Found prolific site. What would you do?

[crowfish]

I found a site where everything is a fossil. Specifically, I could gather 1,000 heterasters in an hour, and there's shelves of ammonites. (See pictures below.) I have two questions: 

 

(1) Is a site with a crazy high concentration of heteraster (and associated species) and ammonite fossils out of the ordinary, or are there lots? (Know what I'm saying?)

 

(2) When you find a great site, what do you do?

 

[crowfish]

[ynot]

Finding prolific shell beds is not that uncommon. 

I would collect for the best specimens of each species that I could find there. And maybe collect other pieces for trade.

 

Good luck!

[FossilDudeCO]

Dave and Tony both offer good advice. I would combine both of their thoughts.

 

Collect a couple dozen nice specimens for yourself. Another couple dozen for trade. Then contact an institution, show them what you have found and get their opinions.

 

If you approach before you have collected some for yourself and they find that it is something they want, they could box you out of it.

 

I would not tell ANYONE the exact location until I had a few for me.

 

If the institution says "no big deal" you still have some nice things for yourself and a few to trade, no harm done.

[ynot]

You can always post Your finds here to find out if they are unique or not.

I would also look for papers to see if it is already a known site/formation. (You may be surprised at what has been looked at in the last 200 years.)

[DPS Ammonite]

Please send some up close pictures of some of the fossils. We probably can ID the fossils and the formation. From what I can see, a possible mass of serpula worm tubes left of center and Hemiasters (Hemiaster whitei?) in the top photo and a fragment of Oxytropidoceras  in the bottom photo, I think that you are probably looking at Goodland Formation Limestone that crops out in the Fort Worth area.

 

To help ID the fossils and formations see the best site for North Texas Fossils:  http://northtexasfossils.com/

 

 

 

[Nicholas]

I'd probably keep a lid on it. Spend some time there and collect what you wish, and then share it among friends after some time. Just don't forget about it, because sites like this change over time due to rain and erosion... you could think it is exhausted and a year later it is a treasure trove. 

[Ludwigia]

What everybody said. A lot of good advice here. There's nothing out of the ordinary about the amount of fossils at this site.  For instance, dead sea creatures were often swum together by currents, hung around and went to the same place to die or molt, or were buried alive under landslides. Generally speaking, there are always fossil concentrations to be found close to or directly at ancient coastlines.

[Ptychodus04]

I would take me to the site as soon as possible!

 

Loads of ammonites and echinoids from the Lower Cretaceous in north TX are not "common" but are not rare by any means. Your pic looks like Goodland Formation (Heteraster sp. and Oxytropidoceras sp.). Don't spread the word unless you want a hoard of weekend warriors out there sucking up everything.

[Fossil-Hound]

3 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I would take me to the site as soon as possible!

 

Loads of ammonites and echinoids from the Lower Cretaceous in north TX are not "common" but are not rare by any means. Your pic looks like Goodland Formation (Heteraster sp. and Oxytropidoceras sp.). Don't spread the word unless you want a hoard of weekend warriors out there sucking up everything.

 

You're hilarious Kris!

[Ptychodus04]

2 minutes ago, Fossil-Hound said:

 

You're hilarious Kris!

 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

17 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I would take me to the site as soon as possible!

 

Loads of ammonites and echinoids from the Lower Cretaceous in north TX are not "common" but are not rare by any means. Your pic looks like Goodland Formation (Heteraster sp. and Oxytropidoceras sp.). Don't spread the word unless you want a hoard of weekend warriors out there sucking up everything.

If the site is dominated by Heteraster echs and partial Oxys, I'd lean toward Walnut or possibly Comanche Peak fm.  Goodland, in my experience, is dominated by Hemiaster whitei and a high percentage of complete Oxys.

[Kane]

I would expropriate the area under the provisions of eminent domain, erect a thick stone wall with around the clock security, and then install an alligator-filled moat for good measure. 

 

In all seriousness, it sounds very productive, and I agree with others above that this ought to be a something you only share with those you trust.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

On May 21, 2017 at 9:56 PM, crowfish said:

I found a site where everything is a fossil. Specifically, I could gather 1,000 heterasters in an hour, and there's shelves of ammonites. (See pictures below.) I have two questions: 

 

(1) Is a site with a crazy high concentration of heteraster (and associated species) and ammonite fossils out of the ordinary, or are there lots? (Know what I'm saying?)

