot here as well....Nice haul, good luck with the prep !

[fossilhunter21]

Those are some fine looking fossils Roger, Good luck on the prep. 

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Everhardus said:

You probably picked the hottest day of the week, it was pretty hot here as well....Nice haul, good luck with the prep !

 

1 hour ago, fossilhunter21 said:

Those are some fine looking fossils Roger, Good luck on the prep. 

Thanks guys

[Ludwigia]

One great thing about the finds from this exposure is that the prep goes quite quickly. Here they all are, with the exception of 3 which I disposed of, after the scribe work. Tomorrow I'll do the abrader work.

 

 

[fossilhunter21]

Wow those are some very good looking fossils! Keep up the good work.  

[Pagurus]

Spoils for the toils. Congratulations, Roger. 

I had to look up "brekzie" and discovered it's the German equivalent of breccia, with an Italian origin meaning "rubble." It looks like you spend quite a bit of time reducing it to it's origins.

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, Pagurus said:

"brekzie"

 

Oops! Sometimes I get my languages mixed up

[LabRatKing]

2023…I’m coming to visit with you and go fossil hunting…I swear…

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, LabRatKing said:

2023…I’m coming to visit with you and go fossil hunting…I swear…

 

You sure do plan well ahead!

[LabRatKing]

Oh, recent events ensured all of CONUS is now my range, I renewed my passport, and as of last month I’m no longer a no fly risk…dang Navy…so finally I can go anywhere worldwide.

 

ScienceMobile finished this week, so all of the new world is open house. 2023- I’m returning to the lands of my ancestors to do science! (And gonna drag my fellow hardcore with me…hostels are for noobs!)

[Ludwigia]

7 hours ago, LabRatKing said:

my fellow hardcore

 Sorry, but I don't understand the expression. Who is that and what does it have to do with hostels?

[Ludwigia]

Well, I'm off to a good start with abrading. Here are the results thus far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first 4 are either Orthosphinctes or Ataxioceras. Still have to figure out the ids. Then there's a Lamellaptychus obliquus, followed by a Streblites tenuilobatus and 3 Aspidoceras sp. Now it's back to the bench.

 

[fossilhunter21]

Those look awesome Rodger! You have some amazing skils.  

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, fossilhunter21 said:

Those look awesome Rodger! You have some amazing skils.  

 

Thanks, but please drop the 'd' from my name

[fossilhunter21]

8 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

 

Thanks, but please drop the 'd' from my name

  Oops, sorry "Roger"

[Ludwigia]

So. The rest is done. I had to chuck another one away, but it was nevertheless a pretty good harvest this time. The first one is an Orthosphinctes sp. and the others are Metahaploceras sp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ludwigia]

I forgot to add the lone sponge which I decided to take with me. They are a dime a dozen at this site, so I usually just leave them where they are, but this one appealed to me. Identifying sponges is a difficult business, but I'm going to call it Cypellia sp. for the time being.

 

 

 

[fossilhunter21]

You sure got those fossils cleaned up fast! I wish I could add so many ammonites to my collection in just a couple days.   

Edited May 11, 2021 by fossilhunter21

[Crusty_Crab]

That is an impressive haul that you make look too easy, but I have to remind myself that it still represents 7 hours of hard work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but thats excavating a couple of square meters of solid limestone by hand? It looks so easy from looking on a picture on the internet, but its the union of hard work, knowledge and skill, which we discount all too often.

[Ludwigia]

19 minutes ago, fossilhunter21 said:

You sure got those fossils cleaned up fast! I wish I could add so many ammonites to my collection in just a couple days.   

Well, you just need to be in the right place at the right time You're welcome to visit any time.

 

9 minutes ago, Crusty_Crab said:

That is an impressive haul that you make look too easy, but I have to remind myself that it still represents 7 hours of hard work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but thats excavating a couple of square meters of solid limestone by hand? It looks so easy from looking on a picture on the internet, but its the union of hard work, knowledge and skill, which we discount all too often.

Yes, there is a bit of work, experience and also knowledge of the conditions involved. Thanks for your remarks.