Spring Break finds 2023

[PaleoPastels]

Hey, hæ again forum! 
 

I had an amazing extended spring break full of road trips, camping with friends, splashing in rivers, and finding fossils literally led by flowers. Due to my class schedule I actually had almost 2 weeks off class since we had online work which was easy to do on mobile. It was a MUCH needed break from a lot of heavy stressful baggage February threw at me; being an adventurous & outdoorsy girl I only want good times with friends and nothing but memories filled with laughs, smiles, and nature. 

 

I started off my break the BEST way possible by hanging out with @EPIKLULSXDDDDD at my favorite spot in the NSR.  He has an entire thread for that so go check it out! It was amazing to finally take a friend deep into my element and get to be myself without any fear- I even spoke Icelandic accidentally and threw my shoes aside to go play in the water. EPIK arguably found the coolest stuff! I was mostly happy to just feel free! Thanks for that day, man. Much needed fun.  

Some pics from that day! 

A ton more on his Classic NSR thread! (Lots of mosie and shark finds.)

 

Fast forward a few days and my friends wanted to head down South in the TX National Forests for primitive camping and foraging! Not many Cretaceous marine fossils down there but I ran into an unexpected prehistoric surprise later.   We started in Davy Crockett Nat forest and I was able to do some herping/enting for days. I was under some stress at the time of arrival because through everything I went through weeks prior, one of my online friends secretly keeping me stable by a thread went MIA and I couldn’t vent by randomly talking about nature with them. I finally got back with them, sad at their message, but relieved were okay. I just want to be the most thoughtful friend possible to all of mine after another friend of mine recently lost their life. 

 

 Luckily, I had mother nature to bless me with some encounters to cheer me up: I was surprised along the trip to see Lúpína flowers EVERYWHERE here in Texas. This flower is known as “Blue Bonnets” here in Texas and is the State flower. Ive seen them only once but not this many up close- entire medians of them on the roads! Ive seen them in art and merchandise but it didn’t hit me these indigo flowers are a southern variant of the ones we have all over back in Iceland. I felt so comforted and took it as a positive sign I belong here, as that same friend has reassured me that my Icelandic heritage is beautiful and I shouldn’t hide it. Ive been a lot more open the past few months about living in “dual-worlds.” Texas has more in common with my family’s heritage than I thought. I’m happy that I came back and chose this place to be my forever home and to continue studying marine paleontology. 
 

To everyone down here in Texas: when you see these flowers on the side of the road- please think of me. 

 

2022 back in Iceland when I was healing: 

Additional camping nature pics! 

 

 

 

Millipede pretending to be an ammonite!





















After setting up my tent I literally put this bottle in my mouth, climbed up a pine, and kicked back enjoying the nature. 
 

 

 

 

We eventually hit up Sam Houston Nat Forest where the camping was free! I was going to meet up with a local Houston herper for not one but two grail TX snakes- but unfortunately he was expecting bad weather and I decided to call off for his safety, talked over the phone about using bait boxes as rattlesnake hides instead. I found something SO cool out here- a fossil I LEAST expected. Bonus: I unlocked a good pre-trauma memory! 
 

The stone path here looked…odd for Fleming Formation (Miocene). I was having familiar thoughts. It didn’t take long for me to find a fossil in the limestone path, imported dirt, and a name popped up in my head…”Conk” I said outload. Friend laughing at me… a taxon finally undusted itself- “Conchidium sp! This is Silurian!” I lived in Indiana as a museum staff member in the early 2010’s and remembered so many of them SC/GMS roadcut trips. I was curious if this same material was brought from the Great Lakes area. I held onto this find because it helped me recover information that was lost. 

Also: I found half a maple moth

 

Taking a break back home, I decided to work on freeing my “Kate Bush” ammonite some more. I used KOH flakes to weaken the limestone, sprayed the sucker with the hose outside, using my chisel attachment on my ZOIC trilo airpen for the remaining work! So far I think I’m going with Metengonoceras sp. 

