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Andúril Flame of the West

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Hello everyone, this is my first attempt at writing up a fossil hunting trip. I meant to write this shortly after my trip to the river (which was about three weeks ago), but as I'm sure you know all too well, life often gets in the way. <_<

 

I had been itching to get back to fossiling since my last trip out in October, and, having visited Purse State Park on many occasions before, I figured that it would be a great place for the first fossil hunt of the new year. After seeing the yields from some other recent trips to the Aquia, I had high hopes that I might score my first Otodus. Following a long drive and some unexpected setbacks, I managed to reach the beach with about an hour and a half of daylight left to hunt. Due to arriving later than I had anticipated the tide was higher than I had hoped, but I still managed to score some decent finds and enjoy the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. Throughout the hunt there was a flock of birds floating on the river with calls that sounded uncannily human (it took me a while before I realized that there weren't any boats in the river), and by the time I packed my gear to leave, the cliffs were a beautiful sight lit by the last rays of the setting sun. Unfortunately, I had not found the stunning Otodus of my dreams, but perhaps that will come to pass later this year. 

 

Below are photos of the finds and some very tentative IDs based mainly on the Aquia page of Elasmo.com. I apologize in advance if some of the photos aren't incredibly clear or if the ruler is a bit hard to read - unfortunately I couldn't locate a lighter colored one that was in centimeters. 

 

 

Aquia_haul.thumb.JPG.bd8a9af58a709bc409bd4fcf94c0c070.JPG

 

The entire haul for the day. 

 

 

 

 

Invert.thumb.JPG.82a6e1aee5cb8d217d9caae67f40e7bb.JPG

 

As I suspect is the case for most my focus was not invertebrate material, but I couldn't resist collecting a couple of specimens. I could not find much available information regarding invertebrates of the Aquia formation but an article on Wikipedia (I know this isn't the most reputable source but I haven't had a chance to search for any research papers on the subject) has led me to tentatively ID the leftmost specimen as a possible Panopea elongata and the rightmost specimen as Ostrea compressirostra. I would be surprised if my IDs are accurate and if someone does know what these may be, please do let me know. 

 

 

 

Myliobatis.thumb.JPG.6329c834a22edca9470cf1962705e9e7.JPG

 

Some Myliobatis sp. ray dental plates. The specimen at the upper right was undoubtedly the best dental plate of the trip. The specimen at the top right corner and the one directly to the left of it appear to be heavily weathered so I couldn't get a confident ID, but I believe that they are Myliobatis dental plates. 

 

 

Striatolamia_Striata1.thumb.JPG.5405fe3868b0f54ff725e8cea8365972.JPG

 

Some examples of Striatolamia striata. However, I am not sure this is the correct ID for the rightmost specimen as I cannot make striations as obvious as those of the other teeth. 

 

Striatolamia_Striata2.thumb.JPG.595caadf41474511064a73d6dfe5cf01.JPG

 

Another Striatolamia striata? I tentatively ID this tooth as S. striata as it resembled a couple of the positions in the tooth set. 

 

 

Striatolamia_striata3.thumb.JPG.80c48668d67a33805a19d7d016526747.JPG

 

... perhaps some more S. striata? The teeth seemed to match best with S. striata to my novice eye. However, I am doubtful about the leftmost tooth which does resemble the other teeth but which may very well be a completely different shark. 

 

Hypotodus_verticalis.thumb.JPG.5975bdf05999b3d80a4c15c685e426b9.JPG

 

I was initially going to assign this to S. striata due to the abundance of this tooth at Purse, but I didn't notice any of the trademark striations. I believe it may be Hypotodus verticalis, but there were several others that also seemed to be relatively good matches. 

 

Otodus_obliquus.thumb.JPG.552f41860e356051edf5709804f36225.JPG

 

I believe this tooth to either be a small Otodus obliquus or a Cretalamna appendiculata.

 

 

Un-ID-able_fragments.thumb.JPG.96b68e366980259c1a2f5d5c4b0af8f5.JPG

 

A few miscellaneous tooth fragments. Not sure if any of these can be assigned confident IDs. 

 

Fish_Rib.thumb.JPG.5161b605f9797a259a11e63790f53fd3.JPG

 

I thought this piece looked interesting while sifting. My best guess is that it is a fish rib or another fish element. 

