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  1. Oklahoma 2 After heavy rains arrived the afternoon of my first day fossil hunting, I headed further south and west in hopes of better weather conditions on day two. My decision was to overnight in Waurika and then check out a Lower Permian site in the area. To my surprise, no motel or restaurant existed in town, so I had to backtrack 40 miles to satisfy my belly and find a place to sleep. Not a good start. In the morning, I headed to a popular easy pickings spot to spend the morning at. What I encountered was a water saturated landscape. Quicksand mud was everywhere after the rains of yesterday. In addition to the problematic mud, the terrain was interspersed with rough rugged reddish Mars like rocks. I made it out to the exposure, only to be disappointed that finds were almost nonexistent. A little Malachite and a few possible fossils were all I could find in areas able to be traversed by foot. Those that suggested me to be on my hands and knees will be disappointed that I did not follow their advice due to the mud. 1. This was the typical red rock I mentioned. At least some had Malachite attached. 2. Possible plant fossil, and a strong suspicion its from Lepidodendron. 3. Finally, these specimens take on the look of a bivalve and the donut-shaped piece could be a vertebra from Archeria, a Permian amphibian The afternoon would be spent further east along the north shore of Lake Texoma. On the way, I stopped at a small roadcut and collected these fossils. The formation seems similar but a little different than what I saw at the lake. These are the finds from the roadcut. Does anyone have a guess as to the formation these came from? 4. 5.Texigryphaea 6.Texigryphaea 7. 8. 9. 10. Some angles look like turrilites but then another angle looks more like turritella After that short stop, it was off to the lake. Research at home showed a suggested public access road down to the lake. In reality, it was gated off and signage for trespassers to be prosecuted. As I turned around in disappointment, a gentleman was walking on the road. I stopped and asked if my directions to this site were correct. He verified it was but then told me of public land close by that if I didn’t mind a long walk, would take me to my desired location. I took his suggestion and after a vigorous downhill walk, arrived at the lakeshore. Water levels were low, exposing quite a bit of rocky shoreline. Oyster, bivalves and ammonites were everywhere. Unfortunately the nice ammonites were too large to drag back up the hill, let alone fit in my suitcase for the trip home. So representative pieces were collected as a remembrance of the area. Once home, I felt these specimens fit the Cretaceous Duck Creek Formation. 1. 2.Texigryphaea 3. 4. Plicatula. 5. 6. 7. This specimen is likely rock, but mimics a fossil enough to let those familiar with the area give their thoughts. 8. 9. A smooth large ammonite. Are those oyster attachments on its one side? 10. 11. The only small ammonite found, a tiny Mortoniceras. 12. 13. Smooth ammonite 14. This is the largest chunk of ammonite collected. I stumbled on another complete Eopachydiscus that appeared to be 2.5 to 3 feet across laying on the beach appearing to have been prepped out. It took all my might to even flip it over to examine the other side. My suspicion is that the owner of this ammonite ran out of steam and decided to just leave it on the beach. I also left it for someone stronger than I.
  2. Brazos Aaron

    Texas Tooth. Fish?

    Hi everyone. I'm looking to see if this tooth can be ID'd. Found in the limestone quarry where I work in Bosque County, Texas. It eroded out from a cut through Kiamichi and Duck Creek formations. Also found were several pycnodont and shark teeth. Size is 6mm.
  3. historianmichael

