brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I just want to welcome you to the fascinating world of “small” and “micro” fossils from the mine tailings / spoil piles from the PCS Phosphate mine (Lee Creek) in Aurora, North Carolina. This open pit mine features exposures from the Pungo River (Lower Miocene), Yorktown (Early Pliocene), Chowan River (Late Pliocene) and James City (Pleistocene) formations. There is literally a “world” of fossils just waiting to be found in just a 5-gallon bucket of material. The material was collected from various spoil piles at the Aurora Fossil Fairs, specifically from under my quarter inch screen. I found filling the bucket 80% full and then adding water to the rest and let the material “soak” helps in removing the “Pungo” mud. After a good soak, I place the material on a large vinyl window screen; wash clean with a garden hose and then allow the material to dry. Once dry, I place back in a bucket and the material can be searched at your leisure in the comfort of your home. Hunting for fossils in this material is relegated to the breakfast kitchen table with a portable desk light at night or sometimes on a weekend morning with my daughters. They get excited when they find a small ray tooth or a dolphin tooth. I recently finished a bucket and usually just discard the "sandy" leftovers because it is too difficult to sort through it. However, I discovered that a metal tea infuser ball works perfectly to let the sand / fine particles through and leave "true" micros to be searched. Going through a baby food container of this “micro” material takes about as long as a pail of “small” material. I discovered my smallest drum tooth which fits comfortable in a zero of a penny. My other recent favorite micro discovery was a gastropod, Arene pergemma. Horton sees a fossil.... specifically a micro drum tooth Below are some typical “true” micro finds from this material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 What is additive about hunting the spoil pile material is you never know what you could find. By far my best and most exciting find was a rare cookie cutter, Isistius triangulus, shark tooth which was also a symphyseal tooth position. My second most exciting find was my first whale shark, Rhincodon typus, tooth. Identification for the fossils was obtained primarily from opines of more knowledgeable forum members on the Fossil ID postings, ELASMO and / or from review of the three volume set of Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, which can be downloaded at the Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology website (just type in “Lee Creek” at Search Titles / Abstracts). I typically store my fossils loose in 24-pack screw top bead containers (I get mine from Michaels). I usually just put "likes" in the same container. For more fragile / unique / rare finds (typically micro teeth) such as my Isistius triangulus, I'll put in a separate container with memory foam to keep it stable. Just don't let the wife catch you hacking up your memory foam mattress pad for it. Below is a typical “haul” that can be found in the Lee Creek spoils. That is the relatively the easy part, the hard part is sorting and filing. As far as the camera, I use my Nikon work camera. It is not a Nikon EOS, but rather a Nikon POS …a beat up COOLPIX L22 (whose shutter now doesn't even close). I picked it up last December at Sam's club for around $60. My former cameras were from this line as well. They are relatively inexpensive, a real workhorse and does wonders with a steady hand, good natural lighting and a little photoshopping. It is incomprehensible to get your brain around how many fossils are in the vast PCS Phosphate mine once you have went through just half of a bucket. If my memory serves me correctly, each scoop from a drag line bucket removes 60 tons of material. While more of a technical approach on photographing my finds has its warrants, I felt photographing them on something common, such as a penny or dime, gives the viewer a better perspective of the scale involved with the specimens. Of note, I’m near sighted so I typically take off my glasses / contacts and literally get my “eyes” inches from the material to hunt through it. I’ll use an offset press printer’s magnifying glass to inspected warranted finds in detail. I’ve tried hunting the material with this magnifying glass; however, it typically makes me go “vertigo”. I’m debating on buying some jewelers glasses and wondering if other members utilize them to hunt through this or comparable material. Even through my wife thinks I’m nuttier than squirrel coprolite, I’m sure there are other “nuts” on TFF who also strain their eyes and wreck their lower backs hunting this material. I’m sure this group of fossil hunters will appreciate the fruits of my labor. Enjoy… More to follow once discovered, photographed and photoshopped..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Sea urchin / echinoid spines and tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Excellent post, makes me wamt to go to North Carolina. Keep the micros coming. Jim The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkbyte Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Really interesting posting here. I love all the different pictures and comments not to mention the amazing finds. Good job. Bobby "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Confucius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diplotomodon Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Hey, that's my camera Great micros you have there! What a wonderful menagerie! Who would believe that such as register lay buried in the strata? To open the leaves, to unroll the papyrus, has been an intensely interesting though difficult work, having all the excitement and marvelous development of a romance. And yet the volume is only partly read. Many a new page I fancy will yet be opened. -- Edward Hitchcock, 1858 Formerly known on the forum as Crimsonraptor @Diplotomodon on Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for spending the time putting together this soup-to-nuts presentation; this is really good stuff! