Rudist hunting (2) in St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria - 09/09/2018

[FranzBernhard]

Another rudist hunt in the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria.

For some general information about the area see:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86433-rudist-hunting-in-st-bartholomä-styria-austria-13072018/

This time, the largest creek wihin the St. Bartholomä-formation was visited, which is the north-south trending one. Last year, only one rudist was found there. This year - the same result.

- Part of the creek from above, its about 5-10 m deep.

- Creek.

- Steep part of the creek with quite a lot of water and dead wood, but, hey, there is a rudist, just to the left of the red x!

- Rudist as found, pocket knife is 9 cm long.

To be continued...

 

[FranzBernhard]

Back at home:

- Adapical view of the relatively clean, traverse fracture surface. The area between the L- and P1-pillar has been crushed, but all three pillars are visible (L, P1, P2). Its a Vaccinites vesiculosus, width of cross section is about 8 cm.

- Lateral view of the crushed area. The rudist is standing in growth position, the upper end is a very rough fracture surface with some sediment, not much to see there.

Back to the field:

- There is also a small waterfall in this creek, about 2 or 4 m high (it depends on how you measure...). The horizontal rock layer is a very compact calcareous sandstone.

Thanks for watching!
Franz Bernhard

[ynot]

Nice!

Thanks for sharing this wonderful site.

[Innocentx]

1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for showing! Lovely wilderness area.

[Nimravis]

Great report and pics.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting and great piccies.

I find rudists fascinating. 

[FranzBernhard]

10 hours ago, ynot said:

Thanks for sharing this wonderful site.

Thanks for your appreciation!

9 hours ago, Innocentx said:

Thanks for showing! Lovely wilderness area.

You are welcome! Yes, lovely, but wilderness area? Everything is heavily populated and every forest is cultivated, even if it doesn´t look so on the first sight. Let it alone for 10-20 years, and it looks somewhat "natural", at least on the first sight.

9 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Great report and pics.

Thanks!

9 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I find rudists fascinating.

There is one more in the pipeline...

Franz Bernhard

[Monica]

I, too, find rudists to be interesting animals - they look so different compared to other bivalves.  Thanks for continuing to show us the intriguing specimens that you find!

[KimTexan]

Thanks for the trip report. Interesting rudist.

 

I understand about the areas around these sites being developed. Where I live is much the same way. I could tell it was populated nearby from the trash in the creek. It is the same here in a few places.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you ever look for locations to hunt by looking at satalite views of the area? That is how I find most of my locations to hunt, by studying satalite views looking for creeks and exposed areas.

 

I need to post my trip report from just over 2 weeks ago now. I too went hunting in a place I rarely go anymore, but I found a number of them.

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, Monica said:

Thanks for continuing to show us the intriguing specimens that you find!

You are welcome, Monica!

19 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

do you ever look for locations to hunt by looking at satalite views of the area?

Usually I am using freely available ALS-maps, sometimes complemented by arial photographs from the same source (www.gis.steiermark.at). Attached is an example of the southwestern part of the St. Bartholomä-formation. In the green rectangle, you can see an accumulation of stones collected over the centuries from the fields nearby. And indeed, there were some nice rudists among these rocks. Without ALS, I would not have discovered this spot. Unfortuntely, it is not possible do use these maps for spoting construction sites, because these maps and photos are usually several years old.

I have never used satellite images.

Franz Bernhard