Shuko Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Hey all. I thought this would make for an interesting discussion topic. What fossils (if any) do you know of that occur in your own yard? For instance, if you were to go outside and poke around in a pile of pebbles or in a pit, do you know of any fossils in particular that might be there? Not all of us have such luxury, I realize. But I thought it was a nice, general topic for discussion. Anyway, I'll begin by listing the ones I know of. The only fossils I've found in my own yard are bits of coral and crinoid stem pieces. I've seen what I think is the occasional bit of brachiopod shell, but I have yet to properly identify any of what I've found. Anyway, most of the rock I see is flint or chert, with the occasional limestone mixed in. I couldn't tell you what formations any of my native rock is in, but if I had to make a guess at the time period, I'd say Ordivician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricFlorida Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Well, I found a small meg in my driveway from a load of lime we got last week. There's Pleistocene mammal fossils and Miocene sharks teeth in the creek behind my house. www.PrehistoricFlorida.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuko Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 Well, I found a small meg in my driveway from a load of lime we got last week. There's Pleistocene mammal fossils and Miocene sharks teeth in the creek behind my house.Sheesh, you're lucky. I don't have any waterways nearby to explore. I do however, have a bunch of limestone from a nearby quarry (I think) that makes up my house, most of which is fossiliferous. I don't really count it as being in my yard though, since it was carted in, and I doubt I'd find anything like that in my own yard. xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricFlorida Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Anywhere in Florida that there's water, there's sharks teeth. www.PrehistoricFlorida.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharktoothguy11222 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I've only found one fossil in my backyard. It was some sort of bone, probably from a rib cage from something like a rabbit or hare. Sorry, i dont have pics. And one more weird thing, as I found that bone, this GIANT BEE came from nowhere and landed right on my pant leg, then flew and dug a hole into the ground. My backyard is creepy and i guess haunted Tha tighin fodham, fodham, fodham! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuko Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 I've only found one fossil in my backyard. It was some sort of bone, probably from a rib cage from something like a rabbit or hare. Sorry, i dont have pics. And one more weird thing, as I found that bone, this GIANT BEE came from nowhere and landed right on my pant leg, then flew and dug a hole into the ground. My backyard is creepy and i guess haunted Ugh... with my entomophobia, that would've done me in. I'd have up and died right there. xD Oh well. It would have been doing what I like best - investigating fossil finds. xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 We are having work done right now on our house and they brought in fill dirt that has some crinoid stem pieces and a few broken up brachiopods. Not enough to start digging up the yard for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 There is nothing but humus and regolith in my yard, but I have a few outcrops a couple of miles away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrocklds Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 my house is built on a pleistocene gravel/ sand deposit. i have found only one fossil in it. a calcaneum of a camel. unfortunately that was years ago and i have since misplaced it. te potential for other animals is there, but i don't think it would be wise to tear up the landscaping. Brock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Ugh... with my entomophobia, that would've done me in. I'd have up and died right there. xD Oh well. It would have been doing what I like best - investigating fossil finds. xD Well its a good thing you don't live in Florida then we have bugs everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I have just seen a few small oysters when digging in the yard. My biggest finds are when I do the laundry.... :lol: Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Unfortunately I live in the outcrop area for Edwards limestone (lower Cretaceous) in San Antonio. This stuff is massive, crystalline, and basically devoid of fossils (except for crappy rudists) due to geologic processes that acted on it over time. It is extensively quarried in my area and used for building stone as well as crushed aggregate. My house is built from Ked limestone. Farther north in Central TX the Ked has cool echinoids including Goniopygus and then grades into the highly fossiliferous Goodland formation in the Fort Worth area as you head north. The up side of living where I do is that the Ked is rich in chert which resulted in Indians quarrying the area and leaving spear points in and around area campsites. In addition, since SA is located in the Balcones fault zone, we have several Cretaceous marine formations in close proximity, many of which are fossiliferous. While SA is a hard town to collect fossils in if you don't have in depth local knowledge, I have located a few huntable exposures of Del Rio, Georgetown, Eagle Ford, Austin, Pecan Gap, and Corsicana formations from 1 to 30 miles from my house, resulting in an assortment of ammonites, echinoids, crabs, shark teeth, and nautiloids being reduced to possession. The sites come and go with construction, but some creek sites will be around for a while. I've even grabbed a few Pleistocene horse, bison, and mammoth teeth and tooth fragments in area stream beds. However if fossils are the priority, heading N, S, E, or W out of town presents more options. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Roz, you are cracking me up. I live on top of the Austin Chalk formation (Upper Cretaceous) so I find several oysters like Exogyra ponderosa, Lopha travisana, Exogyra costata, and some other fragments. The plot was plowed and disked for years so almost everything is pretty broken up. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2gould Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Unfortunately I don't have a yard and I don't think the City of Boston would appreciate me tearing up the sidewalk... However, we still have the original brickwork on the Brownstone with one wall exposed in my place dating 1901, which is kind of cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I wish I had fossils in my back yard , I would have loved to have been around when my parents had the pool put in just to make sure there were no fossils 14 feet down. I haven't found any fossils but I have found a lot of early 1900's medicine bottles buried all around the yard. We've also found early 1900's whiskey bottles buried in my basement. Other than those finds, I haven't found anything of interest. Perhaps another one day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marnixR Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 same here : south wales may have it's fair share of reasonably accessible fossils, but not in my back garden - the best i can hope to find when i dig is builder's rubble on the other hand, i tend to leave leftover fossil rubble amongst the grit near the house, just to see whether anything usable will weather out - nothing has so far though I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things; by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose — which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. ~ Richard Feynman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safossils Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I've never found anything in the yard, but we do find a lot of Paleozoic invertebrates in the Rillito River near the Tucson Mall, about a mile away from our house. The picture is probably one of the best fossils, a large productid showing some articulated spines. More pictures at: http://www.safossils.com/rillito2005.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain1950 Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Nada; Puget Sound Basin is 300 feet of sand and gravel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Echinoids! Most are from my yard...the black ones aren't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I'm seeing the Clypeaster from my window http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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