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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.

After posting my trip report last week, these two partial ammonites pictured are without identification yet. Can anyone give me a suggestion as to their identity? They were beach finds on the Oklahoma side of the lake.

As I was heading home from vacation in Oklahoma I heard that may large ammonite specimens were found at Lake Texoma. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to obtain some nice sized ammonite specimens I drove two hours out of my way. When I arrived I realized how massive Lake Texoma is and decided to rent a kayak to aid in my search for ammonites. Pushing my kayak out into the lake I paddled at a nice leisurely pace. After realizing that going slow was going to put a large dent in my wallet ($50 an hour) I decided to pick up the pace. I quickly paddle straight out to the opposite side of the lake. Finally, after 30 minutes of paddling I arrived on the shore hauling my kayak onto the shore I quickly unpacked my trusty hammer and chisel and set off down the beach. Finding nothing but a few large (and scary) spiders amongst the marl I headed down the beach in the opposite direction. Climbing the precarious rocks, I eventually found a few small specimens, but they were nowhere near the size of the rumored “monster” ammonites. As the sun was setting I stumbled upon an extremely well-preserved ammonite and decided to extract it. Unfortunately time was not on my side and the sun began to sink lower into the skies. Picking up the pace I eventually removed the top layer of the ammonite. Taking my prizes I made my way back to the kayak and pushing off once again I paddled back to the dock. Though it may not have been the “monster” I was hoping for I still got what I had (mostly) come for.

It’s been a while, but now I’ve got something worth posting about that I’d like identified. :) Took a trip to Lake Texoma yesterday and my husband found this. My guess is some kind of bivalve, but I’m hoping that someone here has a little more knowledge.

I’m planning my return trip to Lake Texoma and I was wondering if y’all had any suggestions for tools to bring. Preferably batter-powered (no generator) and powerful enough to excavate large ammonites from hard limestone. Explosives, battery acid, and hydrochloric acid are out of the question. I’d settle for gas-powered tools, but only as a last resort.

Just got home from a sorrowful trip to Texas. I stopped at the Denison Dam on Lake Texoma for a relaxing hunt. I did find some oysters (brought one home for my grandson), and found a nice exterior mold of an ammonite. However, there was one piece I saw and photographed that I'm not sure what it was. I'd have brought it home, but I noticed two cottonmouths too close for comfort. The object was approximately 6"×10" (15×24 cm). Although it was in jumbled rip-rap, I believe it from the Duck Creek Formation. I hope the photo is clear enough.

I believe these were found in the Lake Texoma area. Any suggestions on what they are and how I might remove some of the sediment would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello everyone! 8 months ago I drove across the country and stopped at Ladonia fossil park. I had a great time but only got a few hours in, and now I'm planning to head back to Texas sometime next month to do some more searching. I know that the fossil park is picked through pretty well, so I'm wondering if anyone has advice for other places to visit in the general area? I hope to be near the Dallas area for several days and am more than willing to travel/hike a good distance. I'm primarily interested in ammonites, echinoderms, and - if at all possible - finding a mosasaur tooth. Any tips would be hugely appreciated!

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.

Spent Saturday afternoon visiting Lake Texoma and Post Oak Creek. Overall not a bad day. Found some decent ammonite and rare Paraisurus tooth at the Texoma. Also found nice shark tooth from the Post Oak creek. Always nice size ammonites exposed on the surface at the Ammonite Beach. Water levels pretty low. About 6 feet under. Nice looking Paraisurus tooth from the Duck Creek Lake Texoma. Last time I found one was back in 2019. This was a nice find for me. Nice decent shark & fish teeth from Post Oak. I found all these within first 15 minutes I got there, but then nothing. For less than an hour, not too bad!.

Hello all, My since we just went through Hurricane Sally, my wife said I need to get out and go collecting. Who am I to argue! So I'm planning a trip to north Texas to collect. I would appreciate and help from y'all to point me in the right direction. I have been to Lake Texoma and the Jacksboro once, briefly, in the past and really had a great time there. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Duck Creek oyster ID please. This was the only one found in this area. I found numerous other early Cretaceous bivalves in Lake Texoma like Amphidonte walkeri, Graphea, Neithea.