    Duck Creek Formation Shark Tooth

    Over the weekend I found this tiny (~3mm) shark tooth on a loose rock at a site exposing the Duck Creek Formation (and maybe the overlying Fort Worth Limestone). I have tried to match it with the teeth in The Collector's Guide to Fossil Sharks and Rays From the Cretaceous of Texas but the closest I have been able to get is Squalicorax sp. and even that doesn't seem to quite match and the book states that Squalicorax in the Texas Albian have only been found in the Weno and Pawpaw Formations. Unfortunately it only seems like the blade of the tooth is preserved as there is a bit of a lip where the blade hits matrix. I haven't attempted to prep it yet so there could be root there, but I doubt it. Does anyone have any thoughts on what shark this tooth might be from? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  4. I've been searching through lots of different North Texas micro matrix for a project and came across a little tooth that has me stumped. It's from the Duck Creek Fm (Albian), Washita Group. From the same matrix I've collected several Scyliorhinus arlingtonensis (this species is previously known from the Texas Pawpaw and Woodbine), which look similar in some aspects. However, there are distinctions that push to me wonder if this other tooth is something different. Here are some photos of the mystery tooth. I found another of the same species in worse condition as well. Mystery tooth For comparison, here is a photo of a solid Scyliorhinus arlingtonensis of which I have found several from the same matrix. Scyliorhinus arlingtonensis Why it could be Scyliorhinus arlingtonensis: I know cat sharks can exhibit a high degree of heterodonty, so that could be the culprit. Both sets of teeth have ridges on the basal portion of the labial face, as well as multiple pairs of cusplets. Both also have very flat basal root faces that flare out at the lateral ends underneath the cusplets. Why it could be something else: Only S. arlingtonensis appears to have ridging on the lingual face, and the ridging reaches quite close to the tip. On the mystery tooth, I don't see any such ridging on the lingual side. The roots vary as well. S. arlingtonensis has a root that more closely resembles a "mickey mouse head". The lateral portions of the root flare out more, like mickey's ears and the bulbous lingual apex like mickey's face. The mystery tooth, on the other hand, is more v-shaped and the lingual apex of the root nowhere near as bulbous. Furthermore, S. arlingtonensis has a strongly pronounced central foramen (the little hole at the end of the lingual apex). I don't see this feature in mystery tooth. In S. arlingtonensis, the central is cusp long, gracile, and more separated from the adjacent cusplets. The mystery tooth has a robust central cusp and is joined with the cusplets much farther up. The second pair of lateral cusplets are also much larger. I have had a tough time trying to find species online that match my specimen in every aspect. It most definitely looks closest to cat shark, but everything I've come across just misses the mark. One interesting genus was Pseudoscyliorhinus, which has large pairs of secondary lateral cusplets like mine, but again there are some major differences in things like root shape. Hopefully one of you all have some ideas or at least new leads for this case. @Al Dente @siteseer @MikaelS @MarcoSr @ThePhysicist Feel free to tag anyone I missed Thanks for reading
  5. Hey again everyone! I have a LOT of overdue trip reports, experiences, and finds I’d love to share. Ive been busy traveling around Texas exploring and having the best outdoor fun before I buckle down and start my academic journey. I want to start off saying Happy Holidays and Happy New Years to everyone here! I will never forget anyone who has been kind to helped me, especially this year, and I wish everyone only the best. I literally mean it! Some of you remembered me from years ago and scrambled to help me like a guardian angel- I’ll make you guys proud someday. These adventures are me trying and improving- handling life the BEST I can and spending time outdoors. This year for me has been… insane. Some of you already know this, if not long story short, only months ago I found out I was diagnosed with a serious and legitimate trauma-related amnesia where I lost most of my memory from a set of years which unfortunately included most paleontology related things I knew and did & any trace of my blossoming paleontology career when I was 17/18 years old when I even had a science job. During the pandemic I started remembering random terms & latin names, instinctively and luckily found my way back here but at that time only for collecting. It wasn’t until late summer this year I remembered who I actually was, what I wanted to DO and WHY I moved to Texas. The shock was… very intense. I have