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I was able to get out to Purse State Park this morning for a Maryland Paleocene (Aquia Formation) hunt. I usually prefer the nearby Douglas Point when I hit the Potomac River but I decided to give Purse a try as I haven't been to that stretch in a while. I was the second car in the lot but first on the beach, which is always the best way to start the fossil day. My first good find--a croc tooth, though the enamel is very worn: Followed by an Otodus -- also quite worn but a decent size for the site (approx. 1.25"): It really turned into a gorgeous day! Can you spot the bald eagle? My find of the day: I've been finding ratfish material on most trips lately, but just small fragments. This is my first mostly complete tooth plate. Something interesting in the water... Multiple Otoduses always makes for a very good day. Like the other one (and all of my shark teeth today), this one's river worn. A good sized croc tooth: I did a fair amount of walking and exploring along the shoreline and didn't see too many people along the way, but the entrance to the beach was quite packed by the time I headed for the exit. Thanks for reading!
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- aquia formation
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I've wanted to put together an artificial tooth set of Striatolamia striata from the Aquia Formation in Maryland for a while given the abundance of that species in the formation. Until recently, though, I was missing a lot of the less commonly collected tooth positions--extreme posteriors, intermediates, and first lower anteriors. After searching through several gallons of Potomac River gravels over the last couple of months, I finally filled in the gaps. I put together the tooth set below a few days ago and just finished mounting them in a riker box I received in the mail yesterday. I used the Striatolamia macrota artificial tooth set on elasmo.com as my guide. I'm sure some of the teeth in my reconstruction are out of place, including some of the upper or lower teeth possibly being from the opposite jaw instead. I couldn't properly size match the intermediates and first lower anteriors, but can always swap in replacements if I find them. One of the extreme posteriors is also reversed in the display (labial side showing rather than lingual like the rest) as I'm still missing a tooth from that position. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the result. This is my first artificial tooth set, and it was a fun project that taught me a lot about tooth positions! Here's the full tooth set -- the largest teeth in the display are just over an inch long: Left and right sides: Quadrants: The final riker display:
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- aquia formation
- maryland
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I went out to Douglas Point (Paleocene, Aquia Formation) in Maryland yesterday and found a couple of unusual shark teeth. The tooth on the left is about 1.5 cm long and I'm pretty sure is a pathological Striatolamia striata. The tooth on the right looks a bit like an Otodus obliquus or Cretalamna appendiculata to me. Since it's only 1 cm long, Cretalamna might be the better guess. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the IDs. Thanks! Here are some more views of the sand tiger on the left. The root is both relatively large and very flat. It appears to be chipped in a couple of spots as marked in the top middle photo below. There is a small cusplet on one side but not on the other. This is perhaps the most peculiar-looking tooth I've found. And here are more views of the "Otodus/Cretalamna". The blade is a bit wavy and might perhaps be pathological too.
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- aquia formation
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I made it out to Douglas Point on the Potomac River yesterday morning for a chilly Maryland Paleocene (Aquia Formation) fossil hunt. Temperatures started in the upper 20s Fahrenheit and eventually climbed into the more comfortable 40s though by that time the tide had substantially come in. The banks of the river were ice free but the sand was hard packed and frozen. The pickings were fairly slim by this site's standards, which means I found dozens rather than hundreds of shark teeth over roughly 4 hours. No spectacular finds on this trip, though I found a decent enough variety, and a few less common things including my second partial ratfish plate and a couple of partial ray plates. Though cold, it was extremely peaceful on the banks of the Potomac just after sunrise. My phone battery really hates the cold so I wasn't able to capture too many in situ shots, but here are a few. The two shark teeth are from the ever abundant sand tiger Striatolamia striata. It was actually a pretty gorgeous day by the end--just not the right tide conditions by then for fossil hunting! Below are a few shots of some of my better/less common finds. From left to right -- Paraorthacodus clarkii (this one's pretty worn down unfortunately), Cretalamna appendiculata (not too uncommon and this one's tip is chipped, but if I'm not to going to find an Otodus, I at least want to find a Cretalamna!), a nice Palaeohypotodus rutoti, Squatina prima, and (I think) Jaekelotodus robustus: The two partial ray plates and a piece of turtle shell: The partial ratfish plate, a Turritella sp. steinkern (these are common finds except this is the first one I've found that's hollow and made of ironstone vs. the more usual sedimented material), two shark/ray verts, and a small bony fish vert: Thanks for looking!
