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PaleoNoel's Fossil Hunting Chronicles: Potomac of Maryland, April 2016


PaleoNoel

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I would consider 2016 to be the year that my fossil hunting career really took off, I had spent trips prior to this grooming and developing my skills and it began to show in this period.

My school vacations have always been the time where I've been able to get out into the field and go fossil hunting, this particular opportunity was afforded to me by my class trip to Washington D.C. which then lead into my April vacation. Having devised a plan to go fossil hunting before leaving, my dad picked me up at the end of the DC visit before the rest of the group took the grueling bus ride back to NH. From there we went south to Charles county, MD with the intention of going to Purse State Park in hopes of finding some Paleocene shark teeth. 

And find them we did! After parking, we walked down a trail which led down to the waterfront and a long strip of gravely beach. I soon found out just how bountiful this area could be when looking in the right places.

 IMG_1368.thumb.JPG.34edb13d62b36e24931f7431c139833a.JPG image.png.df072f7a9f706ffd9fb1d45b590c5a9a.png 5c254c50b1493_IMG_1374(2).thumb.JPG.4a8757d79b32e99da28854b0e4cc0058.JPG

 

At the end of the day we had found plenty of Shark's teeth and ray dental plates. The majority of the teeth came from various species of sand tiger sharks which patrolled the waters of the greater D.C. area 59 million years ago when it was covered by a warm shallow sea.

Here's the haul we had after a few hours collecting.

5c254e6dd404f_Day1potomac2016.JPG.af4afc9468573976bbe0fefe0a2a7854.JPG

 

 

 

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Some awesome finds! I love the in-situ shots.

Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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1 minute ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Some awesome finds! I love the in-situ shots.

Thanks! This was when I first began taking them with my Iphone camera.

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Day 2 proved to be an even more successful venture, for the first half we returned to Purse which proved equally plentiful as the day before. We continued to find the standard sand tiger teeth and ray plates, but after a couple hours we decided to have lunch back at the car. This proved more difficult than the walk down, as I chose to carry a ten pound block chock full of the common turritella shells and the clams. This single piece was an good example of what made up much of the banks of the river which the other fossils were eroding from.

IMG_3393.thumb.JPG.b090be3945c5946860e6102361c664ea.JPG 5c2566803fc2d_rayplate.PNG.e16ae717e114c446a7dbcf4126a18b86.PNG 5c2566dc9d16f_PurseS.P.smileyrock.JPG.02885853b1b63192abac6382969619f8.JPG

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In the second half of day 2 we went up the road from Purse State Park to Douglas Point, our thought process being that there may be better and less picked over exposures in an area which I had not yet heard about online which would therefore have less publicity. If my memory serves me, the trail was about a mile and half down to the riverside. This beach was much different from the one we had previously visited, the sediment which made up the sand and gravel was far darker, there were fallen trees, driftwood and a significant amount of litter (we took out what we could, unfortunately we didn't have a trash bag). Despite the differences in outward appearance the production was similar. However, what set Douglas Point apart from Purse S.P. was the size and quality of the teeth my dad and I found there. Not only were the teeth generally larger and more pristine, but some specimens had colors that were quite unique when compared to the other site's. This is also the spot where I found my first crocodile tooth in my collection along with a few pieces of turtle shell. I was overjoyed to find this specimen. 

5c2579f81686b_DouglasPointpt2.JPG.cd46433c13abf437f737c39e4231cb54.JPG

Turtle shell fragment and ray plate

 5c257ad617773_TurtleandRayDouglasPoint.JPG.ed618c0120587659474354ea287398db.JPG

Shark tooth in situ

5c257b7c31154_Douglaspointsharktoothinsitu1.JPG.6490faa14cf5c195d3c41a000e9a760a.JPG

Another tooth (either goblin or sand tiger)

image.png.3bca9407e88ac2803ac8a6e2d305e24a.png

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Very nice. I really like the Paleocene teeth from the Potomac. Especially the micros.

