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What was your best find and trip of 2016?


Doctor Mud

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Merry Christmas/Happy holidays everyone.

 

There are a few more days left in 2016, so still time left for something amazing to happen, but I thought it's about that time that some of us reflect on the year that has been.

 

I purposely listed best find and trip separately, sometimes finding something awesome makes for your best trip, sometimes a best trip is all about the experience - the locality, the people or the challenge. 

 

At at least that's how it works for me. My best trip was an overnight trip up the North Canterbury coastline at the start of the year:

 

I didn't really find anything of note but it was quite an adventure and I also learnt a lot about the local geology. I'll never forget the peaceful solitude of camping under the stars by the crashing surf:

 

image.jpeg

 

My best find is a tough call between a dolphin skull I found earlier this year on this trip and a large shark vert I recently found:

 

Both aren't prepped yet. I'm hoping to get them CT scanned before touching them with a scribe or chisel.

Im hoping to get them shipped to Australia for scanning and prep.

 

Looking forward to hearing others experiences of 2016.

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One piece of the dolphin skull bearing concretion from the Miocene in New Zealand. An earbone is next to the fifty cent piece:

 

image.jpeg

 

 

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Half of a 6 inch diameter shark vert from the same location. Some of the vert is obscured by matrix. I hope to find the other half - fingers crossed!

 

image.jpeg

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17 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

One piece of the dolphin skull bearing concretion from the Miocene in New Zealand. An earbone is next to the fifty cent piece:

 

image.jpeg

 

 

Can't wait to see it prepped!

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I can only fossil hunt when traveling overseas (illegal to fossil hunt here), so it's an easy choice:

It is hard to decide but my favorite is this Tridacna maxima and its internal mold:

2.JPG

 

 

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3 hours ago, sdsnl said:

I can only fossil hunt when traveling overseas (illegal to fossil hunt here), so it's an easy choice:

It is hard to decide but my favorite is this Tridacna maxima and its internal mold:

2.JPG

 

 

That's a beautiful shell!

I like how you preserved the internal mold.

 

You must really appreciate getting to hunt since you can't do it at home.

 

Interesting that the fossils from this site are Holocene. Were they close to the coast? I think there was a high stand (high sea-level) about 6000 years ago off the top of my head. In some places there has been uplift due to tectonics and that's why you have Holocene fossils above sea-level or inland.

 

I know some researchers who look at the stable isotopes in giant clams to get a snap-shot of past climate.

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16 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

That's a beautiful shell!

I like how you preserved the internal mold.

 

You must really appreciate getting to hunt since you can't do it at home.

 

Interesting that the fossils from this site are Holocene. Were they close to the coast? I think there was a high stand (high sea-level) about 6000 years ago off the top of my head. In some places there has been uplift due to tectonics and that's why you have Holocene fossils above sea-level or inland.

 

I know some researchers who look at the stable isotopes in giant clams to get a snap-shot of past climate.

Yes, every chance to hunt is a treat!

 

I am not really sure about the original location because I couldn't find information about where exactly they excavated those rocks. I have spent a long time looking for information about that site and all I could find was a brief, two-line mention on a high school website listing different geological sites in Kenting. It says that it's the discard site for rocks excavated when the nuclear power plant and its nearby roads (no idea which roads exactly or how far away) were built, and that the fossils are Holocene. I could only believe this info as I couldn't find anything else. The closest thing I found was a powerpoint that seems to be made during the planning phrase for the nuclear power plant. As I remember it talked about the rocks on that land but nothing about fossils or the age of the rocks. I then tried to find the years the main roads were built, wanting to see which ones coincided with the nuclear power plant, but also to no avail.

 

Looking at the map, the nuclear power plant is about 0.34km from the coast, which on the geological age map is on an upper Pliocene to lower Pleistocene formation. There are also several other formations, dating Miocene to Holocene, within a 2km radius which could possibly include the roads that were excavated. Now that I think about it, it is possible that the dating from that high school website could be based solely on the formation of the discard site, or perhaps some fossils that have been found are Holocene-aged, but it's possible there are older fossils in the pile.

 

But I think you are right about inland Holocene fossils. About half of Kenting's coastline is Holocene aged. Geological research found that around 4000 years ago there was a great flood in mainland China due to melting glaciers, which matches the record in Chinese history (in school we had to learn about the emperor who eased the flood and it's a great story). Kenting could be affected by that event too. If not, the Holocene fossils could have come above sea level after some earthquakes which are common in Taiwan. Taiwan itself was formed during earthquakes in the Miocene.

 

Do the researchers you mentioned use isotopes to date the clams, and look at the size and thickness of the shells to determine climate?

 

 

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14 hours ago, ynot said:

My best find this year...

 

My best trip this year...

 

So that's how you find crystals--like harvesting potatoes! :ighappy: That's a lot of crystals!

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2 minutes ago, sdsnl said:

So that's how you find crystals--like harvesting potatoes! :ighappy: That's a lot of crystals!