 

 

Skolithos_linearis.thumb.JPG.9673ec6e2a01c4c21456a382f56da9f2.JPG

 

A few examples of Skolithos linearis that must have washed down the Potomac before ending up at Purse State Park. From other posts that I have seen I believe these to be Cambrian in age. Is there any information as to where these may have washed down from or to what formation they belong to?

 

 

I am glad to have finally had the opportunity to compose a trip report and I am looking forward to finding out if any of my IDs were correct and, if not, how they can be differentiated from teeth similar in appearance. I am planning on taking more trips out to Purse this year (and I hope to post some more trip reports on TFF), but due to the rather long drive, I am considering visiting a few other sites that I have learned about. The Henson Creek site and some of the creeks in PG County that might expose the Cretaceous Severn Formation are considerably closer than Purse. I have heard mixed opinions about the safety of hunting in the former, and I was hoping that some with experience might be able to chime in on whether it would be safe to hunt in any of these locations. Thanks in advance to everyone who reads through the report and comments on IDs. 

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9 hours ago, Andúril Flame of the West said:

 

Skolithos_linearis.thumb.JPG.9673ec6e2a01c4c21456a382f56da9f2.JPG

 

A few examples of Skolithos linearis that must have washed down the Potomac before ending up at Purse State Park. From other posts that I have seen I believe these to be Cambrian in age. Is there any information as to where these may have washed down from or to what formation they belong to?

 

 

 

See the below Maryland Geologic Maps in the orange areas at the sources of the Potomac River for Cambrian exposures.  Although geologically it looks like your specimens could be from the Cambrian, I'm not sure I see features of Skolithos linearis in all three specimens (maybe, yes, no).

 

 

1082623682_2MarylandGeologicSurveyMap1967.thumb.png.01f4f41ff1514a323399e08033b8d90c.png

 

 

64878194_2PotomacRiverSourceMGSMap1967.jpg.12c179d3678e264bbba66bada4ceef0d.jpg

 

 

 

Rounded cusplets with one cusplet noticeably bigger than the other matches features for Striatolamia teeth in the Aquia Formation.

 

 

 

Otodus_obliquus.JPG.025aaaa9178fe083b25bcecc11fdd5d3.JPG

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Thanks for the feedback! Then S. striata would be the proper classification for all teeth pictured? As far as the "Skolithos" specimens, I thought that the mark in the center piece bore a close resemblance to some Skolithos I had seen in other posts. The other specimens in the image also appeared to have fainter vertical markings and the rocks appeared relatively similar to my eye, but they could very well be ordinary rocks. Appreciate the map and info on the Skolithos, I've been curious about the appearance of those since seeing them in other postings.

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9 hours ago, Andúril Flame of the West said:

Thanks for the feedback! Then S. striata would be the proper classification for all teeth pictured? As far as the "Skolithos" specimens, I thought that the mark in the center piece bore a close resemblance to some Skolithos I had seen in other posts. The other specimens in the image also appeared to have fainter vertical markings and the rocks appeared relatively similar to my eye, but they could very well be ordinary rocks. Appreciate the map and info on the Skolithos, I've been curious about the appearance of those since seeing them in other postings.

 

There are 6 identified sand tiger shark species from the Aquia Formation and maybe a couple unidentified sand tiger shark species.  It is impossible to tell from pictures how many of the species you may have because of similar tooth features of the different species.

 

I had noted (maybe, yes, no) for your three specimens that you identified as Skolithos linearis.  So I think your middle specimen is likely Skolithos linearis.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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20 hours ago, Andúril Flame of the West said:

Hypotodus_verticalis.thumb.JPG.5975bdf05999b3d80a4c15c685e426b9.JPG

 

I was initially going to assign this to S. striata due to the abundance of this tooth at Purse, but I didn't notice any of the trademark striations. I believe it may be Hypotodus verticalis, but there were several others that also seemed to be relatively good matches. 

 

This one may be Anomotodon novus.

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Appreciate the replies MarcoSr and bthemoose. The pictures certainly are not the best as they were taken rather hastily and many of the teeth are rather small. Your input is greatly appreciated and I now feel a bit more confident as far as IDs for the next time I head out in that direction. :D

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PG county, as a whole, is a rat's nest. The area where Henson Creek runs through is commercial, for the most part, and sketchy. If you plan on going, don't go alone. If I go, I wouldn't bring my kids, at first. It would be early in the morning, and during the week when most people should be at work. I would also consider some way to protect yourself. Sorry for the scare scenario. Some of the hazards we face in this hobby. 