made phenomenal progress processing & accepting… having to relearn so much and move forward. The progress I’ve made in only months takes a lot of patients years to reach to my point of mental healing and I’m proud. I really believe if I keep at it I’ll catch up to my peers academically AND become closer to the person I used to be, become who I should have been by now. I’m even ready to relearn how to drive again so I can go on more adventures with other future paleontologists! This post is me trying my hardest and even seeing new things. My roommate is helping me study both for paleo-memory related things & for my placement test. Late in November I decided to join DPS! What better way to re-learn and meet people than to join a club. We went out on a private trip to the OK border and I instantly found a giant Eopachydiscus and a few other ammonites including multiple Mortoniceras & a baby Oxytropidoceras. Im actually working on a personal research paper for the giant ammonite- for FUN! I want to be able to publish this ammonite’s story someday- there appears to possibly be deep predatory teeth marks on one side of the “shell” and I want to know more about my prehistoric friend. That day was extremely important because I met Roger F. for the first time- the gentleman who co-wrote my TX Cretaceous shark book! He’s one of my favorite people now to talk to since we both love prehistoric sharks. I was SO flattered I was mentioned heavily in the December paleo newsletter for my recent finds- it’s reassurance that others see I already made significant progress! MORE PICTURES! In-situ too! Next adventure, I wanted to take a weekend off to explore the Red Beds of northwest Texas in early December! I went to the Seymour Whiteside museum and to try to find my own Permian freshwater shark Orthacanthus teeth! I came out here to also see an artist friend but I also accidentally met one of my female paleontologist heros, legendary Holly Simon, and she presented me with an Otodus meg. shark tooth- wished me luck on my paleontology career. I wasn’t prepared! While Mesozoic marine vertebrates are my career-goal focus I thought it would be fun to get my nails ruined in that red Permian soil and learn about other animals- especially Xenocanthids! The Diplocaulus on display were adorable. Ya’ll should definitely visit the Whiteside Museum of Natural history! MORE PICS Excited to get my own hands dirty and 3 hotel muffins later- we drove waaay out across Archer & Navarro formations to find a good public exposure. Some great nature shots! I found a giant centipede exo which I took home! I found an excellent exposure which we actually used a Permian lithography map of a formations in Utah (same age!) to help locate a layer where the teeth could be! (Successful btw!) I saw what I needed and scooped up some of this gravely stuff the rain washed out in a baggie for later. I surfaced picked a tiny microfossil fish tooth (?) and later when I got home- MY PRIZE! Tiny little Orthacanthus microfossil! When we were actually there we tried looking through the gunk and wet sieving it in the creek with no luck of a larger tooth. We were also very close to Wellington Formation in OK and another day took a trip out there. That drive was wild because we drove through a park for a picnic area that had like 15 wild turkeys appear out of nowhere running around and they were even falling out of the trees over us! It happened so fast… I couldn’t react to take a photo but I have an IG vid of it. We drove around EVERYWHERE in search of a famous pond- now super closed to the public btw. I eventually found out where it was and we got as close as we could in the “creek” off the roadside without actually potentially trespassing. I lucked and found the TINIEST gravely spot in the “creek”of what I was looking for, crossing my fingers, scooped a baggie for home. SUCCEESS AGAIN! Two more teeth and wow different color than my Texas one! I still have most of the bag to sift through! We drove alll that way. For micro freshwater shark teeth. xD MORE PICS TO BE CONTINUED- Reached photo MB limit
  6. I had to return some clothes to the shopping mall yesterday. Rather, I volunteered to return them with a spot in mind that is right next to the mall where I found some big boy ammonites, eopachydiscus upwards of 15-19inches. The rain uncovered a nice one that was in loose soil. For some reason, many of the ammonites in this creek are really worn down in the center. How do you all handle removing matrix if you’re concerned about leaving a hole in the middle? I’m thinking I can simply “file” down the matrix until it looks like it’s as far as I can go using some sort of air abrasive tool? This one is 15.5 inches and I like the symmetrical shape and visible ridges. Many eop. I find are smooth around the outside without the wavy appearance. Different species?
  7. Shaun-DFW Fossils