 

Back on the road, we ended break with a bang! We headed out to a spot I very vaguely remember before my trauma. I apparently loved Austin and San Antonio a bunch and found notes from a favorited Glen Rose site info from years ago. One of my closest paleo friends in the area couldn’t meetup on this trip- but there were famous donuts along the way he heavily recommended to me since Im a foodie! Ya’ll seriously check out Round Rock Donuts if you are in the north Austin area- when I pursue my Masters in paleo & marine I might get an apartment out there so I can have those donuts on-demand! Life changing.

 

I arrived at the exact spot I wrote and searched the area. New buildings along the way, and no memory of this place. I looked everywhere looking for the layer I needed and was about to give up, thinking “past Larí” was cuckoo. It was starting to rain and I was getting worried, dropped my hammer to the ground, head held back with my wrists to my face frustrated as my roommate who tagged along wasn’t finding anything either. We dried SO many spots with Orbitolina t. sprinkled throughout the formation. I lost my Turonian baby shark bottle necklace, slid down a cliff, stuck by a nettle, and tore my new modeled clothes climbing through rumble desperate for urchins. The weather was reflecting my mood as we got slammed with a tornado watch and the sky was turning dark and green. I nearly gave up for the day went back to get my hammer and behold- LOOK what it landed by: 

I thought… surely not, right? No way.

 

We went to another spot, without much luck. Foolishly choosing to ignore the hint nature just threw at me. I called up my close donut-recommending friend and asked what to do. I was in the right spot but something wasn't right. They assured to me something emotional was the cause, as I was hunting for a genus which recently caused me a bit of stress. He told me to go back, relax and use patience, use the clues given by nature and look there again. I thought this was crazy... I sat there in the rain for a while while my friend still looked, no luck. I did some thinking- what would I do if I tried something that seemed impossible? 

I thought about a particular stress, then the night before it all happened and that contained joy I felt at 10:30pm about to invite a friend out here to this exact spot. I focused on that feeling- relaxed, and the rain actually, coincidentally, subsided. My friend kept reassuring me over the phone I was in the right spot based on pictures of the microfauna I sent. We almost gave up at this location, I proposed we go back to the first spot. ON THE WAY BACK, WHERE WE WALKED OVER FOUR TIMES: 

Oh… My. Bloody. Sea Stars. 
 

I immediately ran for over to that indigo flower - and looked for more. 

About an hour left of useable daylight before the inevitable set of storms rolled in I looked for clues. It turns out, yes, I was in the correct spot near the blue bonnet- but I knew I needed to do something else first. Like Native Americans, Icelanders are said to have a deep connection with nature. A woman of science, I was reluctant to think of such things but remembered I usually have strange luck when something obscure in nature is involved. Paleontology is part luck anyways when it comes to finds so I thought why not? As the wind was picking back up, I abandoned all senses… threw on some ambient music… and trusted the flower. Closed my eyes for a few minutes. Opening my eyes I noticed another hillside with other flowers behind it- and I went. More random flowers along the way across a busy road off the highway. Keeping a sharp eye out for any echs, I noticed the forams then went from orange to black after a bit of a walk. I also noticed a change in the ground’s surface. I then used my knowledge of the lithography to find a walkable layer and of course within SECONDS, next to a flower at that: 

 

Staying in the area I managed to pluck the urchins out one after another! 

 

In Texas- we pluck urchins, not flowers.
 

 Imagine if I knew about the exact spot for this special honeyhole upon arriving- I would have SO many more Leptosalenia texana! I’m happy there’s so many left to find but… I no longer believe in coincidences and I think next time I’m meant to bring a special friend (or more!) along to share this spot with! The weather made us turn in for the afternoon which gave me time to read about my finds. 

 

That day I was grateful for my friends, flowers, and the intimacy shared with the planet in general. I found more than just fossilized echs that day- I found myself again. I found inner peace, regained my patience, and I remembered my nature-loving friend’s compliments about my heritage which kept my spirits effervescent. It took a while, but found more self-respect. I’m proud to show off two red white & blue flags because they represent who I am AND play a massive part in my journey as a future marine paleontologist. I belong in Texas getting dirty looking for lost prehistoric friends- it’s my job to recover these silent storytellers lost by time and tell their story to the world someday. The construction was going to hide them again and happy I managed to save a few! Next time- I’ll come back with reinforcements to save more urchins, clean then up, and put them somewhere safe to be appreciated. 
 

