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I cannot believe I’m writing another trip report so soon, let alone for another track, but here we are! A couple weeks ago, I wrote a report on the Lower Cretaceous Patuxent Formation tracks I had found. I spend much time exploring the Cretaceous of mostly Maryland by way of the Lower Cretaceous Potomac Group and also the Maastrictian Severn Formation. I enjoy learning and exploring those formations very much, but my main area of research is on the Culpeper Basin of Virginia, as some of you may already know. The Culpeper Basin is the northernmost Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic basin in Virginia, part of the Newark Supergroup. I live in northern VA, so this is the closest fossil-bearing strata to me. The only problem is that the VA basins are largely unexplored, and the Culpeper Basin is by far the least known. Not only has it been largely untapped, but it is far more difficult to collect than the other basins. It doesn’t produce often, and when it does, it’s fairly random. There are no localities in this region of the basin so far that regularly produce high quality Triassic fossils, as some of the other Triassic basins on the East Coast do. However, like I said, this is the closest fossiliferous formation to my house, and I always wanted to fulfill my dream of finding fossils “right in my backyard”, which I never anticipated being possible until the last couple years. What makes my search even more difficult is that much of my scouting, field work, research, and informal mapping has been in the Fairfax County/Loudoun County area, the northernmost part of the Culpeper Basin in VA. Most of the success in the basin has occurred farther south, in the far reaches of the aforementioned counties as well as beyond them. I am hunting a very unknown, difficult part of the basin because it’s closest to home and easy to scout on the average day. I frequently visit sites on the way back from errands. Many of you already know of my relationship with Dr. Rob Weems. I met him initially because of my various Patuxent footprints but much of our meetings have been geared towards discussing the Culpeper Basin and he has been invaluable to me in learning the stratigraphy and paleoecology of the region. I started my research and pursuit of fossils in the Culpeper Basin over a year and a half ago based on stories mentioned by him. I was so inexperienced at the time with research methods and my understanding of geology. For months, I would visit sites I thought could have been productive and find nothing, largely because I didn’t know what I was doing. It was very frustrating, and I am ashamed to admit that it made me want to give up on the Basin. I remember my mother asking how my research was going and I told her that I thought the Basin was “uncollectable and not worth spending any more time on. Maybe I would come back to it after a long break.” Well, I did get that break, I wasn’t able to spend any time researching the Basin this spring during my busy semester at school. I think it gave me the time I needed to take a fresh start, because this summer, I hit the ground running! I decided I wanted to start researching the Basin again, but with a far better approach. I told myself that it didn’t matter what I found or didn’t find, I was learning for the sake of educating myself on the local stratigraphy and potentially adding to the collective knowledgebase of the Culpeper Basin. This approach gave me far greater patience for any empty-handed returns from field work. In a way, it has become my own research project on the side. I began re-reading the literature I had found in the past year, literature that documented many previous finds and conclusions, primarily from the previous century. As it turns out, scientific literature never ceases to teach you new things over repeat readings. Either that, or I’m a terrible reader and I missed crucial details. I started making important revelations regarding the local stratigraphy and started visiting some old sites and some new with a fresh set of eyes and mind. Instantly, I began to have success. I found some naturally occurring exposures, which are very rare in the area due to development. I started to notice lithological differences I never realized before, so I could tell exactly where I was in the stratigraphic column. I started to finally find my very first fossils, which were all plant material. These finds set the stage for my recent success. I will take a moment here to mention that I have finally understood what goes in to finding your own sites the hard way, from start to finish. When I joined this forum, I was told (and read) about the process of finding your own sites through lots of research and the satisfaction one gets when it finally pays off. I’m finally experiencing that satisfaction! However, the battle is not won. I have chosen a really difficult region to search, and the finds are often random and uncorrelated. I can’t stop here, I have to continue so I can find more. The Culpeper Basin houses several