    Hamites & more- Duck Creek+

    My favorite creek in south Tarrant County TX has enough length to it that it takes several trips to truly explore the available area. After the recent heavy rain, I finally explored a bit farther down the creek, finding a combo of oxytropidoceras ammonites (at least for the week I had before algae grew back) and a bunch of small mortoniceras and hamite ammonites. These are some of my larger hamites I have thanks to the recent rain. Also some sizable devils toenail oysters, not exciting but still noteworthy in size (no pics yet). The 14.5” oxy is missing the center, what a shame! Still a nice looking fossil. I took my friend Mercer with me, he helped me to realize this was actually a unique spot where Duck Creek, Fort Worth formation, and Kiamichi clay all meet and have exposure. Very interesting.
  8. At two different times this year (but at the same basic location), I found sense interesting ammonites that both contained other ammonites inside. This is near Johnson/Tarrant County borders in North Texas. The first shown is an eopachydiscus in fairly rough shape that has a hamite embedded. The second is a mortoniceras with two extremely tiny mortoniceras ammonites visible inside. I’m guessing the smaller ones settled on the ocean floor after the larger ones and actually ended up inside those larger ammonites? I am not an expert on these so I appreciate your input!
  9. Mikrogeophagus

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Medial Tooth

    From the album: Duck Creek Formation

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Medial Tooth, North TX Albian, Cretaceous July, 2023 For sure a top 3 shark tooth in my collection. The crown is in pristine condition and measures just over 15 mm across with a crown height of 10 mm! Sadly the root is chewed up unlike my lateral specimen.
  10. Mikrogeophagus

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Lateral Tooth

    From the album: Duck Creek Formation

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Lateral Tooth, North TX Albian, Cretaceous July, 2023 My best Paraptychodus in terms of root preservation. One of the most interesting features that distinguishes this genus from Ptychodus is the fact that the lingual sulcus and labial protuberance are absent from the crown. Instead, those characteristics are present within the root which is an ancestral condition that tells us a lot about their evolution. These specialized roots would interlock the teeth whereas later Ptychodontiformes had rather featureless roots that lost this function.
  11. Mikrogeophagus

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Posterior Tooth

    From the album: Duck Creek Formation

    Paraptychodus washitaensis, Posterior Tooth, North TX Albian, Cretaceous July, 2023
  12. Mikrogeophagus

    Indeterminate Turtle

    From the album: Duck Creek Formation

    Indeterminate Turtle Vert., North TX Albian, Cretaceous July, 2023
  13. These past few days, I've been running around North Texas to a handful of sites, some old some new. The reason for occasion was the arrival of a couple of our own forum members to the DFW metroplex, my current stomping grounds. I was excited to show off a few of my favorite sites and have the opportunity to explore something new in a short span of time. One of my first forum friends ( @Jackito ) had some work to do in Dallas along with a couple afternoons to kill for fossil hunting. I decided to take him to a couple of spots that had fossils unlike anything found down in Austin. Our first stop was at my new Woodbine outcrop one sunny evening. The pocket did not disappoint this time around and Carter found himself a nice Cretodus, Cretoxyrhina, and several croc teeth! I didn't have the most luck, but I've got a baggie of the rubble that is promising for micros or so I hope. We finished the final hour of sunlight at my ole Pawpaw site. I was hoping we could score a bunch of crab carapaces, but we got a bit skunked in that department. Plenty of complete Engonoceras ammonites and crab claws were had at least. I sent Carter off to a Kamp Ranch site for the following day. I haven't seen his finds from there just yet, but I heard it was a good hunt. Another forum member friend, @LSCHNELLE coincidentally visited DFW this weekend. Anyone familiar with him knows that he is the craziest ptychodus fanatic on the forum. He and I had been planning a Paraptychodus expedition for awhile and Saturday was set to be the day. Before that though, we made a visit to my Atco site in hopes of scoring some Early Coniacian Ptychodus. Sadly, we got completely skunked and almost had serious trouble when a giant tree limb fell just feet away from us. A Long Story Short Lee had some secret intel on a possible site where we could find the elusive Paraptychodus washitaensis, the oldest species of Ptychodontiformes. When we met up, I told him I had a good feeling about our chances to which he agreed. We spent the morning walking around the place looking for any indication that we were in the right area, but nothing seemed to match. After finding a whole lot of nothing three hours in, I could sense that we were both beginning to feel defeated. Instead of calling it quits there, however, we decided to change our focus and take a long shot at another spot. As we walked along the new outcrop, I searched the exposure while Lee poked through the talus. Things were going smoothly as we began to find the usual Duck Creek stuff including a pretty little shark tooth. The atmosphere was very serene, but that took a quick turn when I heard Lee excitedly shout, "PARAPTYCHODUS!". I almost couldn't believe it at first, but then I saw the unmistakable transverse ridges of the oldest Ptychodontiformes known to science. We were filled with a renewed energy and got straight back to hunting. Pretty soon I came across my own smaller Paraptychodus specimen and an extra half of a tooth on top. After a handful of smaller shark tooth discoveries we were nearing the end of Lee's visit as he had a long way to go back to Austin. We turned around and started making our way back the route we came. The majority of the fossils had been in the talus, but I took an ambitious path looking at the exposure. I focused on a darker spot of interest in the wall that I had initially written off as just another oyster. As I looked closer, I saw its wrinkled surface and hollered for Lee to come over. In my hands was a pristine and quite large Paraptychodus tooth! It was more than anything I could've hoped for! My best Paraptychodus washitaensis (mesial tooth) My first Paraptychodus washitaensis. Note the preserved root Posterior Paraptychodus washitaensis A vert I think is sea turtle? A strange fish jaw. Any ideas?
  14. Mikrogeophagus

