North Sulfur River at night

[-AnThOnY-]

19 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Thanks.

It is more whole than any I have found before. It’s also bigger than my other mostly whole one. I do have a couple fragments of ones that were bigger though.

They are one of the reasons I am draw to the NSR.

Does your Menabites have texture like the fragment I found? I want to see a whole one of those beauties like that.

I still need to clean it up more.

 

Neither of my two Menabites have that texture on them, although, neither of them have as much shell material present.

 

Other things that are possibilities for that pattern/texture could be growths on the shell like sponges or parasites.

[KimTexan]

19 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Yep! A particularly mushy tusk was found on the NSR not long ago by UncleSiphuncle.

 

Yes, I saw the post on here. But before that I saw @Foshunter's TFF gallery with mammoth stuff that he found in the NSR. I think his collection is quite impressive. It is a cool lifetime achievement for a fossil hunter's personal finds. I am sure his collection has lots of stories and history of the NSR to go along with it that I would love to sit and listen to. I've been trying to invite myself over to see his collection, but my attempts have not been successful thus far. I think he might be afraid of me. 

I enjoy learning the history of things and places and hearing of by gone days and how things once were. I love small town and rural culture. I live in the big city now for work, but I so miss living in a small or rural area. I think that is one reason I like the NSR. It reminds me a little of small town and rural country culture where I grew up. The terrain is nothing like it other than remote though.

 

[KimTexan]

2 hours ago, -AnThOnY- said:

 

Neither of my two Menabites have that texture on them, although, neither of them have as much shell material present.

 

Other things that are possibilities for that pattern/texture could be growths on the shell like sponges or parasites.

I am pretty sure Dan ( @Uncle Siphuncle) said that he had a Placenticeras planum with that texture present, which he found in the NSR. That may have been on the DPS Facebook group though. I'd love to see a picture of it.

The pattern is too consistent and regular to be a growth or parasite. I have definitely seen other ammonites with bryozoan, oysters and other things growing on them though. 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

7 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Yes, I saw the post on here. But before that I saw @Foshunter's TFF gallery with mammoth stuff that he found in the NSR. I think his collection is quite impressive. It is a cool lifetime achievement for a fossil hunter's personal finds. I am sure his collection has lots of stories and history of the NSR to go along with it that I would love to sit and listen to. I've been trying to invite myself over to see his collection, but my attempts have not been successful thus far. I think he might be afraid of me. 

I enjoy learning the history of things and places and hearing of by gone days and how things once were. I love small town and rural culture. I live in the big city now for work, but I so miss living in a small or rural area. I think that is one reason I like the NSR. It reminds me a little of small town and rural country culture where I grew up. The terrain is nothing like it other than remote though.

 

Tom's good people.  I've been online friends with him and his son for years, but it wasn't until recently that I finally met both guys in person when I invited them to a cool place big and weathered enough to afford us all sufficient "sweet spot" to make it a slam dunk for our group of 4.  That's a big group for an introvert like me, but a good time when you hand pick quality company.  

[Uncle Siphuncle]

43 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

I am pretty sure Dan ( @Uncle Siphuncle) said that he had a Placenticeras planum with that texture present, which he found in the NSR. That may have been on the DPS Facebook group though. I'd love to see a picture of it.

The pattern is too consistent and regular to be a growth or parasite. I have definitely seen other ammonites with bryozoan, oysters and other things growing on them though. 

I've seen that funkadelic pattern both on NSR Placenticeras and Pecan Gap Pachydiscus.  On both of mine, it was most pronounced on the adult whorl closest to the living chamber.

[KimTexan]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

Tom's good people.  I've been online friends with him and his son for years, but it wasn't until recently that I finally met both guys in person when I invited them to a cool place big and weathered enough to afford us all sufficient "sweet spot" to make it a slam dunk for our group of 4.  That's a big group for an introvert like me, but a good time when you hand pick quality company.  

I have never met either of them. I have a lady I hunt with occasionally who has met both of them and been hunting with Sean at least a few times that I know of. She speaks highly of them. I message with Tom on FB Messenger occasionally. He is always nice and a pretty good knowledge resource for a newby at ID of North Texas fossils like me.

[KimTexan]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

I've seen that funkadelic pattern both on NSR Placenticeras and Pecan Gap Pachydiscus.  On both of mine, it was only on the adult whorl closest to the living chamber.

So it was basically the same pattern on both species though? Interesting. 

I am not sure that I got all of this ammonite out of the river though. I kind of think the other half could still be there. If so it may be next to impossible to extract it since it is so eroded on the one side. I found it about the point in time where I was running low on fluids. Whatever else was there seemed to crumble into small pieces when I tried to get more out. I am kind of new at trying to extract that kind of material out of the river. So, I am sure it could have been done much better.

Now of course I want to find more ammonites with that pattern and a whole one at that, but I think that is pretty unlikely since it seems pretty rare.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

34 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

I am pretty sure Dan ( @Uncle Siphuncle) said that he had a Placenticeras planum with that texture present, which he found in the NSR. That may have been on the DPS Facebook group though. I'd love to see a picture of it.