local members of the Passaic Formation. One such member is the Balls Bluff Siltstone. This is the only member of the Basin that offers the chance to find bone material. I was hooked by the possibility of finding bones here in N. VA, and I have focused most of my research on the Balls Bluff. Following old discoveries from literature, I selected a few areas that would logically expose the Balls Bluff and possibly yield bones. One such location was the site of very recent development that has just about finished up. The development has left a lot of Triassic red bed material scattered around the banks of a creek and wetland area. I found this locality over a year ago because of the development and obvious presence of Triassic rock but never found anything. I revisited the locality at the beginning of the summer, searched more carefully, and found this: This is the impression of a cycad leaf with two possible trace marks above and below (the upraised ovals). It was a significant find for me because I hadn’t found anything legitimate from the site till now. But it was an interesting discovery because this is actually not the Balls Bluff. This rock shows a thinly bedded luster-y smooth surface showing trace fossils. This is more likely to be the Groveton Member of the Culpeper Basin, known for its footprints and other trace fossils in frequently mud-cracked red beds and thin grey shallow lake strata. This was rather far East for a significant presence of the Groveton, but still possible. I thought it was odd but didn’t think much of it. Fast-forward to this past Friday. I unexpectedly had an afternoon to kill on my own and it was a mild weather day, quite surprisingly. I went back to the locality for the first time since early June when I found the above fossil. I have been busy, so I had been studying a few sites closer to home. But with the free afternoon, I took the chance to revisit this locality. Previously, I had been searching the northern reaches of this wetland area, closer to the main road and where I parked. I had the thought to push further south along the creek just to see what was there, and thank goodness I did. I was immediately greeted with this sight: Exactly the red material I was looking for. Perhaps there may be some larger rocks nearby to look through. I got closer and started to see washes like this: I thought this may be a promising area to search for bone material, but I started to notice lots of thinly bedded rock: These rocks are clearly that Groveton-type track/trace preserving strata. There’s a lot more of it here, clearly establishing the presence of multiple lithologies more than a few anomalies. It seems I found access to a whole layer disturbed by past development. You can see the usual suspects of this bedding surface present on these two pieces. The raindrops or possible burrows are there on the first piece, and sedimentary structures are there on the second. You are welcome to speculate on the second piece, however. I couldn’t conclusively make out any tracks but I thought it looked odd. I didn’t collect it, so hopefully it’s nothing. I made my way to the top of the wash and scanned the ground and my jaw dropped. This is what was peeking out of the ground looking up at me: (It came from that hole but I forgot to take a true in-situ picture so I placed it back down) Surely that HAD to be a track, right?! You can clearly see three stubby toes. The mud was obscuring a lot of the surface, though. I had to make sure that the dirt wasn’t playing tricks on me. I needed to get down to the creek and wash it off. I clambered down through the reeds and across unstable rocks to the water’s edge, splashing my hand in to wash off the rock. I spooked a little bass that came shooting out from under the rock I was standing on. Better a bass than a copperhead lurking between the rocks (though I did get a tick on me later). Slowly, a full shape emerged: It was glorious. I couldn’t believe I’d done it! I wasn’t even expecting or trying to find tracks. Apparently, I’m magnetically attracted to them. Anyone who knows the Triassic basins of VA knows how random these tracks can be. It’s a gamble, you have to be in the right place at the right time, and I finally lucked out! Like I said, it wasn’t the bones I was looking for, which means I still have more work to do. But it was an exciting find that I’m super happy about. It also means there may be more tracks lurking around my area, something I never anticipated. Here are some more photos: I am thinking this is probably Grallator ichsp., but it is obviously weathered and partial. I reached out to Dr. Weems to see what he thinks and will update the thread accordingly. Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying this one because it’s my first Triassic dinosaur fossil and so close to home at that. I don’t often get to relish a find from beginning to end. I hope this is a sign of even more success to come in the Culpeper Basin and hope it can serve as an inspiration and sign of recent success for others searching the Basin. Thank you for reading!

