A Taste of Georgia's Eocene: Sandersville Limestone (9/22/18)

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Well, it's been a while since I've been out and about growing my collection of long-since-perished critters, so needless to say, I've been restless. 

 

I've been somewhat late in putting up my trip report, as this was doubling as a school project (writing a news feature on PAG (Paleontology Association of GA) for the school news site, 3ten) and everything at the place was taken on an NVidia whereas usually my smartphone does the trick. Anyway, enough BORING excuse backstories! Let's get to the meat of it!

 

 

 

 

 

This past week was rather hectic for me. A trip to Pensacola where I swam in September ocean thinking it was July, a wisdom tooth surgery happened and the Braves got that sweet, succulent NL East crown, punching their ticket into October ball. Adding this trip on top of that made my fall break jam packed.

 

I'd been waiting for an eternity to go to Sandersville with PAG ever since I heard of the announcement on their page way back in August. As soon as I was greenlit by my the editors of the school news to cover the event for school news, I was going, half dead from wisdom teeth or not. It turns out I wasn't as energy-sapped as I thought I'd be, as my wisdom tooth recovery had been pretty speedy (thank the Lord).

 

Everyone going met in a Walmart parking lot more minutes away. We got told of the treasures we'd find (though I already knew):

 

Periarchus sand dollars (heck yeah!)

Crassostrea Gigantissima oysters (yes pls!)

And shark teeth/Ray plates (good for me!)

 

After that and a brief discussion on directions and my covering the trip for the school news, we headed off about a minute or so down the road to the landowner's property. We pulled in on a dirt road, and parked in an area of tall grass. The actual site itself was a short trek through the woods to get to the small creek where the Sandersville Limestone was actually exposed. It was somewhat difficult to get the camera equipment down to the creek along with the gear which I was actually using to get stuff out of the matrix, but it wasn't unmanageable and was definitely worth it.

 

Here's what the much of the creek looked like: 

 

 

After getting together all of my pictures for the news, I went ahead and got to the fun part: finding stuff!

 

My first and primary objective was the Periarchus quinquefarius kewi  sand dollars, as with my trip to Montgomery in July, I have officially caught the echie bug. It didn't take very long to start finding them protruding from the limestone: 

 

 

After taking four with me, I moved to my next target: the Crassostrea Gigantissima oysters.

 

These hold a special place in my heart, as my uncle Frank and I went driving near Griffins Landing trying to find an access point to get some of these huge oysters to no avail. Also, I heard that these oysters can only be found in Georgia (though i'm not sure about how true that statement is. Any answers regarding this?). 

 

To find them, I went a way downstream to where this Oyster exposure is:

 

 

I was already getting packed with inverts, and I had a lot of stuff to carry back to the car, so I only took the most complete one I saw.

 

Last but not least, I made a pitstop at where most of the group was sifting at a particularly deep and clay-ey part of the creek for shark's teeth and decided to indulge myself in a handful. Here are some of the other guys getting sift-fulls:

 

 

Next post: My finds of the trip

[Macrophyseter]

Can't wait to see your finds! 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Inverts:

 

For me, the inverts from this site were the main attraction. I didn't get a whole lot, but in this case, it was quality over quantity:

 

 

 

Firstly, we have my (mostly) complete Crassostrea Gigantissima oyster valve:

 

 

This might be my favourite find of the entire trip (though picking one good thing from this site over another is like choosing between children). These Oysters are YUGE, and this one isn't even nearly full size. I've seen specimens of this species that get about as long as my forearm! 

 

I was also told that this one has an abductor scar visible, but I don't exactly know what to look for in that regards when it comes to oysters. Any pointers?

 

As for the Periarchus, Here's the two better ones:

 

 

These guys are making me really wish I knew how to prep these things, particularly the top one (tips, anyone?). An interesting thing on the second one is the fact that a bivavle cast apparently hitched a ride on it at some point:

 

 

Bivalves is at the bottom edge in this photo. Here's a close-up of it:

 

 

 

 

Verts: Not much to showcase here. Didn't spend enough time sifting to find oodle and oodles of stuff, but respectable for how long I went at it:

 

 

 

 

And that's a taste of Sandersville's goodies!

[KimTexan]

Nice finds. 

Regarding the adductor scar. Do you see the round shape on the inside of the valve? That is the scar. Just google “oyster anatomy” and look for images.