Bless, bless. ~ Larí

 

***Out of photo space for this post, will add microfossil finds later.  

Edited March 20, 2023 by PaleoPastels

[Tidgy's Dad]

Some super finds and I love the nature photos too! 

[JamieLynn]

Great report and glad Texas was generous with you...finally! 

[Mikrogeophagus]

Awesome echs and thanks again for the NSR hunt! It was unforgettable. Happy you had a good spring break. Study hard!

[PaleoPastels]

Cleaning Update: 

 

Just wanted to share some pictures of some prep work done to a few echs I found on this trip. I had a lot of fun playing “urchin spa day” yesterday. I wanted to try two methods for some Leptosalenia texana finds: one method using boiling water to soften the matrix and use a chisel to remove the excess, steel push pin to scrape for detail. Method two was KOH on the urchin that just had a lot of limestone “plaque” around the tubercles, inside the urchin’s test & periproct, thin layer all around the interambulacrum, but overall not in bad shape- also a push pin for circular detail work. 

TIP: so JohnJ said don't full-on boil them, hopefully just soaking hot water will be okay to loosen and soften matrix.
 

The results were identical except I noticed a color difference. 

Glazed with diluted Mod Podge, no need for B-72 with these! I love the “matte” look of them.   

WIP

 

After boiling. It’s nice because no dust or hard pieces flying at my face with the pneumatic- bigger pieces just fell off. I used the tool because I knew the matrix was still going to result in a little too hard to turn into muck when I boiled it. 

 

KOH treatment- I don’t recommend this if you don’t have have proper PPE or can only work in a small space as the fumes have a smell. This stuff is caustic and reacts to moisture in the air (you have to close the container as fast as here in Texas.  ) so use caution. Never touch this stuff! Although wearing gloves, the air around the project caused my arms to itch. 

 

 

The smaller urchin I found I managed to clean up the best I could too! This one took a LOT of hand work even with the help of KOH overnight as the fossil was fused with the limestone. I’m leaning towards the genus Loriolia since it came up in my sources for Glen Rose Limestone echs found in that area. I’m still learning about echinoids here in Texas so feel free to chime in! 

 

Before: As found

 

WIP

Edited March 24, 2023 by PaleoPastels
Tip

[JohnJ]

Nice echinoids!

 

I would caution against boiling an echinoid fossil.  There are already microscopic fractures in the calcitic test; so boiling can cause tiny tubercles and fragments to spall off the test with the extreme temperature variations.

 

KOH is a very useful tool when prepping echinoids.  I recommend totally saturating the specimen in water prior to placing the flakes on the test.  This limits the KOH from being absorbed deep inside the echinoid and causing major issues in the future.  (On a side note, prior water saturation is also useful when considering the limited use of vinegar on the outside of a test.)

[PaleoPastels]

2 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Nice echinoids!

 

I would caution against boiling an echinoid fossil.  There are already microscopic fractures in the calcitic test; so boiling can cause tiny tubercles and fragments to spall off the test with the extreme temperature variations.

 

KOH is a very useful tool when prepping echinoids.  I recommend totally saturating the specimen in water prior to placing the flakes on the test.  This limits the KOH from being absorbed deep inside the echinoid and causing major issues in the future.  (On a side note, prior water saturation is also useful when considering the limited use of vinegar on the outside of a test.)

Thank you! Just a hot water soak then  

 

For the KOH treated urchins I actually washed them before using the pellets- leaving the Leptosalenia  still pretty wet as you can see the photos. The little one dried very fast and looks almost totally dry in the photo. 

[Wrangellian]

That's the best kind of fossil hunting.. just walk along and spot the echinoids (or whatever), bring home a bushel!