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A Trip to the North Carolina Eocene and Cretaceous


sixgill pete

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Took a trip last Friday to a quarry that has exposures of the Eocene Castle Hayne Formation and the Cretaceous PeeDee Formation. First let me say it was hot!!! Did I say it was hot? During the day many of us spent extra time in the cars/trucks with the a/c running and drinking extra fluids. The forecast temps were for the high 80's and low 90's, but down in the bowl of the quarry with no wind I believe it was in the high 90's low 100's. However the finds were very good. Almost everyone found at least one Hardouinia kellumi echinoid, several nice enchodus teeth were also found. I saw several crab carapaces along with abundant H. mortonis and Echinolampas appendiculatta echinoids. A massive C. auriculatus was found that in my opinion if the tip was there (feeding damage) would have been close to 4 3/8 inches. Lots of smaller Eocene teeth were found along with some Squalicorax. A multitude of brachiopods were found also, a few different species too. 

 

As far as myself I found plenty of brachiopods, Plictoria wilmingtonensis and 2 other species I am working on I.D.ing. Plenty of H. mortonis and E. appendiculatta. I also found one H. kellumi and a very uncommon high domed H. mortonis emmonsi echinoid. Also a beautiful, but small enchodus ferox tooth; a nice small Eocarpilius carolinensis crab carapace and a very nice Entemnotrochus nixus gastropod (slit shell). A few decent teeth and a smattering of other items. 

 

 

H. mortonis on a natural pedestal5924c0c98fd6d_Hardouiniamortonisonapedestal.thumb.jpg.590bc5e1341280329cb7ddb7b1863916.jpg  

 

H. kellumi5924c11190600_Hardouiniakellumi19a.thumb.jpg.634490f2aac4f7c532bdcd8c4ef368b0.jpg

 

H. mortonis emmonsi5924c0feecd33_Hardouiniamortonisemmonsi1a.thumb.jpg.68c22c6a27ed0f3b8b112843b081973b.jpg  5924c0daf1fbc_Hardouiniamortonisemmonsi1d.thumb.jpg.e0dc2f6233ca49d3a906a985ebb8ab06.jpg  5924c0f58c948_Hardouiniamortonisemmonsi1b.thumb.jpg.62e6e98ca9e97c05eaa0502274a37512.jpg  5924c0e39b514_Hardouiniamortonisemmonsi1c.thumb.jpg.c625db283eb325d698e926373b3ee2c6.jpg in this last pic the emmonsi is on the left to show the difference in the dome

 

Eocarpilius carolinensis5924c11c67f81_Eocarpiliuscarolinensis1c.thumb.jpg.f3eb3d1d69883ab9c74e15d9e718234c.jpg5924c1294e7ff_Eocarpiliuscarolinensis1a.thumb.jpg.bc959ef4521988a1d3c1938e4700ea35.jpg5924c1376cb73_Eocarpiliuscarolinensis1.thumb.jpg.e1df910efe2c8c433f879529673ab2c5.jpg

 

Enchodus ferox tooth  5924c14ab5987_Enchodusferoxinmillimeters.jpg.14957d665cbf43bf7e97ddd985aada9d.jpg 5924c152d411f_Enchodusferoxininches.thumb.jpg.b54783bf6328d427bde73ff9d4a25687.jpg 5924c141bce14_Enchodusferox.jpg.44fd5249fd1065edfb75d676aa6072a0.jpg

 

 

Entemnotrochus nixus gastropod 5924c35ca051c_Entemnotrochusnixus1a.thumb.jpg.d43babf5eefcb0a29bd556d2be0d6d7f.jpg 5924c34d02bf0_Entemnotrochusnixus1b.thumb.jpg.e7cd090d635cf759eaa05364745b740e.jpg 5924c3429e1df_Entemnotrochusnixus1c.thumb.jpg.36338c2d63f2ba3babeb9cdb98fed91c.jpg

 

and the best of the many H. mortonis  5924c3771145b_bestofHardouiniamortonis19May.thumb.jpg.46e79eafd3588fef404aeee87847d7ce.jpg

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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Nice variety of finds, Don! :)  Glad you're getting out there.

Thanks for this report and pictures. 

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Congrats, on a great hunt! Thanks for sharing!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Great finds Don, love that crab:fistbump:

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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Nice job Don. You are going to run out of room to display stuff.

 

I wish we were closer to the MM quarries so we could make the NCFC trips. With them on Friday it makes it even harder.

 

See you Saturday.


Jack

Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science books.........

Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World

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I must have missed most of that. I didn't see anyone else with a H. kellumi and I missed the ric. 

 

Here is my H. kellumi:

 

IMG_7023_zpsffje7vvl.jpg

IMG_7033_zpsux20uy3t.jpg

IMG_7035_zpsrgtmu6sd.jpg

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