I made a trip to the Lake Texoma area yesterday, to hunt a Duck Creek outcropping on a bluff. This was one of those trips that turned into more of an adventure than I bargained for. The hike from where I had to park was a lot longer and more arduous than I anticipated (it always looks easy on a satellite image, doesn't it?), and it ended up being one of those situations where I just couldn't come back the way I went in. So, I ended up getting lost, and hiking a much further distance on the return, with a heavy backpack. I should have taken a moment to mark on gps where I parked the van, and didn't do it. I won't make that mistake again. Even when you don't have wifi or cell coverage (and I didn't), gps works, and I'll use it better from now on. I wouldn't have been able to make anything close to a straight line hike back to the van, but would have done a lot better than I did. When you end up making an unexpectedly long hike with a heavy backpack on a humid ninety something degree day in July in Oklahoma, you run out of water. That iced tea in my lunch ice chest in the van was very welcome when I finally got back to it. This is a great fossil hunting spot, but I think I'm putting it on my list of spots for milder weather times of the year. Once I reached the bluff, I couldn't believe how many large ammonite fragments there were. Every five steps I took, I saw another, and took over thirty photos in short order. Here are a few representative photos. Keep in mind that chisel is 12 inches (30 cm) long.

The back end of our vacation plans got blown out of the water by covid19 so we are making some adjustments. Currently we are slated to be at Theissen quarry in OK in late June. Any chance the water at Lake Texoma is low enough to make it worth the ride? Or any other suggestions in that general region? I am heading east/northeast for home in PA after.

I posted this while back, but no ID yet. I'm thinking this is a Xiphactinus vertebrae. Anybody agree?

I found this a while back, and now I'm wondering if it could be a stromatolite. Though, it could just be some sedimentary formation. It was found in the red river/lake texoma in texas. Any thoughts or insight would be much appreciated, thank you! In the second photo, I sanded a bit of the side to show the layering.

Found these next to the creeks in nearby Lake Texoma. I'm thinking this maybe the heteromorph ammos, but not quiet sure. Thing I have noticed are tight coil patterns that are not present on these ammo pieces.

I found these two oysters few weeks ago near Lake Texoma ( Early Cretaceous). Still trying to figure out what it is. I saw a similar oyster called Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806) , but not 100% sure. I see a paper published for Pycnodonte vesicularis that was found in S. America. An assessment of latest Cretaceous Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806) shells as records for palaeoseasonality: a multi-proxy investigation https://www.clim-past.net/14/725/2018/cp-14-725-2018.pdf

Can someone please identify this for me It's from Lake Texoma, Grayson county, TX. Found Nov. 2019

What is this? I found these pieces next to a creek on duck creek formation nearby Lake Texoma. It appears to be a shell, but doesn't look like any other shells I found elsewhere.

I found some vertebrae and tooth from a creek that were flowing next to the Lake Texoma today. Those tooth looks like shark or fish tooth. Not sure about the vertebrae though. It appears to be a cretaceous fish. Also on long tooth, not sure whether that's a fish or not. All of these were found next to washed out duck creek grey sediment.

Found small sea urchin next to the ammonite in Lake Texoma Duck creek formation over the weekend. While I was cleaning the sea urchin, I noticed something that caught my eyes. It appears to be a small worm that lived in Cretaceous sea, gotten attached to the sea urchin and fossilized at the same time. Anybody familiar with sea worms like this?

Over winter break, I decided to head north for some fossil hunting. In particular, I wanted to find a complete ammonite for my collection. In the past I have only found pieces. So I went to Lake Texoma and was happy to see that recent rains didn't make the excursion pointless. It was a little brisk at 40 degrees and a 10 mph wind from the north. The first ammonite I found was complete, easy to excavate, and entirely too large to make the hike back to the car enjoyable. So I left it behind for the next person willing to haul 30-40 lbs. back to the parking lot. The next ammonite fell within my weight specifications, and appeared to be encased in relatively soft situ. I excavated it within a few minutes. Here are a few more that I found on the same trip.