North Texas Hurricane Vacation

[Thomas.Dodson]

During hurricane Ida I left Louisiana and stayed in North Texas for a little while as a sort of fossil hunting vacation. I'm currently still in North Dakota as I wait for my power to come back in Louisiana but as a result I've had a little bit of time to start cataloging some of my finds. There's still a lot left to go through but I figured I should just post some trip photos and specimens now.

 

Day 1:

Day 1 was spent on the North Sulphur River. I stopped here once in 2015(?) on a trip but I got to spend much more time here this time.

A familiar view to many.

Mosasaur rib

A nicer Baculites.

An artifact that came about 6 inches from the above Baculite.

A bit of the nicer invert material.

 

 

Day 2:

I spent all of day 2 and a little bit of day 5 at another well known site, Post Oak Creek. It was a first for me.

Collecting some micro matrix.

A big old Cretodus I picked off a sandbar.

A little goblin symphyseal I believe. Not the only one.

A rootless/not completely formed tooth.

I got a couple in matrix specimens.

Nice Ptychodus teeth, all whipplei. Hopefully I'll find more species in the future.

 

Other teeth.

I like the colors on a lot of teeth from this site, such as the big Squalicorax.

Love the oranges.

Candy corn microtooth (3.5 mm). A LOT of microteeth are in flawless condition and I'm looking forward to getting a camera set up on my scope in the future.

Non-oyster inverts.

Sorted micros. Lots of Ptychotrygon sp., a couple Pseudohypolophus, a Microcroax, maybe a couple Squatina and Polyacrodus, and a lots of immature individuals of larger species. There's also a claw piece from a decapod. Looking forward to finishing identifying these under a scope camera.

[Thomas.Dodson]

Day 3 was mostly spent at Lost Creek Reservoir. I would have liked to be here longer but day 3 was HOT.

Still very unsorted.

I collected and reassembled the pieces of this one.

Some cephs.

The area below the Benbrook Spillway.

Not a lot of note came from here but this bivalve is nice.

Day 4 was spent in creeks in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.

A lot of stuff needs to be cleaned up. I'm hoping the Macraster obesus specimens will clean up with abrasion well.

[Thomas.Dodson]

Day 3 continued.

Massive Thalassinoides burrow networks are always cool.

Some more complete ammonites.

The first part of Day 5 was spent hiking for fossils around the Lake Worth Spillway.

Oyster beds, even Gryphaeids, are under appreciated.

 

A quite common echinoid.

Some nice Tylostoma are among the easily identifiable gastropods.

I left a larger section on the trail side to pick up later but I couldn't find where it was on the way back so I grabbed this section instead.

I'm still identifying and cataloging everything and there are some things not photographed but this is most of it. Texas can easily spoil you and I'm looking forward to returning sometime. Maybe I can find some more off the path sites in the future as well.

 

 

 

[JamieLynn]

 A great selection of Texas Fossils! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Looks like a lot of fun.

Thanks for sharing. 

[facehugger]

Great way to spend time away for a hurricane. Awesome finds!!!

[hemipristis]

Is this an oyster bioherm?

 

 

I really enjoy trip posts like these that show so much os the strata and surrounding environs.  Gives me a feeling like I'm there!

 

Do you find there is a problem with snakes?

[Thomas.Dodson]

5 hours ago, hemipristis said:

Is this an oyster bioherm?

Yep. It's pretty impressive and approaching from a distance it looked more like coarse concrete. The two pictures prior to this one are also all oyster beds, you just can't tell because they aren't close-ups.

 

5 hours ago, hemipristis said:

Do you find there is a problem with snakes?

I never really have a problem with them. All I saw during this trip were harmless diamondback watersnakes. I ran across more venomous species in North Dakota and Georgia (so far) but they've never been a problem.

[ThePhysicist]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:57 PM, Thomas.Dodson said:

A big old Cretodus I picked off a sandbar.

[dbrake40]

I have plans to travel through eastern Texas (east of Dallas) next week are most of these sites public? Also, if you happen to know, are there any state restrictions on surface collecting in Texas?

Edited September 26, 2021 by dbrake40
correction

[DPS Ammonite]

All land in Texas is owned by somebody. The land owner dictates the rules. Here is second hand info from the Austin Paleo Society. 

 

https://austinpaleo.org/faq.html