Hi everyone! I believe I have found trilobite (or other arthropod) tracks. Photographing was challenging. They are not the best but I believe visible enough to identify…hopefully! I found this in Crawford County, IN. Any help is appreciated!

Hi all, I'm currently looking for a grallator track. What do you think about this one? Location is the Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts. As the seller is a very dedicated fossil collector I'm sure that it is genuine. Best regards Max

Just unwrapped this one and doesn't look like much but that's from an uneducated perspective.

Location: Loudoun County, VA (near Ashburn) Formation: Newark Supergroup —> Culpeper Basin Background: Okay! Here we go. Another track. I will preface this by saying that I don’t know if it’s Grallator, or very well may not be (or not a track at all). Here is how I found it in the field: I picked it up after seeing the middle toe. I didn’t really think much of it, except that it had a rough knuckle-y shape like my other print. Then, I noticed the roughly-three-toed shape. But I was only sold on it when I noticed the rightmost toe, and how pronounced it is. It really sharply but smoothly tapers off into a “claw”. Next, a shot in the sun with the ruler on my multi tool, and a closeup of the claw: The photos don’t do this toe justice to how prominently it is formed in the rock. Here are some low-angle lighting shots: And lastly, a brightened photo and the same photo with an outline of what I am looking at: Thanks for taking a look! At the end of the day, photo-ID of tracks are difficult so I will end up taking this along to Dr. Weems when I go to pick up my old track. But I will appreciate everyone’s insight regardless.

Hello people of ichnology. I'm studying a Rift basin in Brazil Northeast, related to African-American break-up of Gondwana. This unit is mostly composed of braided river deposits (coarse sandstone and conglomerate) interbedded with paleosols. Due to high deforestation of the region, this area is in being eroded and losing considerable mass, and oftenly new outcrops are formed. Considering this, I bring to you a concern for the identification of some trace fossils that appeared, in order to manage strategies to prevend it's destruction. In the left corner of this image, the person serves as scale. The scale person is standing on the studied bedding surface. This is the general view of the bedding surface. The bed is composed of fine to medium sandstone, never coarse, which indicates very low water flow. Ripple marks are seen, and the scale card indicates paleoflow direction. Also, mudcracks are abundant, which indicate seasonal climate. The dark oxidized rims and the rambling trails and tracks are interpreted to be trace fossils. The dark rims are penetrative structures with 7 to 14 cm deep, previously seen in the unit and interpreted as small scale lungfish aestivation burrows, which is in accordance with the hot and seasonally dry Jurassic climatic context for West Gondwana. The novelty of this outcrop is the appearance of a surficial multitude of tubular tracks and trails, 0.5 to 1.0 cm wide, 10 to 50 cm long, that randomly cross each other. I wonder if you guys could help me with the following questions: -> Is there an ID for the presented ichnogenera? -> Any thoughts on the possible burrow architect groups? -> Could this bedding be marked as an ichnofacies, or is this concept outdated? Thanks in advance! Att

Man jailed, fined for using sledgehammer to dig up dinosaur fossils in B.C. CBC news, British Columbia, January 24, 2023 Jail time and hefty fine handed to man who helped dig out fossilized B.C. dinosaur tracks By Simon Little Global News, January 23, 2023 Yours, Paul H.

This track is supposedly a positive (raised) Grallator track from the Portland Formation in South Hadley, MA. Track size is 5.0” on a 7.0” 10.25” shale slab. Seller mentioned that the track has been dyed for contrast. Thoughts? I am still a newbie in the fossil world, so I'd love to get others opinions as to whether this might be real (or not). I looked at some past threads about potential Grallator footprints, but I was still unsure. Thanks in advance!

Looks like two partials (both broken across the heels) or one partial that goes all the way through the thin matrix. I asked for a edge photo to show layer compression but the seller struggles to get it in focus and may not be on the correct edge. Per seller: From the Jurassic Boonton Formation in Northern New Jersey.

I went on a recent fossil hunt in North Carolina looking for the cow branch formation. I found some fossils. It was a very quick stop, about an hour before I had to leave. I found what I believe is to be a footprint it reminds me of a tremnospondyl but it’s from the cow branch I believe. I also found some shells there, plant material, and pieces of what looked to be good footprint material but I wasn’t there long enough to fully examine. So here’s the finds from yesterday: Total haul: footprint in question: outline of footprint: What species was this footprint from? It’s late Triassic and I’m pretty happy to be finding footprints again these might be my new favorite fossils.

Hey y’all! Can anyone help me ID this print? I’m a marine reptile researcher so I’m at the end of my understanding of prints for this. It was found in Bell County, Texas. Thanks so much!