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alopias Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 welcome to the micro shark teeth Isistius t and Rhincodon t are beautiful :startle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Eaton Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 great finds and interesting post in general regarding searching through material, provided it isn't too small I find that this device helps avoid vertigo (which I get using a stereo microscope...) http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Bright-Floor-Stand-Magnifier/dp/1933622695 I'll take something like a dinner plate and cover with a fine white cloth too, allowing me to hold the material a bit diagonally too to help avoid a strained neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Eaton Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 also, before you get expensive glasses, you can try cheap dollar store reading glasses the "Miocene Energy" bottle is hilarious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickNC Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Good writeup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for spending the time putting together this soup-to-nuts presentation; this is really good stuff! Thanks guys... and I appreciate the kind words Chas. It's a labor of love I guess or a severe case of Miocene OCD as my wife puts it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Typical teeth and verts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 some steinkerns and coprolite.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 .... I’m debating on buying some jewelers glasses and wondering if other members utilize them to hunt through this or comparable material. .... Great post, Brad. I use an OptiVisor with 4X lenses in the field and at home. It opens a whole new world of perfect little specimens we rarely see. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 some more.... Carcharhinus sp symphyseals Hemipristis serra (snaggletooth shark) Hemipristis serra symphyseal Posterior Carcharias or Odontaspis (sand tiger) Posterior Carcharias sp Scyliorhinus sp (cat shark) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 This is the only complete Notorynchus cepedianus (cow shark) tooth I have found so far from spoil pile material. I was fortunate that is was a symphyseal position tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alopias Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 very nice small teeth , congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Brad, as you demonstrate, the spoil pile material is loaded with specimens. It just requires some hard work to sift through it all. I have about 15 5-gallon buckets of the "raw" stuff sitting by my shed waiting to be "processed". Something to do over Winter, I just need to get it all washed before the freeze comes. Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsessed1 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 You have some great finds there and this is an awesome thread topic Brad! This was a great reminder for me, much the same as Daryl I need to get my material washed and dried very soon. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Brachiomyback, I make about as you. I sieve some spot sediment, generally with two different sieves. I bring back them in labelled bags. I wash them at home with my sieves, I dry in polystyrene boxes in my garage, and I sort out on my table, in a flat, with a lamp, my astigmatic glasses, a magnifying glass, a small crowbar, small boxes, and sometimes the coffee, as you ! Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 Brachiomyback, I make about as you. I sieve some spot sediment, generally with two different sieves. I bring back them in labelled bags. I wash them at home with my sieves, I dry in polystyrene boxes in my garage, and I sort out on my table, in a flat, with a lamp, my astigmatic glasses, a magnifying glass, a small crowbar, small boxes, and sometimes the coffee, as you ! Coco ... a small crowbar? Is that to defend yourself and protect any unique / valuable finds from fossil ninja thieves? :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brachiomyback Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 some more.... A complete clam (unidentified) Snails Arene pergemma Barnacles Keyhole Limpets Diodora nucula Moon Snails Polinices duplicata Predation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Brad, your teensy weensy stuff is wicked cool! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Hi, ... a small crowbar? Is that to defend yourself and protect any unique / valuable finds from fossil ninja thieves? :ph34r: I spoke about that http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&rlz=1T4GGLL_frFR375FR375&q=petites+pinces+brucelle&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=540 but I didn't find the english word to say it... Nice little shells. Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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