I Can See For Miles And Miles And Miles

[mikecable]

Gary obtained permission for us to hunt a massive exposure of the Walnut Clay. The site was a huge aggregate quarry that was in operation for more than 60 years.

From the gate--Buzzard Peak has an elevation of 2400 feet. I'm standing at about 2000 feet of elevation.

Base camp--can you spot Gary?

Your intrepid correspondent and his fearless partner.

Massive outcrops and piles everywhere.

Buzzard Peak is an apt name.

Three peaks give evidence of long-ago volcanic activity.

Miles and miles and miles of Texas.

Edwards limestone with karstic features.

Wildflowers.

Some mysteries--probably from the Edwards cap. Ammonites and straight-line cephalopods?

[lissa318]

Wow what a beautiful place to hunt!!! Great pictures!

[DE&i]

Awesome what else is there to say.

Darren.

[mikecable]

More wildflowers.

This area has the largest windfarms in the world.

In these two pictures Gary is hunting the closest thing to a productive zone of the Walnut Clay that we found. While it was an incredible day, with blue skies and spring temperatures, we didn't find that many good fossils. One problem was the sheer size of the site--we spent most of the day just exploring and speculating. We will be back though.

More evidence of the sheer size of the site.

More mysteries?

Tired and hungry.

Edited May 5, 2013 by mikecable

[Auspex]

I can smell the sun-warmed Texas rock...

As to 'some mysteries', I wonder whether you might not have a Rudist patch reef?

Hobble-on, Hopalong!

[mikecable]

I can smell the sun-warmed Texas rock...

As to 'some mysteries', I wonder whether you might not have a Rudist patch reef?

Hobble-on, Hopalong!

Rudists do make some sense. Thanks.

[xonenine]

fantastic photos Mike, thanks for a stellar tour! the striated bit in last mystery pic is a geological feature? very cool regardless

[CH4ShotCaller]

Fantastic site pictures! Thanks!

[mikecable]

The first thing I look for when trying to determine if I'm in a productive layer of the Walnut Clay are these oysters.

Next I like to see gastropods like these. As well as Neithea. The only Neithea I tried to collect crumbled as I tried to pick it up. Gary found a very large one.

Ammonites fragments can be rare to common--always fragmented in the Walnut in my experience, but sometimes you can get them out whole from the Goodland.

An Arca clam with borings--another indicator of the Walnut, but the above fossils are my first markers.

Some of my research indicated that this particular area held large amounts of evaporites, especially calcite evaporites. True that.

We were seeking echinoids, but they were few and far between. Here's what I picked up. The small one is Leptosalenia mexicana, and I may be able to free it from the matrix. Low on my priority list right now though.

Now for the mysteries--all of which most likely came from the Edwards Limestone cap.

Rudists? Ammonites? Straight Cephalopods?

Help?

I know it's almost impossibly unlikely, but when I picked this piece up it shouted tooth.

These pics were quick and dirty--I'm trying to enter grades as well. But any thoughts or opinions are welcomed. Most of what I know is how much I don't know.

[Herb]

WOW!

[BobWill]

Sure glad I got to meet y'all.

Looks like we won't be seeing you for a while....unless you need some help exploring that

[sward]

Wonderful location shots. Thanks for taking us along.

Some of your "mysteries" look similar to a rudist I had found in the past:

[mikecable]

Sure glad I got to meet y'all.

Looks like we won't be seeing you for a while....unless you need some help exploring that

Anytime you want to head west we'll let you help us explore. Our next venture in two or three weeks will probably be the Lost Creek Spillway at Jacksboro. We also want to hit POC for the first time, and the NSR for the second. Stay in touch.

[mikecable]

Wonderful location shots. Thanks for taking us along.

Some of your "mysteries" look similar to a rudist I had found in the past:

2011-09-02 15.42.54rs.jpg

A rudist reef is looking more and more likely. Now I need to find the layer that these critters are tumbling down from. The map has the site as Kecw undifferentiated. I'm convinced that most of the peak is Walnut, and can't find any discernible break between Walnut and Comanche. I am fairly sure there is a relatively thin cap of Edwards limestone on the western half of the mountain. The geology indicates that I should have Antler Sand at the base, and I'm pretty sure I've identified Antler to the south and east of this site. But here it seems to be directly above Permian red beds--some of the wildflower pics show the red beds. The dimetrodon on display at the Natural History Museum at UT Austin was found just a few miles from this site. I still want to bulk sample some of the red bed material to search for micros. The stratigraphy looks very similar to that of the big road cut near Fluvanna.

[donckey]

Great place to collect.

Beautiful impression.

Peter

[Missourian]

That's quite an area. I would end up spending an entire day there just exploring. I'd have to come back the next day for the fossils.

[vertman]

Very nice images and story. I am glad you guys had a great time. I agree many of those mystery fossils look like rudist pieces. Some of the conglomerate pieces look like Edwards Formaton "reef core" specimens. I have seen many chunks like that in some of the quarrys we used to visit.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

watch for goniopygus echs nestled amongst them rudists!

[mikecable]

Dan

I'll have to get a better picture tomorrow. But here is the one bit that looks like an echinoid in the "rudist" matrix that I carried home.

[gwestbrook]

My fossil finds for the day. Many of the obligatory Walnut Clay fossils are there, but aside from the one small selenia Mike found in the road bed, we didn't see any other regular echinoids. It's a quarry about 2-3 miles square, and it's been much worked over. It may be a while before we find the ech zone, if there is one. Time for some good ol' fashioned prospecting.

Edited May 6, 2013 by gwestbrook

[Roz]

Great trip report and images as well.. Nothing beats a closed quarry..

I see a large ladder by one shot of Gary.. Did you two bring that or was it

already there? Very helpful in any case..

[mikecable]

The ladder was there. Right past it was a large concrete structure that looked like a WWII machine gun bunker. We assume it was the base to a large rock crusher/conveyor and the ladder was to access the top part of the conveyor. While the ladder looked fairly solid and stable it was easier to walk around on the road to reach that next level up.

[mikecable]

gonyech.JPG

Dan

I'll have to get a better picture tomorrow. But here is the one bit that looks like an echinoid in the "rudist" matrix that I carried home.

Dan

No picture today. I brushed the specimen up a bit, and then the light rain started to fall. I live in West Texas so I never curse rain. Placed the hash plate out to weather. But my first thought on looking at the "beastie" closer was algal spore ball--I found more than a few in the Glen Rose site you turned me on to in Comal County. I saw one come out of the Walnut in Travis County. Would this be a possibility in the Edwards in Taylor County?

I know I can and should find Porocystis globularis in the Glen Rose. I know I saw one come out of the Walnut. Now I suspect something similar out of the Edwards. I also know that for the most part fossils don't end up upstream. Did the range of Porocysits globularis extend that far in time?

Edited May 7, 2013 by mikecable

[JohnJ]

gonyech.JPG

Dan

I'll have to get a better picture tomorrow. But here is the one bit that looks like an echinoid in the "rudist" matrix that I carried home.

Mike, is it possibly a Coenholectypus sp. echinoid? It is kind of hard to see the detail in this photo, but some marks are suggestive of ambs.

[mikecable]

Mike, is it possibly a Coenholectypus sp. echinoid? It is kind of hard to see the detail in this photo, but some marks are suggestive of ambs.

I'll try an get a better photo this evening.