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On 1/24/2023 at 12:14 AM, Andúril Flame of the West said:

Hello everyone, this is my first attempt at writing up a fossil hunting trip. I meant to write this shortly after my trip to the river (which was about three weeks ago), but as I'm sure you know all too well, life often gets in the way. <_<

 

I had been itching to get back to fossiling since my last trip out in October, and, having visited Purse State Park on many occasions before, I figured that it would be a great place for the first fossil hunt of the new year. After seeing the yields from some other recent trips to the Aquia, I had high hopes that I might score my first Otodus. Following a long drive and some unexpected setbacks, I managed to reach the beach with about an hour and a half of daylight left to hunt. Due to arriving later than I had anticipated the tide was higher than I had hoped, but I still managed to score some decent finds and enjoy the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. Throughout the hunt there was a flock of birds floating on the river with calls that sounded uncannily human (it took me a while before I realized that there weren't any boats in the river), and by the time I packed my gear to leave, the cliffs were a beautiful sight lit by the last rays of the setting sun. Unfortunately, I had not found the stunning Otodus of my dreams, but perhaps that will come to pass later this year. 

 

Below are photos of the finds and some very tentative IDs based mainly on the Aquia page of Elasmo.com. I apologize in advance if some of the photos aren't incredibly clear or if the ruler is a bit hard to read - unfortunately I couldn't locate a lighter colored one that was in centimeters. 

 

 

Aquia_haul.thumb.JPG.bd8a9af58a709bc409bd4fcf94c0c070.JPG

 

The entire haul for the day. 

 

 

 

 

Invert.thumb.JPG.82a6e1aee5cb8d217d9caae67f40e7bb.JPG

 

As I suspect is the case for most my focus was not invertebrate material, but I couldn't resist collecting a couple of specimens. I could not find much available information regarding invertebrates of the Aquia formation but an article on Wikipedia (I know this isn't the most reputable source but I haven't had a chance to search for any research papers on the subject) has led me to tentatively ID the leftmost specimen as a possible Panopea elongata and the rightmost specimen as Ostrea compressirostra. I would be surprised if my IDs are accurate and if someone does know what these may be, please do let me know. 

 

 

 

Myliobatis.thumb.JPG.6329c834a22edca9470cf1962705e9e7.JPG

 

Some Myliobatis sp. ray dental plates. The specimen at the upper right was undoubtedly the best dental plate of the trip. The specimen at the top right corner and the one directly to the left of it appear to be heavily weathered so I couldn't get a confident ID, but I believe that they are Myliobatis dental plates. 

 

 

Striatolamia_Striata1.thumb.JPG.5405fe3868b0f54ff725e8cea8365972.JPG

 

Some examples of Striatolamia striata. However, I am not sure this is the correct ID for the rightmost specimen as I cannot make striations as obvious as those of the other teeth. 

 

Striatolamia_Striata2.thumb.JPG.595caadf41474511064a73d6dfe5cf01.JPG

 

Another Striatolamia striata? I tentatively ID this tooth as S. striata as it resembled a couple of the positions in the tooth set. 

 

 

Striatolamia_striata3.thumb.JPG.80c48668d67a33805a19d7d016526747.JPG

 

... perhaps some more S. striata? The teeth seemed to match best with S. striata to my novice eye. However, I am doubtful about the leftmost tooth which does resemble the other teeth but which may very well be a completely different shark. 

 

Hypotodus_verticalis.thumb.JPG.5975bdf05999b3d80a4c15c685e426b9.JPG

 

I was initially going to assign this to S. striata due to the abundance of this tooth at Purse, but I didn't notice any of the trademark striations. I believe it may be Hypotodus verticalis, but there were several others that also seemed to be relatively good matches. 

 

Otodus_obliquus.thumb.JPG.552f41860e356051edf5709804f36225.JPG

 

I believe this tooth to either be a small Otodus obliquus or a Cretalamna appendiculata.

 

 

Un-ID-able_fragments.thumb.JPG.96b68e366980259c1a2f5d5c4b0af8f5.JPG

 

A few miscellaneous tooth fragments. Not sure if any of these can be assigned confident IDs. 

