vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I got a chance to do some fairly heavy collecting on Friday and Saturday. Please note there are lots of images attached to this posting as I finally remembered to take some site photos. As most of you have heard, north Texas was hit pretty hard by thunderstorms this past week. Depending on whom you listen to, we had somewhere between 12 and 25 separate tornados in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. My heart goes out to those whose homes were destroyed. Thankfully, nobody was killed. These storms were accompanied by very heavy rainfall. Being that this was right before the long Easter weekend, it seemed that a trip was in order. I made the assumption that everybody, their uncles, cousins, kids, dogs, and long-necked llamas would be collecting on Friday and Saturday. So I jumped in there and added my .02 to the collecting weekend. Anticipation of the crowds did move me away from the larger more well-known sites and onto smaller sites. On Friday I had the rare treat of my youngest daughter, now 11, tagging along with me. She got caught up on her school work while we were driving and got out and collected with me at the sites. Having her along was very cool. The first site we hit is a small exposure of the Arcadia Park Formation. It is a site we have visited off and on for years. If you catch it just right after the shale begins to dry up from a rain, the teeth sort of jump off of the exposure at you. We managed to find almost 50 teeth at this site including excellent examples of Cretolamna appendiculata, Squalicorax falcatus, and Ptychodus anonymous. We found a few fish teeth from fish such as Pachyrhizodus minimus, and Enchodus ferox. We rounded out the collecting by finding a number of small fish vertebrae, some shark coprolites, and misc other pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Here are a few more images of teeth from the Arcadia Park site: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Our second stop of the day is just a little downhill (geologically speaking) from the first site. I was going to skip it, but we had to drive right by it so we went anyway. It is another of the old sites in the Eagle Ford Group, this time in the Kamp Ranch as well as Arcadia Park formations. I am glad we stopped as the rain had apparently done well by this location. This is where the traffic incident occured that I wrote about in a separate post. I am sure many of the local north Texas collectors will recognize the site photos of this locality. Yes...there are still fossils there. We recovered some very nice teeth from this location as well. These included examples of Ptychodus whipplei and Squalicorax falcatus. The best find at this location is an absolutely beautiful symphseal tooth of a Ptychodus. It is the largest of this type of tooth I have ever found. However, I believe identifying it down to species will be almost impossible. Some images: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 More site photos and specimen photos of site #2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 More from site #2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 And finally, the symphseal from site #2 along with some site photos from site #3 which is another Eagle Ford Group, Lower Britton Formation exposure. We did not find much at site #3 (althought we did get a couple very nice examples of Cretoxyrhina mantelli teeth, and Enchodus fish palantine, and some shark coprolites), but the bluebonnets were out and I thought the contrast of those flowers against the brilliant light color of the Lower Britton was fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 More site photos from site #3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 And a few more site #3 images: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 I am sorry about the size of these images. These are some pretty cool images, though: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Saturday morning was spent with the youngest, executing all of her science experiments for the rocks and minerals chapter of her book. It was fun! Then, once again everyone got busy with their own things, leaving me orpaned, so I continued the collecting. The first site has been my favorite for several years. It is the absolutely magnificient Upper Britton formation ammonite site that has yielded so many wonderful fossils over the years. It is really not an exaggeration to say that this site has yielded close to 1,000 complete ammonites, and probably a few hundred great crab specimens as well. Sadly, most of it is under houses now. However, the small piece that remains stubbornly yields up terrific fossil after terrific fossil. I was able to collect many examples of ammonite, mostly Desmoceras scotti. However, I also recovered some really nice examples of Mortoniceras and even got a decent imprint of a rarer genus, perhaps Metengonoceras. The usual array of crab, shrimp, and lobster parts were present, mostly examples of the crab Cenomanocarcinus. However, none of those specimens were very complete. Some pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 A few more pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sward Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Nice! It looks like you and your daughter had a wonderful time. I hope she enjoyed it as much as you obviously did. Looking at the pic of the Ptychodus tooth in-situ, it looks like there was another tooth just above and to the left, or am I seeing things? It looks like you made quite a haul for teeth. Like you said, after the rains this week, I'm sure it's a good time to go hunting. Unfortunately, between my work sked and trying to get ready to leave town for a few days, I don't think my sked is going to allow much time for hunting. Fortunately though, the hillside I search alot does not seem to be known about, or at least I've never seen anyone else there. So, I'm hoping that when I return, all of the newly eroded fossils will still be there waiting for me. At least I hope so. I'm looking forward to making arrangements to meet up so you can look at the fish I've been working on. It's the most complete fossil I've found to date. Everything else has been individual verts, teeth, etc. Good luck in your continued searches. Keep us posted. SWardSoutheast Missouri (formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX) USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 And the fossils themselves: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 And a few more: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 I rounded out the day at a Lower Cretaceous site in the Pawpaw Formation. I had very good luck finding small fossil crabs. Crab claws and lobster parts were scattered everywhere. The light was perfect and these guys were so easy to see I didn't even have to crawl. They were visible from standing. Most of the crabs are examples of two different species of Xanthosia. The lobster parts were examples of Linuparis. I only found 2 shark teeth. One was a Cretolamna appendiculata. The other was a very good example of the rare shark Paraisurus compressus. I have found very few examples of this shark. Some pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sward Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Is the first pic in post #14 a crab? If so, I believe I may have discovered one on the same hillside I recovered the fish from. It's in a lot worse shape though: SWardSoutheast Missouri (formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX) USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 On the way home I took the dirt roads and small FM roads. I noticed this pretty roadcut and decided to share pics of it here. I think it is Ft. Worth Formation but I am not sure. Note the millions of Texigryphea oysters littering the ground. I also noticed hundreds of examples of the denture clam, Rastellum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Thanks for checking out pics of our Easter Weekend fossil collecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacob Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Wow some awesome finds :)ptychodus teeth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Fortunately though, the hillside I search alot does not seem to be known about, or at least I've never seen anyone else there. Thank you for your comments. On your hillside, don't tell ANYBODY where it is. Don't tell me, don't tell the DPS, nobody. Once you do you will be lucky to ever find another fossil there. I also look forward to meeting with you. If your fossil is stable enough for transportation, you could bring it to my house. I have some examples you could use to compare against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Is the first pic in post #14 a crab? If so, I believe I may have discovered one on the same hillside I recovered the fish from. It's in a lot worse shape though: If I am seeing the posting numbers correctly, the first pic in #14 is an ammonite? On your image, it is hard to tell, but it looks like it could be a disarticulated clam or oyster shell? I would say pick up a few pieces of it and bring them to our meeting. I could tell more from seeing them in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 glad yall got out richard Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Found a car load of nice fossils, miss the Texas fossil hunting but miss seeing the blue bonnets just about as much, thanks for including the picture---Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Wow, great fossil haul! -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Looks, and sounds like you had a great weekend. Some great finds and time spent with your kids. It just does not get much better than that!! Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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