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Waco Lake Texas Trip For Forum Members


Oh-Man

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All right boys, visit the Brazosport Museum website at the following link

Dan's Report

and a have a look at the May 2008 report. The morning of May 3 was spent at the pit. The crinoids Mike is talking about are floating microcrinoids, so don't bother looking for traditional stalked crinoids or their ossicles. You'll see some in my report. After all the crawling, we'll probably be ready for a walking site for the afternoon.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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OK, I get the tiny little beautiful Ammonites and Gastropods, and I think I get the Cephalapod(?), but what's with the "acorn cap"?

"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!

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That last is a squid beak, and I really want to find one of those!

First one I've ever seen; too cool for words!

"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!

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The little cup looking thing is a single Pycnodont tooth. When the Dallas Paleo Society last visited Robert Bowen displayed several impressive large riker mounts full of ammonites, shark teeth, starfish, echinoids, gastropods, and squid beaks.

First one I've ever seen; too cool for words!
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I'll be there for sure. I can't hardly wait. Since I'm coming from the farthest away, I expect all you guys to give me the best spots. ;)

I would like to see some photos of what we might find also. I went to Dan's website, but I didn't see anything labled Waco. They were labled good, but I'm not smart enough to figure out what came from that area.

Ramo

Well glad you can make it, Give you the best spots..... :rofl:

Don't really have any, but was hoping Dan would agree to hunt with a blindfold.... :D

Welcome to the forum!

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I think my plan will be to hunt near Dan, and when he stops to take a ground shot, jump in front of him to find the good stuff. Seems like he has a fossil magnet in his pocket.

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I'll just borrow one of those signs off the back of a gravel truck "STAY BACK 200 FEET!" Hahaha. I've actually been followed around so much in the past that I couldn't even go back in the weeds alone to take a leak!

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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I'll just borrow one of those signs off the back of a gravel truck "STAY BACK 200 FEET!" Hahaha. I've actually been followed around so much in the past that I couldn't even go back in the weeds alone to take a leak!

I'm sure everyone will show respect for their fellow fossil hunters. No need to get you feet wet next to Dan. :P

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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We should have a "Hoover Award" for the knee-padder with the heaviest bag at the end of the day :P

"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!

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It's getting close guys/gals !! Weather.com is predicting

highs 82

low 50

mostly sunny

precip 10 %

sounds perfect to me!

Thanks for the great pics of the material that we are after. :)

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I'll just borrow one of those signs off the back of a gravel truck "STAY BACK 200 FEET!" Hahaha. I've actually been followed around so much in the past that I couldn't even go back in the weeds alone to take a leak!

Entschuldigen sie, meine freund. Aber nicht beim mir, nicht war?

COR353

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The weather sounds perfect for hunting, be nice if it rained a little

the day before.

Jax, have you ever hunted there before? There are plenty of fossils,

so guaranteed everyone will find some. I have only been there twice.

Welcome to the forum!

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I've heard other experienced collectors say they do the best close to the stairs where you enter the pit. I wasn't being lied too because I saw what they were pulling out. I also remember somebody on a CTPS trip 2-3 years ago finding a good mammoth tooth in the Pleistocene gravel that overlies the rim of the pit. I don't know exactly where nor do I expect anyone to repeat this feat, but it is still cool to have that potential around.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Dan won't show us his secret cache anyway :P I'm going to follow JohnJ because he sometimes beats Dan to the goodies :P On the other hand, maybe Lance has the plan.....

Seriously, from the satellite photo, it looks like pretty much anywhere will be good. I will walk till I see something I like, then drop to the ground.

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The weather sounds perfect for hunting, be nice if it rained a little

the day before.

Jax, have you ever hunted there before? There are plenty of fossils,

so guaranteed everyone will find some. I have only been there twice.

I've never been to the Waco Pit, but I have been told its a pretty cool place to hunt.

I have a great Idea for the next Texas trip...... The Lake Brownwood Spillway. Im not sure if that place is still open to hunters, but I have always wanted to get some of those urchins. Anyone ever been there??

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Can someone who's been there confirm that this is the meeting point on Google Maps?

It looks like Steinbeck Bend Rd continues on a little ways after the sharp right, but I'm guessing from the instructions that this group of buildings is where we're meeting:

http://maps.google.com/maps/mm?ie=UTF8&amp...mp;t=h&z=17

(Isn't Google maps an amazing invention? I can even see my neighbor's weed-green pool in our neighborhood!) :)

Every complex scientific problem has an elegant and simple solution... and it is wrong.

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I've never been to the Waco Pit, but I have been told its a pretty cool place to hunt.

I have a great Idea for the next Texas trip...... The Lake Brownwood Spillway. Im not sure if that place is still open to hunters, but I have always wanted to get some of those urchins. Anyone ever been there??

That's long way from here. I went there on Easter weekend. As far as I know, it is still open. You have to sign a release form at the COE office. It was a bit wet and not good for collecting urchins that day. I did go down there and investigate for a future trip and got a few scraps. To get the urchins requires a lot of patience, sharp tools and some foil and/or spray foam and plastic and something stiff to lay the slabs on. It can also be quite dangerous under the overhangs. It's a pretty good walk back up the hill with rocks and tools. If you go to the spillway, you should also plan on a trip to Wilson's Clay Pit (crinoid city).

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Jax:

The Lake Brownwood Spillway is a very interesting exposure because of the unusual preservation and the unusual associations of terrestrial flora and marine fauna. There aren't many localities where you can collect fern fronds and plant debris and normal marine life (brachiopods, bryozoa, Paleozoic shark teeth, echinoids, starfish, ophiuroids, crinoids and even edrioasteroids!!!) from the same strata.

As of my last visit to the spillway in 2003, the clay strata that the echinoids come from was severely undercut by weathering and from excavation by collectors. The overlying limestone is massive and heavy and there are large chunks of the limestone weighing tons that have broken off and fallen. This area requires very careful collecting due to the danger. It's surprising that the Army Corps of Engineers has not required hard hats for the spillway area...of course, I don't know that a hard hat would help much if a 3 ton chunk of limestone were to fall on top of you! This is definitely not a location for children or for those that are older or not in very good physical condition!

The danger aside, there are some excellent fossils found in the black shales at the Brownwood Spillway locality. There are 3 different echinoids that have been identified to date from the spillway, of which the most common is Archaeocidaris brownwoodensis, the form that is commonly listed for sale on eBay and through various fossil dealers. There are several species of crinoids that may be found there as well, and some of those preserve the entire crown and stem inluding the cirri. The crinoids are uncommon. The asteroids and the ophiuroids are rare. The most fascinating to me are the edrioasteroids because they extend the group from the Mississippian into the upper Carboniferous. The edrioasteroid that is present is Parapostibulla murphyi Sumrall, et al, 2000, named for yours truly based on 2 specimens that I found in the mid 1990's. One of the specimens (the largest and best preserved) became the holotype and the other became a paratype. These specimens represented a new subfamily and genus as well as species. See "The Systematics of Postibullinid Edrioasteroids", Journal of Paleontology, Janurary 2000. According to Dr. Sprinkle at UT, there have been a few other Parapostibulla murphyi that have been found. All of the edrioasteroids found so far were attached to Composita subtilita brachiopods. I guess the Composita brachiopods were the only smooth hard surface of enough area to support epibonts. Spirorbis worm tubes and small brachiopod sprat are also found on the Composita brachiopods.

Regards,

Mike

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