 

Fish_Rib.thumb.JPG.5161b605f9797a259a11e63790f53fd3.JPG

 

I thought this piece looked interesting while sifting. My best guess is that it is a fish rib or another fish element. 

 

 

Skolithos_linearis.thumb.JPG.9673ec6e2a01c4c21456a382f56da9f2.JPG

 

A few examples of Skolithos linearis that must have washed down the Potomac before ending up at Purse State Park. From other posts that I have seen I believe these to be Cambrian in age. Is there any information as to where these may have washed down from or to what formation they belong to?

 

 

I am glad to have finally had the opportunity to compose a trip report and I am looking forward to finding out if any of my IDs were correct and, if not, how they can be differentiated from teeth similar in appearance. I am planning on taking more trips out to Purse this year (and I hope to post some more trip reports on TFF), but due to the rather long drive, I am considering visiting a few other sites that I have learned about. The Henson Creek site and some of the creeks in PG County that might expose the Cretaceous Severn Formation are considerably closer than Purse. I have heard mixed opinions about the safety of hunting in the former, and I was hoping that some with experience might be able to chime in on whether it would be safe to hunt in any of these locations. Thanks in advance to everyone who reads through the report and comments on IDs. 

 

I've found a lot of the Skolithos linearis in Cretaceous sediments in PG and AA. My understanding from those deposits is that they eroded from the Appalachians in Cretaceous time and were transported along the rivers until they were deposited in with all of the wood and dinosaur fossils (I've also found Devonian brachiopods which was cool). It could be the case with yours, but if you found them along the Potomac I think them eroding in "modern" times and being transported out to Purse makes the most sense. 

 

As for the formation, they're more than likely from the early Cambrian Antietam Sandstone from out by the modern-day Harpers Ferry/South Mountain area.

 

All three look like Skolithos to me, albeit 3 is heavily worn. They're pretty neat finds! Among the oldest in Maryland, and the Appalachians as a whole, for that matter.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 12:14 AM, Andúril Flame of the West said:

Hello everyone, this is my first attempt at writing up a fossil hunting trip. I meant to write this shortly after my trip to the river (which was about three weeks ago), but as I'm sure you know all too well, life often gets in the way. <_<

 

I had been itching to get back to fossiling since my last trip out in October, and, having visited Purse State Park on many occasions before, I figured that it would be a great place for the first fossil hunt of the new year. After seeing the yields from some other recent trips to the Aquia, I had high hopes that I might score my first Otodus. Following a long drive and some unexpected setbacks, I managed to reach the beach with about an hour and a half of daylight left to hunt. Due to arriving later than I had anticipated the tide was higher than I had hoped, but I still managed to score some decent finds and enjoy the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. Throughout the hunt there was a flock of birds floating on the river with calls that sounded uncannily human (it took me a while before I realized that there weren't any boats in the river), and by the time I packed my gear to leave, the cliffs were a beautiful sight lit by the last rays of the setting sun. Unfortunately, I had not found the stunning Otodus of my dreams, but perhaps that will come to pass later this year. 

 

Below are photos of the finds and some very tentative IDs based mainly on the Aquia page of Elasmo.com. I apologize in advance if some of the photos aren't incredibly clear or if the ruler is a bit hard to read - unfortunately I couldn't locate a lighter colored one that was in centimeters. 

 

 

Aquia_haul.thumb.JPG.bd8a9af58a709bc409bd4fcf94c0c070.JPG

 

The entire haul for the day. 

 

 

 

 

Invert.thumb.JPG.82a6e1aee5cb8d217d9caae67f40e7bb.JPG

 

As I suspect is the case for most my focus was not invertebrate material, but I couldn't resist collecting a couple of specimens. I could not find much available information regarding invertebrates of the Aquia formation but an article on Wikipedia (I know this isn't the most reputable source but I haven't had a chance to search for any research papers on the subject) has led me to tentatively ID the leftmost specimen as a possible Panopea elongata and the rightmost specimen as Ostrea compressirostra. I would be surprised if my IDs are accurate and if someone does know what these may be, please do let me know. 

 

 

 

Myliobatis.thumb.JPG.6329c834a22edca9470cf1962705e9e7.JPG

 

Some Myliobatis sp. ray dental plates. The specimen at the upper right was undoubtedly the best dental plate of the trip. The specimen at the top right corner and the one directly to the left of it appear to be heavily weathered so I couldn't get a confident ID, but I believe that they are Myliobatis dental plates. 