But You have to find where the "potatoes" are buried first. (That is the hard part.) Also the ground is much harder than the soil the potatoes are found in.

It was a small pocket.

 

Tony

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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8 minutes ago, sdsnl said:

Which is why only You found it!

Actually, My friend, Thaliea, found this one, but it was on My claim.

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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I went on a hunting trip on January 2nd 2016 with a favorite hunting friend,

and this find maintained my top spot for 2016. I feel blessed.

ParamylodonSp1.JPG

 

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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On ‎26‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 2:46 PM, ynot said:

My best find this year...

 

My best trip this year...

 

Hi Ynot -

 

What an amazing trip! Beautiful quartz crystals. I missed the original post so it is the first time I have seen the trip report.

Are they weathered out of their original matrix or has the matrix just weathered enough so you can dig into it?

 

Shark Tooth Hill is on my bucket list for sure!

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On ‎27‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 5:39 AM, sdsnl said:

Yes, every chance to hunt is a treat!

 

I am not really sure about the original location because I couldn't find information about where exactly they excavated those rocks. I have spent a long time looking for information about that site and all I could find was a brief, two-line mention on a high school website listing different geological sites in Kenting. It says that it's the discard site for rocks excavated when the nuclear power plant and its nearby roads (no idea which roads exactly or how far away) were built, and that the fossils are Holocene. I could only believe this info as I couldn't find anything else. The closest thing I found was a powerpoint that seems to be made during the planning phrase for the nuclear power plant. As I remember it talked about the rocks on that land but nothing about fossils or the age of the rocks. I then tried to find the years the main roads were built, wanting to see which ones coincided with the nuclear power plant, but also to no avail.

 

Looking at the map, the nuclear power plant is about 0.34km from the coast, which on the geological age map is on an upper Pliocene to lower Pleistocene formation. There are also several other formations, dating Miocene to Holocene, within a 2km radius which could possibly include the roads that were excavated. Now that I think about it, it is possible that the dating from that high school website could be based solely on the formation of the discard site, or perhaps some fossils that have been found are Holocene-aged, but it's possible there are older fossils in the pile.

 

But I think you are right about inland Holocene fossils. About half of Kenting's coastline is Holocene aged. Geological research found that around 4000 years ago there was a great flood in mainland China due to melting glaciers, which matches the record in Chinese history (in school we had to learn about the emperor who eased the flood and it's a great story). Kenting could be affected by that event too. If not, the Holocene fossils could have come above sea level after some earthquakes which are common in Taiwan. Taiwan itself was formed during earthquakes in the Miocene.

 

Do the researchers you mentioned use isotopes to date the clams, and look at the size and thickness of the shells to determine climate?

 

 

Looks like you have done a lot of research into this site.

 

It can be difficult to tease apart sea level due to local or isostatic effects (e.g. tectonics or rebound after ice loading) and global or eustatic effects (e.g. melting ice caps) in a place that is tectonically active like Taiwan.

 

Radioactive isotopes can be used to date clams e.g. carbon 14 or radiocarbon dating and stable isotopes like oxygen 18 can from shell carbonate can be used to look at past climate. A lot of things can affect the oxygen 18 signature of mollusc shells including ocean salinity, changes in circulation (currents) and water temperature. I'm not sure off the top of my head if people have used the thickness of shell growth layers to infer past climate.

 

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On ‎27‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 6:36 AM, Shellseeker said:

I went on a hunting trip on January 2nd 2016 with a favorite hunting friend,

and this find maintained my top spot for 2016. I feel blessed.

ParamylodonSp1.JPG

 

Nice! Did you know what it was when it turned up on the screen? Was it an instant "wow!" moment?

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4 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

Are they weathered out of their original matrix or has the matrix just weathered enough so you can dig into it?

Thanks for the kudos.

They are in and next to a white quartz (bull quartz) vein. The vein is in a partially decomposed mica schist, and the crystals are in pockets with a clay mineral surrounding them. It can be difficult to remove the mica schist and bull quartz, but once You get it out of the way the crystals come out quite easily.

I can not dig them when the ground is dry, it becomes rock hard.

Tony

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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On 12/27/2016 at 6:22 PM, Doctor Mud said:

Nice! Did you know what it was when it turned up on the screen? Was it an instant "wow!" moment?

It was a WOW moment -- anytime you find a jaw segment with 2 teeth is good enough reason for me to do a little jig :megdance: (I am part Irish) in the river.

BUT the question of what did I know and when is complex.. Initially I could see a couple of teeth -- my initial shout was "Jaw segment -- teeth" In response to JLar's query of "what is it", I noted the double circle 8 tooth and replied "Sloth but really from a small animal -- maybe a baby".   As many fossil hunters can affirm, I recall the exact spot and the words from a year ago on an impressive find.

It was 3-4 days before Richard Hulbert IDed it as Paramylodon Garbani.

I realized within 30 seconds that this was one of those once in a lifetime finds...

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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