Connecticut Fossil Hunting

[Zapins]

Well, I finally went to Totoket mountain. After about an hour and a half worth of hiking along the Totoket ridge I found a stream with some red shale, brownish slate or shale (I'm not sure), some rock that looked like sandstone with bits of other rock glued in it, some type of muddy crumbly rock, some gray clay, red clay, etc...

I poked around a bit but I didn't see any obvious fossils. Then again I've never been fossil hunting before so I have very little idea how to find fossils. I split some flat rocks open and prodded some of the crumbly mud rock and didn't find anything. I wasn't too sure I was in the right spot so I went further down the stream, then looped around and traveled along the pond since my geology map said it should all be shale - LIES! Anyway, by that time I had been hiking for about 3 hours and I was pooped so I went home. The whole area is a gigantic mountain and getting down to the stream was quite tough since there was no trail going down that way, I had to pick my path carefully since the mountain slope was steep and full of rubble.

I got home and looked over the maps and some sites, and I have come to the conclusion that I was in the right spot where the fossils were taken from in the excavation I read about. They should be right in the stream bed somewhere. The excavation I read about mentioned that they got a backhoe in there to dig a 6 foot section out of the stream side. I didn't see any obvious excavations like the site mentioned though. Maybe the excavators filled it in when they left? I think I found a dirt road where they must have cleared the trees away to drive the backhoe in 30 years ago.

I think I'd like to go back there soon with a spade and some digging tools, most of the area is actually covered up by soil and rubble but I think it might yield fossils with a bit of digging.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Zapins

[Auspex]

That's the spirit; get back out there (with some tools)! This was your first reconnoiter, and you know more now than before you went.

If you'd mentioned it before, refresh my memory; what kinds of fossils did they take out 30 years ago?

[Zapins]

They took out fish and plant fossils. Complete ones in good condition. Though that is probably because they dug for them.

And because everyone likes pics!

I was wondering though, in the first picture you see sheets of rock standing upright near that guy and in the background you see very fine shale and other debris. I saw the same kind of thing when I was in the river bed. What causes the difference between the sheets of solid rock and the random rubble that surrounds it? The sheets don't seem to be flaking off any solid sheet layer that I can see in the picture (or for that matter from what I saw at the site).

Are fossils only found on the sheets of rock or also in the fine rubble?

Edited March 18, 2011 by Zapins

[Auspex]

There's interbedding; layers of rock with different characteristics (some horizons can be just a few inches thick), and the probability too that some of the smaller stuff used to be part of some of the bigger stuff.

[Fossildude19]

Keep in mind, those pics were from the 70's - and they took THOUSANDS of fish fossils out of there.  

Erosion,... over time.... the place may no longer look the same. Especially if they worked with a backhoe.

35-40 years is an awfully long time.

Gray and black are your friends when it comes to colors of shale for fossils.

Regards,

[bdevey]

Some folding and faulting will cause some layers to break into rubble while layers close by are nice sheets of rock. They both can have fossils but for complete fossils... well odds are...

[Zapins]

Haha right! Complete fossils come from complete rocks?!? No wayyy!

Hmm.... the website says they only excavated a 6x3 foot section of the stream bank, so if they found thousands of fossils in that tiny amount of material, then CMON TOTOKET mountain gimme 1 fossil!!! I'll have to go back armed with the study's stratification maps and search in the right sections. The shale bed is about 100 meters or more thick which extends roughly 400-500 meters diagonally up the mountain! So there would be a large area to dig/search without the maps.

[Shellseeker]

I grew up in Bridgeport within an hour of this spot, and yet I had to look up "Totoket" on the internet. I knew about the Mohegans and Pequot tribes, but not the Totoket. Learn something new every day.

Fossils in Connecticut - thanks for expanding my horizons.

[Fossildude19]

...Hmm.... the website says they only excavated a 6x3 foot section of the stream bank....

Not necessarily. For the study they presented, then, much later, ... put on the website, they excavated\researched that small section. They were there for a number of seasons,(Summers) ... pulling fish and plant fossils out. Chances are you weren't in quite the right area, though. Bluff Head Preserve is a big place. Not quite sure of the legalities involved in collecting there - you may want to research that, first.

EDIT: Also - just an fyi... the Geological map shows where sedimentary rocks are found, (or more correctly may outcrop),... NOT that the whole area in yellow is shale or sandstone or any sedimentary rocks. I think the cliffs in that area along the mountain are basalt, however.

Regards,

Edited March 19, 2011 by Fossildude19

[bear-dog]

Don't sweat the little things.As a child,we would fish at a certain location on the Suwannee River in a small area.I loved fishing there as you could watch people pulling fossils out of a clay shelf in the river.

As an adult,I have put in at the same ramp looking for the clay shelf.The area has changed so much,you can't tell where the shelf is anymore.Ialso agree that the first job at hand is to see if fossil hunting is legal at your site.

[franz]

I agree checking on the legality. Even if it is public lands, vertebrate fossils are often illegal to collect.

[flyguy784]

Welcome to fossiling. That's the way it goes, often, especialy in the formations you're searching. I have spots that 20 feet makes a difference. Keep at it. It's those eureka finds that keep you comming back.

[Fossildude19]

Update as to the legality of collecting at Bluff Head/Totoket Mountain.

Regards,

#19 Quoted directly from Land Use Policies for the Guilford Land Conservation Trust.

1. 19. Plants, Wildlife, Mineral, and Historical/Cultural Resource Collecting
   The collection of plants, wildlife, minerals, and historical/cultural artifacts from GLCT properties is not allowed without written permission of the Board of Directors. Such collecting is only permitted if it is a necessary part of an academic investigation through an educational institution or research entity and will have minimal impact on the disturbed resource.

[mrieder79]

Talk to people in the area and see what they know. You will save yourself hours and hours of searching. Trying to find fossil spots the way you are is very challenging and you'll get skunked a lot.

[Cluros]

Totoket Mountain is a big area. I hiked up the stream from below and didn't see any gray or black slate layers. I checked the legality and on Connecticut State Forests it is illegal to collect minerals or fossils as an individual. Rock hounding clubs can apply for a mineral collecting permit once a year. Fossils are not allowed because they are a historical resource. This is true of every State that I have collected in. Totoket Mountain is even more complex because the original fossil site is owned by the Nature Conservancy if my memory serves me and they definitely won't let you collect. I would suggest looking at a geologic map and trying to find a new location to collect in where you could get permission from a private landowner. That's what I do.

[Athymeforbasil]

What road do you take and which trail? Thank you