    Goniophorus scotti

    From the album: Duck Creek Formation

    Goniophorus scotti, Tarrant Co. Albian, Cretaceous Apr, 2023 Scoped out my first Duck Creek site that wasn't all the way up in Texoma. I was surprised to find it had a micromorph zone complete with pyritic ammonites and this tiny echinoid. Fingers crossed it might have some sharks teeth too.
  15. freerangetraveler

    North Texas Creek Hunt

    Hello all, I spent the morning in one of our local creeks here in north Texas and pulled a partial ammonite fragment, a bivalve imprint and some sort of clam… With that said, I was wondering if anyone could help identify the clam species (last three photos) Cheers!
  16. Back in January I decided to check out the Ammonite Beach at Lake Texoma for the first time. The site is well known for its giant Duck Creek ammonites that can be found scattered all over the shoreline. The weather was surprisingly not that bad despite it being the winter. The water level was quite low and there was plenty of good ground to search along. During my time there, I had some success in finding my own ammonites which gave me an excuse to finally put my rock hammer to use. I stumbled upon some echinoids, but none of them were in all that great of condition, so I might need to head back again in the future to solve that issue. Lastly, there were some interesting fossil finds of stuff I didn't expect to be there (more on this later). A lot of the ammonites that come out of Texoma are encased in a decent amount of rock/mud. I have very little experience in any sort of prep work, so cleaning them up was my chance to try something new. My tools were a bit primitive (hammer and kitchen ice pick which got destroyed), but I managed to clean up an ammonite without breaking it for the first time. I didn't think to take a before pic, but the whole face was covered in hard matrix much like on the reverse side. Unfortunately, I made a lot of white scratch marks on it, but I'm mostly just relieved that it came out in one piece. Apologies if this hurts the eyes of any more experienced ammonite preppers reading this . It was a long process and I decided against cleaning up both sides as that seemed too risky of a prospect. I'm fairly certain it is one of those Mortoniceras given the pointy tubercles covering it. Once I finished that, I watched a Lake Texoma video made by "The Fossil Fiend" on YouTube. Even though this was a few weeks after my trip, my exact ammonite showed up on his video! I couldn't believe my eyes when he was pointing right at it as shown in the screen grab above. It's a perfect match to my second pic. What a funny coincidence! My brother and I hauled up a much larger ammonite as well. I'm going to try harder to not scratch this one. I managed to get some work done before winter break ended, but there's still a long way to go. This is gonna be a fun summer project. Beyond ammonites, I came across a plethora of smaller finds that I view to be just as interesting. Below is an overview of the coolest ones: 'A' and 'B' appear to be Leptostyrax macrorhiza? and Cretolamna appendiculta? respectively. I heard that sharks teeth were rarely found at Texoma so coming out with two of them in a single hunt was really exciting. Additionally, I found a piece of what I think is some sort of Cretaceous fish tooth (C). It's black and fairly reflective. A cross section of the tooth is like a football in shape. In other words, there are two edges that run opposite of one another from top to bottom while the rest is rounded. I tried to capture a photo of this, but had some difficulty. Here are some closeups: Something very unexpected was the large amount of pyritized microfossils to be found all over the shoreline, interspersed with the ammonites and echinoids. I had never heard of pyritized microfossils being at Texoma, so I was a bit confused as to why they were there and in such great numbers. It really did feel like I was back in the Waco Pit. I found pyritized ammonites, bivalves, and gastropods. I'm curious if anyone knows what formation they're from. I am under the impression that the whole area is Duck Creek formation, so is that simply what happens to smaller shelled fauna in that layer? The pyritized ammonite 'E' I have below somewhat resembles Mortoniceras, but I'm not sure if they come from vastly different points in time. 'F' reminds of me of a miniature Oxytropidoceras. 'D' is a pyritized heteromorph ammonite. I don't think heteromorph ammonites are known to come out of the Duck Creek, at least in larger form, which makes me think these pyrite fossils are from a different period. Really curious to hear what you guys think of all this! I covered them in wax to prevent degradation. That made it a little harder to pick out details, especially through a camera unfortunately. Here's some closeups: The last handful of fossils are just a sample of the fish verts and tiny oysters I came across: All in all, it was a fun trip - very different from the other sites I have been to. After learning of the huge presence of pyritized microfossils there, I get the impression that it's like having two sites in one; the Waco Pit and the more traditional Texoma famous for its beautiful ammonites/echinoids. Paired with its proximity to Post Oak Creek, I will definitely being taking more drives up there in the future when I'm back in DFW. As usual, let me know if you would like any additional close ups. Thanks for reading!
  17. Creek - Don