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- aquia formation
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Managed to get out last week to Purse to collect the low tide. After talking to a couple of nice game wardens at the lot, I headed down to the river. Turns out I had the place to myself. Conditions were very good and the sun came out after a week of nasty winter weather. My hopes were high! Well, being in no particular hurry, I was able to look at every square inch of beach and every slump pile. But I didn't find a lot, and nothing I found was spectacular. I did collect a few pretty teeth and some bits of bone, but nothing big. Just one of those days. I did share some teeth with a lady and her young kids out collecting for the first time, so that was a plus. My meagre finds looked awesome to them, so I guess it's all about perspective!
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Found this cool little jaw fragment last week on the Potomac in a section that has mostly Aquia paleocene exposure but also has some eocene and miocene. There is a very tiny unerupted tooth in one of the sockets which I hope will help with ID. It's hard to get a good image but the tooth looks flattish with a rounded tip, not conical and not pointy. Any ideas?
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I was going to do some more exploring of new areas (trying to find a Calvert exposure until I can get the boat in the water since everything’s closed) but I decided to go back here yet again. I made a pretty good decision I think because I found a bunch of shark teeth that are of decent size, and a killer shark and fish vertebrae. I also found a small block of Calvert formation here too, and I found a lot of it exposed on another piece of land a few weeks ago, but then turned around after seeing a bunch of “no trespassing” signs posted all up and down. Go figure. So until I find another viable area, I may just keep coming back here, particularly since it’s giving me fantastic fossils. Here’s the spoils from yesterday. Shark vertebrae from the site. Very small! Here’s the fish vert, biggest and nicest one I’ve found there. Here’s some teeth, including goblin/sand tiger, a hound tooth, and a mystery tooth that may be a posterior from the sharks listed above. Anyways. that’s about it from the site. Every time I visit I always walk away with something nice. Hopefully, I can find some good Calvert formation that’s close to DC before it gets too warm.
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I recently brought home a gallon bag of Potomac River gravels (Paleocene, Aquia Formation), and have been searching through them for micros using my new digital microscope (the quite reasonably priced Plugable USB 2.0 Digital Microscope, which several others on TFF have recommended). I've found a number of shark teeth and have tentatively IDed many of them, though would appreciate corrections or confirmations, as well as thoughts on the unidentified ones. The tick marks in all of the photos below are millimeters. Thanks in advance for your help! 1. Abdounia beaugei 2. Galeorhinus sp. -- half the tooth is missing so may of course be unidentifiable 3. Squalus minor 4. Another Squalus minor 5. Megasqualus orpiensis 6. Triakis sp. 7. Possibly Premontreia degremonti? 8. Possibly Odontaspis winkleri? 9. No idea 10. Unidentified sand tiger 11. Unidentified sand tiger 12. Unidentified sand tiger 13. Unidentified sand tiger
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- aquia formation
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This is from a two day trip to the same creek. The first trip I found some clues that there may be big teeth here due to the large ray plates I found (the first day was mostly rays so you can tell them apart kinda). I found a few small shark teeth and I called it a day. The next morning, I set out for the creek yet again and I knew I made a good decision because I was going to explore a new place. Sometimes it’s good to explore something uncharted another day. I found a lot of teeth including this beauty that tooth was absolutely flawless and came right out the formation. I found a lot more shark teeth among side it while sifting and a couple small fish vertebrae which are cool because you can’t get them with the 1/4 inch mesh. I also found a nice piece of otodus that is pathological and would have been wicked if it was complete. the backside here is where it shows it’s deformities. It looks broken but I’m further inspection the enamel is still there but the tooth itself is real jacked up. I also found a large shark vertebra and a piece of reptile bone since whales didn’t exist in this time period yet. This is all the stuff, including some petrified wood from the Cretaceous formation. I hope you guys enjoyed it! I hope to one day find a nice complete rib or maybe even a skull there.