The pattern is too consistent and regular to be a growth or parasite. I have definitely seen other ammonites with bryozoan, oysters and other things growing on them though. 

Resurrected Placenticeras.  Lo res pic all I have access to at the moment.  There is micro texture to the tessellated surface nearest the aperture.

 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

22 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

So it was basically the same pattern on both species though? Interesting. 

I am not sure that I got all of this ammonite out of the river though. I kind of think the other half could still be there. If so it may be next to impossible to extract it since it is so eroded on the one side. I found it about the point in time where I was running low on fluids. Whatever else was there seemed to crumble into small pieces when I tried to get more out. I am kind of new at trying to extract that kind of material out of the river. So, I am sure it could have been done much better.

Now of course I want to find more ammonites with that pattern and a whole one at that, but I think that is pretty unlikely since it seems pretty rare.

To clarify, I've seen pattern on my Koz red zone Placenticeras at the NSR as well as on a Kpg Pachydiscus found 350 miles to the south.  Both specimens were outsized for the species in respective hunting areas.  Not sure if that pattern has more to do with the size of the critter, vestiges of something that encrusted it after death, being gummed by a toothless mosasaur, or sumpin' entirely different.  I'll leave that one for the experts.

[Malone]

Very intriguing! You have a gift for writing!

[KimTexan]

20 minutes ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

To clarify, I've seen pattern on my Koz red zone Placenticeras at the NSR as well as on a Kpg Pachydiscus found 350 miles to the south.  Both specimens were outsized for the species in respective hunting areas.  Not sure if that pattern has more to do with the size of the critter, vestiges of something that encrusted it after death, being gummed by a toothless mosasaur, or sumpin' entirely different.  I'll leave that one for the experts.

Thanks for sharing the pic.

Hum, interesting. The pattern on yours looks similar. It does not appear to be as clear and defined of a pattern as mine, but it could be the photo quality or the quality of preservation.

The pattern on mine is so regular from the interior edge of the whorl to the exterior edge. Every other column of dots is offset half a circle’s width from those in the adjacent column. The pattern is just so consistent. I can’t imagine that it is a product of another organism. If it is not the original critter’s texture then I would be prone to thing the pattern was geologic.

 

I wonder if some of our other lovers of ammonite have seen this pattern before. @Ludwigia @Herb@PFOOLEY @fifbrindacier @Fruitbat

@abyssunder and @doushantuo often have some reference to contribute to the discussion.

So, have any of you seen this pattern before on ammonites and if so do you know if it is naturally occurring in the fossil or is it from some secondary cause?

[KimTexan]

12 minutes ago, Malone said:

Very intriguing! You have a gift for writing!

Thank you. Hopefully it wasn’t too terribly long. I think it was. While I can tell a decent story, ellocuence isn’t one of my gifts. It was too short on fossils though for my taste. 

[Malone]

4 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Thank you. Hopefully it wasn’t too terribly long. I think it was. While I can tell a decent story, ellocuence isn’t one of my gifts. It was too short on fossils though for my taste. 

I thought it was just right!

[Malone]

I also really liked the plants! What is wild garlic used for? A spice? A insect repellent? And antibiotic? And antiseptic? And antiviral? I have never used it but learned these are all listed as uses thanks your post!

Edited March 29, 2018 by Malone
Sent before finished

[KimTexan]

6 minutes ago, Malone said:

I thought it was just right!

Thank you! That is so kind of you to say. 

[KimTexan]

28 minutes ago, Malone said:

I also really liked the plants! What is wild garlic used for? A spice?

I haven’t really gotten into the foraging thing too much. I have added the wild garlic to my cooking kind of like chives or scallions while out camping when I didn’t have onions or such to add flavor. I think I may have only used the root once though.

I do occasionally nibble on the greens while out hiking if I find them. It isn’t the strong flavor or smell of regular cloves though. The greens are pretty mild. 

Evidently it must have worked fairly well as a mosquito repellent since I didn’t get any further bites on my exposed skin. I was out for about 2 more hours after I applied it. I was wearing a 3/4 length sleeve shirt, but despite that the one shoulder got 12 bites in that small area in the one pic. My other shoulder, upper arms and forearms didn’t get anymore bites after I applied it. My back also got maybe 15 bites just during the short periods when I took my pack off for less than 5 minutes on maybe 3 occasions. 

 

I know regular garlic is good for blood pressure since it contains nitric oxide which served as a vasodilator. Vasodilation can have numerous benefits to various aspects of physical performance and mental alertness and wakefulness since it increase the blood flow to the brain and thus the oxygen. It is also a good anti-microbial and helps with fungal, bacterial and viral infections. As I stated earlier in my post we used it to ward off ticks and chiggers. 

 

I’m sure there are other good uses for it that are medicinally beneficial, but I don’t know what else off the top of my head.