 

(2) When you find a great site, what do you do?

 

To each his own, but here's what I do.

 

1) Break new-to-me ground constantly so I don't wear out any one site too fast.

 

2) When I find a good site, since all of the initiative and expense that put me there were borne by me, I don't feel the least bit guilty about extracting my "finder's fee" in solitude or with interested family.  

 

3) After satisfying myself with a representative sampling of the site, assessing repeat potential, required weathering interval for productive collecting, rarity and condition of finds, I start thinking about bringing in trusted buddies one at a time.  These tend to be guys who have proven to respectfully treat your site info over time.  They tend to do their own exploration as well, so they are less likely to latch onto your sites.

 

4) Before the invite, I state clear boundaries on how I'd like them to handle the site info afterward.  Most often, this means take all you want today, then forget the place exists, and let the next visit be my idea.  This allows me to take multiple friends/family over time and all experience a quality hunt.  If one guy gets greedy over a site he was shown by a buddy, that friendship may not last as it throws a monkey wrench into the whole program.  My friends know that they'll come out way ahead over time if they are patient and respectful.

 

5) Sharing sites is fun, but it is most fun for the host if he stays in control of how far the sharing goes.  One way to manage this is to share beginner sites or sites of low personal importance when getting to know strangers, then ratchet things up incrementally from there.  Having "thrown pearls to swine" in the past, only to see sites overhunted as "thanks", I'm careful enough now to ensure that I too get to enjoy the sharing process by factoring human nature into the equation.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

6) Consider treating out of state collectors to your site first when you are ready to share.  Distance and logistics tend to keep people more honest.

[Ptychodus04]

3 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

If the site is dominated by Heteraster echs and partial Oxys, I'd lean toward Walnut or possibly Comanche Peak fm.  Goodland, in my experience, is dominated by Hemiaster whitei and a high percentage of complete Oxys.

 

I defer to Dan, the more experienced Texas fossil expert who has crawled more of this great state than one would think humanly possible.

[EMP]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 11:01 PM, crowfish said:

 

This may sound strange, but I would seriously advice against collecting everything in the first trip. Often times over zealous collecting can exhaust even a very productive site, especially if the fossils only occur in one or two layers.

 

Rather, collect a few of the best specimens or ones most likely to be weathered if you waited, and then dig up some fresh matrix to sit and weather and expose new things and after a while (month or so) go back and collect again, repeating the process.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

2 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

I defer to Dan, the more experienced Texas fossil expert who has crawled more of this great state than one would think humanly possible.

Upon closer inspection of the photos, these echs are not Heteraster (depressed unpaired amb) but appear to be Hemiaster or Pliotoxaster (all 5 ambs depressed).  Hard to be sure from just a couple photos, but now I think Goodland is a very likely possibility.  Some things are abundantly obvious in person, but not so much in photos.

 

If this is Goodland, less common finds could include Salenia and Tetragramma echs as well as Dipoloceras ammonites, the latter a cosmopolitan range marker.

 

I've seem Kiamichi fm in Tarrant Co. with light gray limestone and dark gray marl as well, and it too is in the Oxy zone.  I'm not too familiar with Kiamichi echs though.

[crowfish]

Wonderful conversation and persuasive that a consensus coalesced so quickly/surely.

 

That having been said, if anyone in the Fort Worth area wants to give it a poke, pm me.

 

I lack the tools, experience, and gump to extract a dozen good pieces. It's just me and a wooden wedge, which isn't great guns. I'd love to learn how to handle the site, and that means telling some folks where it is. So lmk, and I'll send directions.

 

And thanks again!

[Ludwigia]

7 hours ago, crowfish said:

Wonderful conversation and persuasive that a consensus coalesced so quickly/surely.

 

That having been said, if anyone in the Fort Worth area wants to give it a poke, pm me.

 

I lack the tools, experience, and gump to extract a dozen good pieces. It's just me and a wooden wedge, which isn't great guns. I'd love to learn how to handle the site, and that means telling some folks where it is. So lmk, and I'll send directions.

 

And thanks again!

 

Atta boy! You got the idea. Share discreetly and learn from the experienced ones. Good luck to you!