Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Boys and Girls My friend Tom and I did a kayak mission yesterday in the Escondido formation of South Texas, the same site I found back in October. We actually did better this time than the first time despite being pressed for time. We wore rain suits to keep our butts from getting soaked in the yak, high rubber boots and long, insulated, waterproof gloves as water tends to drip off the paddles. This level of preparation was of no avail to Tom as he isn't very experienced with narrow boats and took a dive not once but twice into the clear, frigid depths...good thing he is a Yankee and used to cold as it got down to 29F yesterday! We paid the price in terms of discomfort and felt like we earned our finds more so than usual. The final body count was 13 Sphenodicus c.f. pleurisepta ammonites for me and 9 for Tom. The yak sure was a heavy drag across the low spots. In fact with both of us plus our gear and finds in the yak the water was almost spilling over the sides. I'll have more images once I get everything prepped, but here are a few for starters. I just love beautiful, virgin, unpolluted sites like this with good fossils just for the taking! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 sounds like a fun trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 looks like a really nice location! What other fossils are found in that formation? "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hey Dan. Exchange those ammos for pistols and you would look like some mafia guy!!! Ha!!! I hope you get my humor? Its just that you look so Stern in that photo! I will never make you angry! HA!!! But seriously, those are some great photos. That waterfall looks very inviting. Too bad it was sooo cold that day huh? I cant wait to see the photos of those when you get them prepped out. It looks like that one spheno that is still stuck in the matrix has a bit of shell on it? Hard to tell really. But being able to simply get out of your boats and start hunting for some nice fossils is really cool!!! Wish I was there. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofossil Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Thanks!!! Great stuff. There's nothing like photos of a collecting trip to stir the imagination. We're all drooling. What could be better than fossil collecting? a hobby that gets you outdoors and the anticipation of fossil finds is like being a kid again digging for buried treaure in the backyard. We look forward to the follow up photos. Re: "felt like we earned our finds more so than usual'. After thirty years of collecting I've learned the story that goes with a find is the best part. nothing like looking back on the trials and trubulations of the day... if someone can't understand the 'rush' of being a fossil nut they'll never understand all those frozen fingers, scrapes and so on just being part of the fun. My collecting buddy always moans at 7am when we meet to drive out collecting 'why are we doing this?' and I answer 'because we're crazy'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 The stern faced guy is my friend Tom. Perhaps his hardened countenance bears testament to his tenacity and determination in the face of the elements. When he fell in the water there was a cow staring at us from the opposite bank. I didn't snicker, but I told Tom that cow was laughing at him! Being from Long Island he may very well have mafia ties. His vocabulary sort of gives it away...anybody who says "Eat this, banana nose!" while throwing a beer bottle at them certainly knows how to take care of himself! As for the Escondido formation in addition to Sphenodiscus ammonites there are turtle fragments, shark teeth including Serratolamna, Ginglymostoma, Squalicorax, and Carcharias, Rhombodus ray teeth, Ischyrhiza sawfish rostral teeth, pycnodont teeth, gastropods, bivalves, oysters, and scarce echinoids (Rachiosoma, Domechinus) and scarce crustaceans (Opthalmoplax). In general the Kes is clay at the bottom and hardens to limestone at the top, indicating a marine transgression. The shark teeth tend to be toward the bottom or middle of the formation in the clay, the ammonites up high in the limestone, and I assume the echinoids would be somewhere in between in the marl facies. I'll show a few of the nicer gastropod concretions once I get things cleaned up. I'm quote pleased with the ammonites, escpecially the juvenile stuck to the living chamber of a larger specimen, sort of a rare find for this hard to locate genus. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Looks like a very fun trip.....Hunting untouched areas is probably very very nice for a change....The rivers here in FL are starting to get so looked over, it's nice when you find an area where there's no sign of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Here are some images of my favorite finds for the day. The uglies will probably get cut and polished to reveal crystallized internal chambers. If they come out nice I'll post pics of them too, but it could be several weeks. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Nice, post the ones you cut that would be neat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Paleo Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Great photos!!! I've always loved ammonites. You can find a few nautiloids in Maryland, but the closet ammonites are found in NJ/DE. BTW. What's the closest town/city to the site where you found them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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