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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16 minutes ago, sixgill pete said:

Very nice. I really like the Paleocene teeth from the Potomac. Especially the micros.

Agreed! Although at that point in my fossil hunting career the idea of collecting matrix to bring home and sort through would've never crossed my mind. However, these sites did yield some of the smallest teeth that I've ever picked up. 

IMG_E3445.thumb.JPG.c8158b4a5f542c8d65e0bae19b08632f.JPG

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Very nice!

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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Here are some pictures I took at home of my best finds from this trip. I believe this trip was important for my development as a fossil hunter, helping to hone my abilities in finding teeth and other fossils. And although we never found any Otodus teeth, I did find my first crocodile tooth which I was really happy about and still cherish to this day. 

Striatolamia-These were two of the best teeth we found from the site, they have a light, sandy colored root and the crown is a beautiful grey-blue.

IMG_E3453.thumb.JPG.940098e1c4ac5e8d6ddd0782e21dbf9f.JPGIMG_E3455.thumb.JPG.5d7c3b75b8e7cfb167b3226e97870980.JPG

Ratfish/Chimaera spine (tentative about this id, let me know what you think)

IMG_E3450.thumb.JPG.7734f1ecdfa44ab137ba9dfe77f3599e.JPG

Three Turritella steinkerns & two pieces of turtle shell

IMG_E3463.thumb.JPG.f12ce1dd8d5ea03a676f1f309db52db1.JPG

And last but not least; Here's my crocodile tooth (Eosuchus or Thoracosaurus)

IMG_E3461.thumb.JPG.b7c7d45c6f4602ccce3834e47d56d3b4.JPG

 

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To conclude this report I'd like to say thanks to everyone reading this and be on the lookout for my next one. I'll probably write about this past summer's trip to Wyoming to collect Lance fm dinosaurs and other animals. 

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9 minutes ago, PaleoNoel said:

To conclude this report I'd like to say thanks to everyone reading this and be on the lookout for my next one. I'll probably write about this past summer's trip to Wyoming to collect Lance fm dinosaurs and other animals. 

Let’s see it!

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Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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32 minutes ago, PaleoNoel said:

To conclude this report I'd like to say thanks to everyone reading this and be on the lookout for my next one. I'll probably write about this past summer's trip to Wyoming to collect Lance fm dinosaurs and other animals. 

Yes, I’d love to see that. I have been on a dino dig with a university twice in Wyoming’s Lance formation. Although you don’t get to keep what you find. Not sure what I’d do with or where I’d put a 52 inch Edmontosaurs femur, or any other large bones anyway.

Nice trip report. I enjoyed it.

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10 hours ago, PaleoNoel said:

Ratfish/Chimaera spine (tentative about this id, let me know what you think)

Modern catfish fin spine.

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10 hours ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Let’s see it!

 

10 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Yes, I’d love to see that. I have been on a dino dig with a university twice in Wyoming’s Lance formation. Although you don’t get to keep what you find. Not sure what I’d do with or where I’d put a 52 inch Edmontosaurs femur, or any other large bones anyway.

Nice trip report. I enjoyed it.

 

3 hours ago, jcbshark said:

Excellent finds, congrats :fistbump:

Thanks everyone! I'll be writing one today, but it may be a bit more lengthy than this one!

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Looks like You did good!

Nice finds.

Not sure about the spine, could be fish fin spine. You should post it in fossil ID section.

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 28/12/2018 at 5:56 AM, PaleoNoel said:

And last but not least; Here's my crocodile tooth (Eosuchus or Thoracosaurus)

IMG_E3461.thumb.JPG.b7c7d45c6f4602ccce3834e47d56d3b4.JPG

Oooh nice one :) 

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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11 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Oooh nice one :) 

-Christian

Thanks! Surprisingly it's still the largest crocodilian tooth in my collection. However it would have been smaller than this tooth I found my first day in Wyoming last summer.  About 1.5 cm missing the end of the crown.

5c58f3d6356e6_Day1croctoothWY.JPG.5e219c0705a1da459de4645565f4a89a.JPG

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