 

 

Striatolamia_Striata1.thumb.JPG.5405fe3868b0f54ff725e8cea8365972.JPG

 

Some examples of Striatolamia striata. However, I am not sure this is the correct ID for the rightmost specimen as I cannot make striations as obvious as those of the other teeth. 

 

Striatolamia_Striata2.thumb.JPG.595caadf41474511064a73d6dfe5cf01.JPG

 

Another Striatolamia striata? I tentatively ID this tooth as S. striata as it resembled a couple of the positions in the tooth set. 

 

 

Striatolamia_striata3.thumb.JPG.80c48668d67a33805a19d7d016526747.JPG

 

... perhaps some more S. striata? The teeth seemed to match best with S. striata to my novice eye. However, I am doubtful about the leftmost tooth which does resemble the other teeth but which may very well be a completely different shark. 

 

Hypotodus_verticalis.thumb.JPG.5975bdf05999b3d80a4c15c685e426b9.JPG

 

I was initially going to assign this to S. striata due to the abundance of this tooth at Purse, but I didn't notice any of the trademark striations. I believe it may be Hypotodus verticalis, but there were several others that also seemed to be relatively good matches. 

 

Otodus_obliquus.thumb.JPG.552f41860e356051edf5709804f36225.JPG

 

I believe this tooth to either be a small Otodus obliquus or a Cretalamna appendiculata.

 

 

Un-ID-able_fragments.thumb.JPG.96b68e366980259c1a2f5d5c4b0af8f5.JPG

 

A few miscellaneous tooth fragments. Not sure if any of these can be assigned confident IDs. 

 

Fish_Rib.thumb.JPG.5161b605f9797a259a11e63790f53fd3.JPG

 

I thought this piece looked interesting while sifting. My best guess is that it is a fish rib or another fish element. 

 

 

Skolithos_linearis.thumb.JPG.9673ec6e2a01c4c21456a382f56da9f2.JPG

 

A few examples of Skolithos linearis that must have washed down the Potomac before ending up at Purse State Park. From other posts that I have seen I believe these to be Cambrian in age. Is there any information as to where these may have washed down from or to what formation they belong to?

 

 

I am glad to have finally had the opportunity to compose a trip report and I am looking forward to finding out if any of my IDs were correct and, if not, how they can be differentiated from teeth similar in appearance. I am planning on taking more trips out to Purse this year (and I hope to post some more trip reports on TFF), but due to the rather long drive, I am considering visiting a few other sites that I have learned about. The Henson Creek site and some of the creeks in PG County that might expose the Cretaceous Severn Formation are considerably closer than Purse. I have heard mixed opinions about the safety of hunting in the former, and I was hoping that some with experience might be able to chime in on whether it would be safe to hunt in any of these locations. Thanks in advance to everyone who reads through the report and comments on IDs. 

 

I've collected a fair bit from PG over the years, and I lived pretty close to the county line so I visited frequently. In terms of safety, as bad as it might be to say, it can be dicey in certain areas. For the most part the College Park area is okay, but I wouldn't want to spend too much time alone at night closer towards the Chillum area. I collected in and around College Park-Laurel-Bowie for years and "only" got into one instance where I felt unsafe, and that was when I stumbled upon a drug deal near one of my usual collecting sites (needless to say I quickly turned around and pretended like I didn't see anything). The best Severn site I know of in PG, and the one I think you might be referring to, is in a fairly sketchy area. Not so much because of crime (though it's definitely not the safest area) but because it butts right up against PGPD property, and the cops can get angsty with collectors if they climb too high up the road cut. There's another Severn site in Bowie that I visited, and that area seemed fine. Lots of business/office parks. I didn't find much in the creek, though, and got sick from sloshing around in the water since it's pretty much an open sewer. I haven't personally been to Henson Creek, but at least when I lived in the DMV Oxon Hill, Capitol Heights, and the surrounding area was rough. From what I've heard the actual fossil site is in a decent area, and Oxon Hill has improved a lot ever since they re-did National Harbor. It's also not too far from Accokeek which is a nice area, so take that as you will.