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So, I know bone fragments are notoriously hard / impossible to fully identify. Unfortunately, they are my favorite things to pick up I am happy with most of my collection remaining unknown, but there are a couple pieces I feel may have more identifying characteristics? I'm very new to identifying fossils so please let me know if its something obvious or if they aren't even bone fragments to begin with! I will describe each piece and then post photos below. 1. Found at Douglas Point, Nanjemoy WMA in Maryland. Less than an inch long, black, grooved, shiny, looks a lot like many of my other little "unidentifiable" pieces except for a small section of serrations on one edge. Are they teeth? They all seem to be one form, if that makes sense, not individual teeth like shark teeth. 2. Found at Douglas Point, Nanjemoy WMA in Maryland. This one is the most "bone-looking" of the three, but I've read that the only large vertebrates in this area and time period were turtles and crocodiles. Its a strange shape, the bottom is rather concave like some kind of joint, or maybe a scute? I have no idea, I even wondered if it was a modern bone but it has the solid / rock-like feel of a fossil. 3. Found at Flags Pond, Maryland, part of the Calvert Cliffs formation. This is the most confusing to me. I can't even decide if its supposed to be a bone fragment or not, let alone a fossil. Its not black like most of my other bone fragments and is very porous but in a different way than the other pieces. It has the heavy rock-like weight and sound to it though. My first thought was weird rock, then weird coral? Then I thought, I don't know, maybe a bone? I've seen pictures of fossil bones online with similar color / texture but the shape is... strange. I'm very unfamiliar with aquatic mammal anatomy- which is what I'm assuming this would be if it is indeed a bone and not some strange rock or coral. I'm not looking for species identification or anything specific, but any thoughts or info on these guys would be nice to hear, especially so I can compare to what I find in the future. Love the shark teeth but its really cool to find things that aren't sharks too. Even just confirmation or not that they are fossils to begin with haha. Also let me know if I should add photos from different angles / more detailed shots, I didn't want to put too many images in one post. Thank you in advance and maybe I will post some of my less confusing collection soon
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It's been nearly two years since last I posted, but I'm back with one of my latest creations, a lifesize replica of a bone from Titanoboa cerrejonensis. The smaller bone next to it is a vertebra from a(n estimated) 10-12-foot anaconda which I used for reference. Enjoy!
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Paleocene Plant Fossils of North Dakota (A Visual Post)
Thomas.Dodson posted a topic in Member Collections
Paleocene plants in Central North Dakota are among the first fossils I've collected. Despite this I haven't given them the attention they are due lately. The preservation is very nice but due to various reasons they've taken a back seat to other outcrops in the state like the Cretaceous ones and I haven't thought about them for awhile. I am now reorganizing some of my Paleocene collection and a spark was reignited in me. I've decided to post some of the best examples here as a result. Come spring hopefully I can collect in additional Fort Union sites. The terrestrial Paleocene deposits I've collected in all belong to the Fort Union Group, mostly the Sentinel Butte Formation and the Bullion Creek Formation. I see that some sources now list the Fort Union Group as a formation and the Sentinel Butte and Bullion Creek as members but for the purposes of this post I'll treat it as a group. First, petrified wood is a common constituent of the Fort Union Group. Some of the wood is rather spectacular though. Silicified patterns are often striking. This piece is Sentinel Butte Formation.
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- bullion creek formation
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I found both of these on the Potomac in a unique site with Paleocene Eocene AND Miocene exposures. I was not able to identify them, does anyone know what they could be?
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Hi all, I just made my first trip out to Purse State Park/Nanjemoy WMA in Maryland. I found quite a lot of sand tiger teeth, but a couple pieces I could use some help to ID. I’ve got a photo of all of them and some close-ups of each one. #1 is clearly bone, and I suspect reptile, but turtle or crocodile? #2 appears to have some glossy enamel covering on one part but is this a severely damaged shark tooth or something else? #3 had more of a tortuous, twisted crown than any of the sand tigers I found. Could this still be sand tiger or possibly goblin shark? #4 looks like it could be part of a plastron? #5 I at first thought was part of a ray dental plate but could it also be a plastron fragment? #6 I’m fairly sure is Cretolamna spp. but wanted to confirm. Thanks for any help!
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A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I decided to take advantage of the unusually warm December weather in Northern Virginia to visit the historic Stratford Hall and make a couple quick stops at the Miocene deposits in Westmoreland State Park and Stratford Hall and the Paleocene deposits in Purse State Park. To say the least, this trip was planned a bit on a whim. I was thoroughly unprepared - lacking boots or waders and having to buy a cheap plastic colander at Target to do some sifting. Luckily the Potomac River was cold, but not that cold, so I was able to wade out in my bare feet up to about my knees. This was also my first time collecting along the Potomac and I totally messed up the tide tables. By the time we made it to Purse State Park, it was high tide. There is little to no beach exposed at Purse at high tide, so my hope to do some surface collecting for larger shark teeth went totally out the window. Lesson learned! I ultimately brought home two gallons of gravel to sort through. Almost all of my finds are from that micro matrix. As expected there were a lot of broken shark teeth and ray teeth. I only included here the ones that I decided to keep. I tried very hard to identify these small teeth from Purse. I am sure @MarcoSr and others who know these sites far better than me will tell me that I got everything wrong. Here is a photo my girlfriend took of me wading out in the Potomac at Westmoreland State Park. You can see that my legs had grown red and numb from the cold water Our finds from Westmoreland State Park. We collected here for only about 45 minutes. We found three requiem shark teeth (Carcharhinus egertoni), a lemon shark tooth (Negaprion eurybathrodono), a tiger-like shark tooth (Physogaleus contortus), a sharpnose shark tooth (Rhizoprionodon fischeuri), and several pieces of whale bone. After spending several hours at the museum and plantation house at Stratford Hall, we made our way to the Fossil Beach at Stratford Hall. To my surprise we were the only ones there. Here are our finds after about 40 minutes of collecting. We found two snaggletooth shark teeth (Hemipristis serra), a requiem shark tooth (Carcharhinus egertoni), an eagle ray medial tooth (Myliobatis sp.), and several pieces of whale bone. Our finds at Purse State Park were much more varied, including both shark teeth and invertebrates. Although shark teeth and the occasional crocodile tooth are the real highlights of the Aquia Formation, I was excited to find these four nearly complete Ostrea alepidota oysters with both valves. An interesting Pitar pyga steinkern Some Turritella sp. steinkern pieces Paralbula marylandica Scomberomorus sp. An unknown bone fragment, probably bony fish Cow-Nose Ray Medial Teeth (Rhinoptera sp.) Eagle Ray Medial Teeth (Myliobatis sp.) Eagle Ray Lateral Teeth (Myliobatis sp.) Angel Shark (Squatina prima) Tope Shark (Galeorhinus sp.)
