Fossils around Tucson

[franster]

Hi Folks, I am staying in Tucson for a few weeks and am looking for places to find some fossils. I like to stay fairly close to a road as my partner has some physical limitations. Ant suggestions beyond what is in T Rat's Fossils of Arizona post?

[PaleoRon]

There is a fossil show/sale in Tucson that starts on January 29th and runs for 2+ weeks. There are many other shows going on at the same time. Mineral, gem, jewelry, equipment, and just plain junk shows.

[jpc]

There is a fossil show/sale in Tucson that starts on January 29th and runs for 2+ weeks. There are many other shows going on at the same time. Mineral, gem, jewelry, equipment, and just plain junk shows.

Basically if you are there at this time, every type of fossil will be available to you...for the right price. I have a fossil hunter friend who recently moved to southern AZ and he says the fossiling there is very limited.

[Troodon]

T Rats is spot on. If you are around for the show its a something to see. Lots of dealers open before the 30th which is the official opening date of one of the big fossil shows. The 22nd Street fossil show opens on the 28th.

[PaleoRon]

Here's a link to the show guide.

http://www.tucsongemshows.net/coming.html

[FossilDAWG]

I lived in Tucson for 6 1/2 years. I did not encounter any fossil sites that could be described as fairly close to any road. There is a lot of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian outcrop in some of the mountain ranges southeast of Tucson, but access involves significant hiking up steep slopes. Even worse, the outcrops are mostly massive limestone beds (often meters thick) and the fossils are sporadic and mostly brachiopods, nondescript sponges, or urchin spines. There are a couple of upper Cretaceous sites that yield freshwater clams and snails, sometimes turtle shell bits, and very rarely dinosaur teeth and bones, but they involve long drives up roads that are often dry washes where you can get mired in loose sand or hung up on boulders, so a high clearance four wheel drive is mandatory. If you get stuck you are looking at a 10+ mile hike to get back to a paved road. Pliocene vertebrates have been found in badlands near Benson and St David, but I never found an access point.

If you get the chance, I definitely recommend a visit to Kartchner Caverns, south of Benson. (On the other hand, Colossal cave is a colossal disappointment by comparison, as it is a dry cave and very touristy). The Sonoran Desert Museum is a must-see and has (when I lived there at least) an excellent mineral display, and a display of Sonorasourus, a diplocaudid dinosaur found in southern Arizona. There is also a hill in the Saguaro National Monument north of the desert museum that has a lot of petroglyphs and it is quite accessible; you can ask at he park office for directions.

Don