    North Texas shoe shaped bivalve

    I found these shoe shaped bivalves on highway roadcut near Justin, Tx. I think I've seen these before, but forgot the name though. Can anybody put a name to these bivalves? They were found on limestore layer above the grey clay layer. Fort Worth Limestone and Duck Creek Formation undivided. They measure around 6 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches/15.24cm x 8.89 cm.
  18. Hey everyone! I thought I'd share a few of my finds from the past couple months and get yall's opinions. Over winter break, I went back home to North Texas and did some searching around Ammonite Beach at Texoma and the NSR with my family. At Texoma I had a nice time hammering out a few ammonites, collecting teeth, and surprisingly finding lots of smaller, pyritized ammonites that I did not expect to be there. The NSR was a bit slower, but I at least got a nice Squalicorax as shown in the pics below. Since school has started, I've been down in Austin. I've been finding the usual stuff, but the pyritized disk I've attached is new to me. I'd love to hear what you guys think! Austin Finds: Pictured above is the pyritized disk and a pyritized clam found in a gravel bar next to what I believe to be an Ozan exposure. The area has a decent amount of the pyritized clams and other marine fossils that I assume are cretaceous in age given the local geology. My initial reaction was that it could be a vertebrae, but the bulging center and distorted shape throws me off. It has very apparent concentric rings on both its faces. In pics 1 and 3, you can see that underneath that outside layer there is a lot of pyrite. Parts of the edges are also pyritized while other sections have an iron concretion look to them. The face shown on pic 2 resembles and feels like petrified wood. I suppose this could be a pyrite sun, but I'm not seeing anything too similar to what I have on google images. Super interested in what you guys have to say! Texoma Tooth (left) and NSR Tooth (right) Left (Leptostyrax macrorhiza?): Pretty tooth found by my little brother at Texoma in the Duck Creek Formation. Did some quick googling and found that Leptostyrax macrorhiza was in that formation and saw some pictures that were similar to what I have. Right (Squalicorax): Had a bit of a slow day at the NSR, but managed to at least find this at the end of my cold, muddy adventure there. It's preserved very nicely. Looks like Squalicorax to me. Would love to know the species. If you guys would like any additional closeup pics feel free to let me know! I might share some of my other finds later on, but I don't want to inundate the forum with my rocks lol. Thanks for reading.
  19. Mikrogeophagus