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From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2c Section (Бяла 2c) Danian, 0-25m above the K-Pg boundary -
From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2b Section (Бяла 2b) Danian, 0-45m above the K-Pg boundary -
From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2b Section (Бяла 2b) Danian, 0-45m above the K-Pg boundary -
From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2b Section (Бяла 2b) Danian, 0-45m above the K-Pg boundary -
From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2c Section (Бяла 2c) Danian, 0-25m above the K-Pg boundary -
From the album: Bulgaria - Echinoids
5-12-2020 Byala, Bulgaria Byala 2c Section (Бяла 2c) Danian, 0-25m above the K-Pg boundary -
Ok I think I’m gonna be posting fairly regularly on this site from now on. So I’m a DC native, which means that the amount of fossils in dc are mostly sparse. However, neighboring PG county is a hotbed for all types of stuff! In the future, I’ll post my dinosaur stuff from here (still on my bucket list to find a tooth). In the mean time, I’ve just recently came back from southern PG county and I came away with some pretty cool stuff. The shells that come out of this creek are to die for. They’re some of the most intresting I’ve ever seen! But what I’m really excited about are the shark teeth! I couldn’t believe that just 10 minutes from the border of DC, you could find shark teeth here! I’m gonna go back here on Saturday hopefully to go find more teeth. I’m most interested in gathering the silt from this site and searching for micros because my micro collection is lacking. Anyways, here’s all the finds from this place. Oh, and I’m getting the smallest of my teeth from that fine clay down there, believe me my camera cannot capture how small these teeth are they’re like 1 mm big!
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I recently took a trip to Purse State Park, MD, U.S. and found this tooth fossil that I cannot identify. Because of the location (Potomic River), I assume it is Paleocene era. The fossil is 13 mm (0.5 inches) across. The pictures are of each side. Please help me identify this fossil.
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One of my boys found this item while we were hunting at Douglas Point on the Potomac today. I think it could be a coprolite, maybe from a croc, but I am not experienced enough to know. Can anybody say yeah or nay?
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- coprolite
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Over the weekend, I decided to take a trip to the Santa Monica mountains for a hike and a fossil hunt. There was information about the site in "NEW UPPER PALEOCENE SPECIES OF THE BIVALVE PLICATULA FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA" by Richard L. Squires and Louella R. Saul, which contains Late Paleocene marine life. This is probably a good opportunity to warn fellow hunters that it is not a smart idea to go quickly up a canyon in near 100 degree heat. Under the early afternoon sun I walked too quickly and made the mistake of not pacing out the hike! Despite plenty of water intake I was still lightheaded by the time I found the site, and a little dizzy. I rested in the shade immediately and ate the lunch I had packed while cooling off. Then I got to work examining the scree for a while before heading down the canyon to my sweet AC. The spot: Unfortunately, not much caught my eye this time. Marine fossils I took home: While splitting, these concretions popped out. Anybody know what they are? I've been enjoying rearranging them. Lower left may contain a fossil, I'll send closer pictures if anybody wants to see. As well as this, which I believe is one of the above split open. It has a ringed, deviled egg quality. I found a similar piece in the Badlands of SD and was surprised to come across this here. If there's a technical name I'd really like to know it! Do pack plenty of water if you hunt around here for the next month or so, you'll be doing yourself a big favor. And go slow!
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