 

Hopefully that’s not too much info.

[Malone]

2 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

I haven’t really gotten into the foraging thing too much. I have added the wild garlic to my cooking kind of like chives or scallions while out camping when I didn’t have onions or such to add flavor. I think I may have only used the root once though.

I do occasionally nibble on the greens while out hiking if I find them. It isn’t the strong flavor or smell of regular cloves though. The greens are pretty mild. 

Evidently it must have worked fairly well as a mosquito repellent since I didn’t get any further bites on my exposed skin. I was out for about 2 more hours after I applied it. I was wearing a 3/4 length sleeve shirt, but despite that the one shoulder got 12 bites in that small area in the one pic. My other shoulder, upper arms and forearms didn’t get anymore bites after I applied it. My back also got maybe 15 bites just during the short periods when I took my pack off for less than 5 minutes on maybe 3 occasions. 

 

I know regular garlic is good for blood pressure since it contains nitric oxide which served as a vasodilator. Vasodilation can have numerous benefits to various aspects of physical and mental alertness, wakefulness since it increase the blood flow to the brain and thus the oxygen. It is also a good anti-microbial and helps with fungal, bacterial and viral infections. As I stated earlier in my post we used it to ward off ticks and chiggers. 

 

I’m sure there are other good uses for it that are medicinally beneficial, but I don’t know what else off the top of my head.

 

Hopefully that’s not too much info.

Not at all! that's great! thank you! 

[pamk7802]

Wow...you are very lucky. Please find a partner next time.  This read as a the beginning of a bad slasher flick..maybe I have just watched to many..lol. Seriously...be smart.

[KimTexan]

12 minutes ago, pamk7802 said:

Wow...you are very lucky. Please find a partner next time.  This read as a the beginning of a bad slasher flick..maybe I have just watched to many..lol. Seriously...be smart.

Haven’t you said you hunt alone sometimes too. I think I remember you saying you hunt the NSR too.

I haven’t ever watched a slasher flick. But if I guess appropriately it’s where a woman is all alone somewhere and is accosted or attacked by men. If so my very first visit to the NSR could have ended like a slasher flick. I went alone, but was by the fossil park. I wasn’t far from the bridge when 3 guys who came out there to get high arrived. At least one was already high and took a serious liking to me. The other 2 convinced him to move on and leave me alone, but then they came back and he was at it again. It could have turned out very badly. 

[pamk7802]

Oh gosh! More stories..lol  I have be there 3 times, 2 with people and 1 time alone but went to the fossil park and there were several people there...but you never know! I am glad your situations turn out good! I have been caught running on a trail, alone, and at sundown miles from my car.  I call it my "speedwork" to get back ha

[ynot]

Late to the party here, but nice report showing the perils of fossil hunting.

Glad it had a happy ending.

 

At least You got some good fossils out of it.

[Fossil-Hound]

Very nice Baculite. Solid find.

[KimTexan]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

Late to the party here, but nice report showing the perils of fossil hunting.

Glad it had a happy ending.

 

At least You got some good fossils out of it.

I have been hiking alone for over 40 years now and I can honestly say I’ve never had anything close to that happen. I wouldn’t call it lost so much as just not being able to find a good route back to where I started. 

I have never been lost while out hiking. I admit to once or twice while driving. I have gotten turned around and off track, but figured it out quickly and got back on track. I have certainly never been out and got back hours late either.

I am left handed. They say left handed people are either genius prone, artistic or navigationally gifted. I can’t claim any of those categories, but I’m pretty good navagationaly. My ability has served me very well, but it is certainly nothing to brag about. I don’t hold a candle to my dad’s navigational ability and he isn’t even left handed. He is definitely more genius prone than I, but less artistically inclined.

[KimTexan]

 

1 hour ago, Fossil-Hound said:

Very nice Baculite. Solid find.

It is the largest baculite in diameter of any fragment I have ever found. I have found one more narrow that was longer.

 

One thing about fossils in the red zone of the NSR is that they often don’t hold together very well. The preservation of certain features and details can be amazing, but when you try to extract them they can crumble. Others hold together very well. I tend to believe that the iron content in the red zone is what help preserve so many fossils with that degree of detail. The baculite came out in numerous pieces. I can try to fill in the gaps and paint it, but I am still on the lookout for a bigger and better baculite. I have yet to find a whole one.

The ammonite fragment broke in several places on the return. I’ll piece it back together later. It will be a challenge.

 

Iron is a double edged sword is fossil preservation though. It can be what resulted in the preservation in the first place, but it can also be what results in their deterioration once exposed to air and moisture. Pyrite disease has claimed many fossils.

[John S.]

Great adventure. I’m glad you are ok. Def some things to watch out for at the Sulphur. I’ve been threatened to be shot(not sure why), wild pigs surrounding me or almost landing on me, hunters shooting right over my head not knowing I was below, and im assuming tons of snakes at night. Crazy out there but still worth it