    Leptostyrax macrorhiza

    From the album: Favorites

    Shark. Leptostyrax macrorhiza from Texoma, Duck Creek Formation. 1/8/22
  20. Mikrogeophagus

    Mortoniceras

    From the album: Favorites

    Ammonite. Mortoniceras from Texoma, Duck Creek Formation. 1/8/22
  21. OK, I missed the Fossil Friday post by a day. The cold weather lately has kept me indoors and away from fossil exploration, so here is a partial prep of a partial ammonite from the Lake Texhoma Duck creek fm. Prepping something no true separation of "fossil" and matrix is quite challenging, especially considering how well they can, at times, weather out and become separated naturally. The matrix seems to be getting harder to separate as I move toward smaller sections. I can make out that this does have the inner whorls , so I dont want to blow them out. This has really slowed me down on this prep. It seems like my larger scribe (with a blunter tip) is doing better at removing the matrix than my smaller CP9160 which is a lot more prone to just piercing through.
  22. hadrosauridae

    Texas-sized ammonites

    Happy Fossil Friday everyone! In today's video offering, I sneak across the border into Texas to hunt for those Texas-sized ammonites, and I met another YouTuber on the way.
  23. hadrosauridae

    Video of Lake Texoma hunt

    Fossil Friday! Today's FF video post is from Lake Texoma. We made our first ever trip to lake Texoma to search the duck creek formation for ammonites. After much research and planning, we arrived to find we could not access the locations we wanted, so we ended up scouting around. It turned out well and we found some great fossils including ammonites, oysters, clams and echinoids.
  24. hadrosauridae

    Texoma Duckcreek fm hunt

    Yesterday, my son and I finally made a day-trip to Lake Texoma for some fossil hunting. We've been wanting to make this trip for while, but it can be difficult between both our jobs and weather, and lake levels. I planned for this trip by searching the google maps for good looking locations with a nearby shore access. Unfortunately, one spot turned into a private drive, and the other was closed off by the Corps of Engineers for some unknown reason. We didnt want to hit the same spot that everyone else goes to so we began just driving and looking. The first place we stopped was a gravel bar in creek. When I drove over the bridge and saw the bar, I immediately made a u-turn. I'm sure that this has been searched, but it didnt disappoint. There were a lot of Gryphaea in the marl walls as well as gravel. We found a couple large segments of ammonites and eventually found a small, complete ammonite, about 2 inches in diameter. Then we drove around the lake roads until we found a likely looking shoreline, which fortunately was only a short walk to the exposure. Hunting started slow, and we could see a couple piles of rejects left by other hunters. But we stayed optimistic and kept searching in depth, and then the finds started to show up. There were huge Gryphaea everywhere, many were 1-1/2" long. I eventually got tired of picking them up. There were huge oysters, but they were mostly broken. I did find a smaller one, about 4 inches across. Then there were many partial ammonites and finally several complete ones. Our favorite finds were the echinoids! I found the first one, and then my son found 3 more, all close together. Some of the ammonites are still imbedded in matrix, and I'm hopeful they will prep out cleanly. One of the small partials I have started trying to prep is having problems. Some of it come out clean, but some spot dont seem to have any separation plane between matrix and fossil (which is a steinkern anyway).
  25. low temp geochemistry

    Duck Creek Fm fossil mystery

    I'm stumped on this find. Interesting line of symmetry runs through the fossil. Found in approximate location of a 2' diameter turtle back shell. It's not a bivalve I've ever seen. Sure looks like a vertebrae however the spinal cord would not have been closed on the anterior. What is it? Suggestions?
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