 

The advice to collect early in the mornings or during a weekday is sound. After the drug deal incident I started doing that and didn't have any problems. I'd also recommend hiding any valuables in your car, not flashing around anything valuable (like a brand new iPhone), and overall just staying alert and not getting too much tunnel vision with the fossils. PG's not as bad as it used to be, and it's not a Baltimore in terms of crime.

 

On 2/3/2023 at 9:00 AM, automech said:

PG county, as a whole, is a rat's nest. The area where Henson Creek runs through is commercial, for the most part, and sketchy. If you plan on going, don't go alone. If I go, I wouldn't bring my kids, at first. It would be early in the morning, and during the week when most people should be at work. I would also consider some way to protect yourself. Sorry for the scare scenario. Some of the hazards we face in this hobby. 

 

I'd be careful doing that in Maryland. It's not a stand your ground state, and I've heard horror stories of people getting in trouble for even using pepper spray and stuff, especially in public areas like most fossil collecting sites are. 

 

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Appreciate the advice @automech and @EMP (hope you guys don’t mind me tagging you; this is my first time doing it). Very cool to know that the Skolithos come from a formation of that age and to think about how far the river took them to end up at Purse. 
 

As far as Severn sites I have not done too much research on accessible sites (after first sticking my nose into it I figured that it would be very research-intensive and that it could get sketchy regarding property lines and ownership, especially given my limited experience with hunting itself) but I do plan to look into it in the future. From what research I have done it seems that many papers sourced their specimens from temporary exposures available during construction and that others have been lost to development altogether. So I don’t know how much luck there is to be had there, but I will certainly continue research on that area after exploring some more promising locations.

 

Also, appreciate the comment on improvement in the Henson creek area. I was quite suspicious of this location after seeing a thread that seemed to warn all to avoid it

(http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/82138-updated-information-regarding-maryland-fossil-sites/page/2/). Hopefully all can see that link (I am still figuring out the basics of posting here :mellow:). The post is some years old, so perhaps things have changed, but it certainly made me wary. If it still is that sketchy I do not mind making the trip to Purse, though I am entertaining visiting Henson since it is about half the distance and others on the forum seemed to have visited it without an issue.

 

Again, I am very grateful for the advice and I will certainly take it into consideration if I think about heading in that direction.

 

 

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The Natural History Society of Maryland occasionally visits Henson Creek. You may consider linking up with them on a trip if you are concerned about venturing to the site alone.

Follow me on Instagram (@fossil_mike) to check out my personal collection of fossils collected and acquired over more than 15 years of fossil hunting!

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Andúril Flame of the West said:

Appreciate the advice @automech and @EMP (hope you guys don’t mind me tagging you; this is my first time doing it). Very cool to know that the Skolithos come from a formation of that age and to think about how far the river took them to end up at Purse. 
 

As far as Severn sites I have not done too much research on accessible sites (after first sticking my nose into it I figured that it would be very research-intensive and that it could get sketchy regarding property lines and ownership, especially given my limited experience with hunting itself) but I do plan to look into it in the future. From what research I have done it seems that many papers sourced their specimens from temporary exposures available during construction and that others have been lost to development altogether. So I don’t know how much luck there is to be had there, but I will certainly continue research on that area after exploring some more promising locations.

 

Also, appreciate the comment on improvement in the Henson creek area. I was quite suspicious of this location after seeing a thread that seemed to warn all to avoid it

(http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/82138-updated-information-regarding-maryland-fossil-sites/page/2/). Hopefully all can see that link (I am still figuring out the basics of posting here :mellow:). The post is some years old, so perhaps things have changed, but it certainly made me wary. If it still is that sketchy I do not mind making the trip to Purse, though I am entertaining visiting Henson since it is about half the distance and others on the forum seemed to have visited it without an issue.

 

Again, I am very grateful for the advice and I will certainly take it into consideration if I think about heading in that direction.

 

 

 

Oh hey, one of my threads! I didn't even know I posted it XD
 

PG's changed a little bit since I last posted that. I don't think Oxon Hill is quite the warzone it used to be, at least not the area immediately around the new National Harbor. Most of the problems in PG tend to be concentrated inside the Beltway, and Henson Creek is outside it by a fair way. As long as you're smart and take the normal precautions you should be okay, but I would definitely make it a solo trip on a Wednesday morning or something if you're not familiar with the area. Like I said, I've collected in PG for several years and have really only had the one instance where I felt unsafe. It's not like Baltimore, which I would say is unsafe to collect in. 

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