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    Calvert Cliffs has been a popular place lately and I hesitated to post one more trip report this week, but as I look for other kinds of things, I decided I'd share. I have been told on several occasions that the cabins aren't worth much. All they have are shells. as @WhodamanHD put it, "If you like snails, go to Matoaka." Well, yes. That's why I love it so much. Last year I documented at 50 species of mollusk from one spot on the beach, and that's just what I was able to bring home!

 

 I returned to the for Independence Day week. and the cliffs did not disappoint!   A landslide so recent that there was no sign yet of rain erosion stretched out into the bay just north of the beach. It's a treacherous place to linger and to traverse, but I was banking on the fact that this part off the cliff had done it's falling for now -- I hoped. In other spots, trees dangled precariously over the cliffs. If you ever doubted that this can fall on you, remember this -- I'm pretty sure that the sound of thunder I herd the night we got in was the landslide I worked all week. It only rumbled once, on a windless, rainless evening. The innumerable fallen trees I had to climb over to get to my favorite spot tell the rest of the ongoing story. If you feel a bit of gravel fall own your head, RUN. You were warned. That said, we all know this is an addiction, so I se too work with a screw driver most of the week, chipping away at the loose material at the base that was sitting in the nice, cool water most of the day. On a blisteringly hot day, there's no place I'd rather be!

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The fall exposed all kinds of things that most folks think I'm a bit silly to carve out - clams, snails, bryozoa, brachiopods, but I love the biodiversity of the place. I chipped away at big blocks during the day, until it got too hot, the tide too low and the snack supply diminished. I met the wonderfully astute @FossilsAnonymous out there and loved getting to talk to a fellow hunter who didn't think me crazy for chasing after punky sea shells.

 

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I wrapped everything in aluminum foil and carried them in a metal pail for the mile or so trek back to the cabin, where I had my make-shift lab set up on the porch. That's where the real work began.

 

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The day before we left was blustery after successive storm cells moved in and out the night before. The beach was totally rearranged from wave action. The bay spewed forth all kinds of things. My daughter and I walked the beach to find whatever had washed ashore. I found 3 Ecphora snails sitting on the beach right at the entrance. A little further down, we met another forum member, whose name I cannot find now in my tag options HI! We spoke for about 10 minutes while she and my daughter dove into the lapping waves to grab the shark teeth that washed up at our feet. How they saw them is beyond me, but they must have collected 30 between them while we were standing there!

 

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It's taken me a week since I got home to unwrap and clean most of what I brought home. It took me an entire afternoon of diving into half a dozen texts to identify the few shells that were new to me. One I can still only get down to a genus. (see comments!) So far, I've found at least 8 more species of mollusks to add to my count. My daughter brought home great gobs of shark teeth. We even brought back a few big bone shards, one of which I believe is a (rather rare for this section) dugong bone with scratches that might be a predator's bite marks. There is still a big blocks of matrix in the basement waiting to be carefully picked with the old dental and clay tools. There is still a pile of micro matrix to sift through that I carved out of the larger shells as I prepped them. It's been like opening gifts at Christmas. This Christmas may last for a couple very happy months!

 

 

I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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If you want snails, go to Matoaka!

1. Euspira heros

2. Ecphoras - meganae (Left and right) and gardeneras (center)

3. Scaphella virginiana

4. Busycontypus sp. -anyone know which one?

5.Siphonalia devexa

6.Busycon spiringer

 

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Panopeas with dental pick for scale. 

Large ones are P. americana.

Small ones are P. goldfussii

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Stewartia formani -- all three are complete pairs, though chipped in places.

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Great exposures equal fun times, especially when they're fresh. Merry Christmas!

"Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs

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Mussel shells - Mytilus sp.

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Various Crucibulum sp.

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Who can make a report about Calvert Cliffs without shark teeth? These are my daughter's finds for the week. She is a shark tooth magnet. Sand shark, tiger shark, lemon shark, snaggletooth shark, at least one angel shark , and at least one mini megalodon in there somewhere.

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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Nice finds! A productive week indeed! Your daughter did great as well, I like that little red hemi in the box. Wait a minute there are multiple species of Ecphora at Matoaka? Smells like a whole lotta new labels. I can never tell the differences. I like that I can call the new one a meg though:D

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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22 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Nice finds! A productive week indeed! Your daughter did great as well, I like that little red hemi in the box. Wait a minute there are multiple species of Ecphora at Matoaka? Smells like a whole lotta new labels. I can never tell the differences. I like that I can call the new one a meg though:D

Yesterday's at least two different species and they are hard to tell apart. They both have four ribs at the center and generally the same shape. E. gardenera has higher ribs than its counterpart. If you can find a copy of this book through interlibrary loan somewhere, he has a whole CD (and if you can still read such things!) about Ecphoras. https://www.google.com/search?client=tablet-android-asus&sa=X&q=Molluscan+Paleontology+of+the+Chesapeake+Miocene&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLSz9U3MK00MM7LU-LRT9c3NErKM8hNqSrXEnAsLcnILwrJd8rPz_bPy6kEAACc2eYuAAAA&ved=0ahUKEwjh35aYiaLcAhWmUt8KHVpSAycQxA0IUTAF&biw=1280&bih=800

 

This is another good one:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=20113317783

I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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13 minutes ago, I_gotta_rock said:

Yesterday's at least two different species and they are hard to tell apart. They both have four ribs at the center and generally the same shape. E. gardenera has higher ribs than its counterpart.

Is E. quadricostrata ever found on the cliffs? I think that E. gardenerae gardenerae took its place but I’m not sure, a fossil hunting friend of mine always calls the four ribbed ones quadricostrata

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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11 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Is E. quadricostrata ever found on the cliffs? I think that E. gardenerae gardenerae took its place but I’m not sure, a fossil hunting friend of mine always calls the four ribbed ones quadricostrata

I think that is the old name. The great irony about scientific names is that they were intended to be a universal way to identify something, but the names charge constantly. Every time I identify something official, I have to double check online to see if the name in whatever obscure tome mentions it is still the current name. 

I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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40 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Is E. quadricostrata ever found on the cliffs? I think that E. gardenerae gardenerae took its place but I’m not sure, a fossil hunting friend of mine always calls the four ribbed ones quadricostrata

Ecphora gardnerae is Miocene, Ecphora quadracostata is found in the Pliocene.

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Hello Igota, that was me that you met on the beach right after you found one of your Ecphoras. I am off this week, so planning on going back tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

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Great finds! I am glad that you and you daughter had such a productive hunt! 

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I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Great variety!

Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such.

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Great site, great fossils, great report!

Thanks for sharing!
Franz Bernhard

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On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 6:37 PM, Al Dente said:

Ecphora gardnerae is Miocene, Ecphora quadracostata is found in the Pliocene.

 Correct. Now. In Dall, 1830 all of them were quadracostata. They were divided out. The Miocene ones were renamed in Ward and Gilinski, 1988. I am missing my Ecphora book, but I believe E. megane megane is now an index fossil for the Drum Cliff member of the Choptank Formation.  E. gardenerae gardenarae is from a different member of the same formation. The latter was fopund on the beach. The former I pulled out of the matrix.

I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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