 

The echinoids are beautiful. I’m not sure how hard the matrix is. I often use a cheep set of wood carving tools to see how much matrix I can get off using those after I let them soak in water.

I am not sure how your echies preserve. Here, the Cretaceous ones can preserve very solid so that they are almost a crystal. Those I pop in 5% vinegar for a few minutes and it helps soften the matrix and clean the surface. If the test is soft and flaky I wouldn’t do it. The vinegar can pit the test in those. If you try it don’t leave them for long. You’ll probably see fizzing. If they fizz slowly the acid is working slowly. If they fizz vigorously then it’s working quickly and I wouldn’t leave them as long.

But wait for others to comment. They may have prep ideas specific for echies from your area.

[Monica]

Great finds!  That oyster is indeed impressive, but I love the echinoids the most - the second one is beautiful!  Congrats!

[ynot]

Sounds like a wonderful trip with nice finds.

Thanks for sharing.

[Phevo]

Nice echinoids and teeth, thanks for the extensive trip report

 

The echinoids I find in cretaceous/campanien deposits from Denmark can be prepped with dental pics and a stiff tooth brush (or a normal tooth brush cut down).

 

I would refrain from putting them near vinegar at any dilution as you loose the minor details and it's scientific value becomes zero.

[Nimravis]

Great finds and trip report.

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

[MikeR]

On 9/27/2018 at 2:28 AM, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Well, it's been a while since I've been out and about growing my collection of long-since-perished critters, so needless to say, I've been restless. 

 

I've been somewhat late in putting up my trip report, as this was doubling as a school project (writing a news feature on PAG (Paleontology Association of GA) for the school news site, 3ten) and everything at the place was taken on an NVidia whereas usually my smartphone does the trick. Anyway, enough BORING excuse backstories! Let's get to the meat of it!

 

 

 

 

 

This past week was rather hectic for me. A trip to Pensacola where I swam in September ocean thinking it was July, a wisdom tooth surgery happened and the Braves got that sweet, succulent NL East crown, punching their ticket into October ball. Adding this trip on top of that made my fall break jam packed.

 

I'd been waiting for an eternity to go to Sandersville with PAG ever since I heard of the announcement on their page way back in August. As soon as I was greenlit by my the editors of the school news to cover the event for school news, I was going, half dead from wisdom teeth or not. It turns out I wasn't as energy-sapped as I thought I'd be, as my wisdom tooth recovery had been pretty speedy (thank the Lord).

 

Everyone going met in a Walmart parking lot more minutes away. We got told of the treasures we'd find (though I already knew):

 

Periarchus sand dollars (heck yeah!)

Crassostrea Gigantissima oysters (yes pls!)

And shark teeth/Ray plates (good for me!)

 

After that and a brief discussion on directions and my covering the trip for the school news, we headed off about a minute or so down the road to the landowner's property. We pulled in on a dirt road, and parked in an area of tall grass. The actual site itself was a short trek through the woods to get to the small creek where the Sandersville Limestone was actually exposed. It was somewhat difficult to get the camera equipment down to the creek along with the gear which I was actually using to get stuff out of the matrix, but it wasn't unmanageable and was definitely worth it.

 

Here's what the much of the creek looked like: 

 

 

After getting together all of my pictures for the news, I went ahead and got to the fun part: finding stuff!

 

My first and primary objective was the Periarchus quinquefarius kewi  sand dollars, as with my trip to Montgomery in July, I have officially caught the echie bug. It didn't take very long to start finding them protruding from the limestone: 

 

 

After taking four with me, I moved to my next target: the Crassostrea Gigantissima oysters.

 

These hold a special place in my heart, as my uncle Frank and I went driving near Griffins Landing trying to find an access point to get some of these huge oysters to no avail. Also, I heard that these oysters can only be found in Georgia (though i'm not sure about how true that statement is. Any answers regarding this?). 

 

To find them, I went a way downstream to where this Oyster exposure is:

 

 

I was already getting packed with inverts, and I had a lot of stuff to carry back to the car, so I only took the most complete one I saw.

 

Last but not least, I made a pitstop at where most of the group was sifting at a particularly deep and clay-ey part of the creek for shark's teeth and decided to indulge myself in a handful. Here are some of the other guys getting sift-fulls:

 

 

Next post: My finds of the trip

 

That's me digging for shark teeth.