The Green River Formation is one of the most well-known fossil sites in the world, occupying present-day Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This Lagerstätte has been noted for its well-preserved fish fossils, as well as numerous invertebrates, plants, and sometimes even reptiles and birds. Green River fossils are Eocene-aged, at 53.5 to 48.5 million years old. Thankfully, not only are Green River fossils attractive, they also remain affordable to the casual collector. Allow me to present my humble collection. Crocodile tooth Borealosuchus sp. Southwest Wyoming Water bird tracks (possibly sandpipers or plovers) Presbyorniformipes feduccii Vernal, Utah Bird feather Aves indet. Southwest Wyoming Crane flies & Mosquitoes Pronophlebia rediviva & Culex sp. Parachute Creek Member; Douglas Pass, Colorado

This one comes from a friend. He found this on a piece of sandstone that had fallen from an outcrop. With his GPS coordinates, it’s close to the border of the Greenbriar and the Mauch Chunk Formation. It looks like a modern mammal track to me, with 4 toe pads and a central pad. But I’ve identified 0 fossil animal tracks so far, so it might just be a strange arrangement of shapes. Mammals doesn’t fit, as it’s 100 million years too early. Synapsids are officially 10 million years out. So I’m at a loss. Anyone good with tracks?

Hi Everyone, I'm very excited to have found and have an opportunity to post on this forum. The rock with a potential fossil was found by my six year old son while we were hiking along a riverbed (Paint Branch watershed) within greater Silver Spring, Maryland area. The rock was in a shallow stream. My son was pulling me by the sleeve to show me a "fox track". He loves nature and always draws my attention to various tracks and animal bones on the ground so I didn't think much of it at first until I realized this time the track was in stone instead of the usual sand/mud. I'm wondering if it could be an early mammal, a small dinosaur track, or some other type of fossil? I attached several photos that I hope are helpful and show the rock with the potential footprint/track form various distances. One of the photos is showing the size (about 1.5 inches or 3.8 cm long), and one is a close-up showing what seems like a "thumb" imprint with a claw and even something that looks like a thenar/pad area of the bottom of hand/foot. The bottom of each of the "toes" appears rounded, as one would see on animal tracks- this cannot be seen in the photos. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yorkshire's 'largest ever dinosaur print' discovered on coast BBC News, BBCYorkshire, April 13, 2021 Yours, Paul H.

This is a track of a Carboniferous era salamander from the Union Chapel Mine in Alabama. I forgot the species, but I was told they could get five feet long. I didn't find this track, a member of the Alabama Paleontology Society found it and gave it to me during our visit the mine. I did find one of these, mine isn't as nice looking.

Went for a bush walk today and found some beautiful track ways. These tracks and trails are part of the early permian, Ecca group, prince Albert formation. I don't really pay much attention to tracks, but these where just out of this world (for me atleast) and was definitely the find of this extremely hot day. These pictures do not do these fossils justice... Zoom in and enjoy.

Hi, I'm new to this forum. As a child lived in a small town in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and I was an amateur rock collector. One of the possible fossils I found is shown below. I thought it looked like a footprint. However, at the time I didn't give it much thought. Recently I've become interested in trying to identify what made this impression. Was it caused by weathering or is it really a footprint? If it's a footprint what type of animal made it and how old is it? My knowledge of geology and paleontology is limited so I would appreciate any advice you could give me. I've attached 2 photos of the specimen and a 3rd photo showing the cliff face it was pulled from many years ago.

I found a mark of suspected skin in the deepest part of the large footprint of a suspected dinosaur? I found very little data on the toe skin marks on the Internet. Some people know what the skin texture is on the toes of large theropod dinosaurs?

Hello, My son found this large piece of petrified wood on a ranch here in South Texas. It is a large piece and weighs about 70 LBS. The bark is a nice blue color. We noticed an unusual print on the wood and are hoping we can get help identifying it. The imprint is deep in the wood and appears to be a set of three. The wood was found laying flat just below dirt level with the print side up. I will include photos. Thank you for your feedback!!

Last one and I swear I’ll stop asking questions. This is the track in question about it being lightly stained and what you thought about staining. Is this a real trace fossil that you can tell of? If so is this light staining acceptable?

Hi All, I have a question for those of you out there who know more about dinosaurs than I do. I recently picked up a grallator track that's about 5" long from Massachusetts. I'm thinking it would be cool to display this along with a tooth or two from a similar dinosaur. Obviously we don't know what species of dinosaur made the track, but does anyone know roughly what type/size of tooth I should try to find that would be a reasonable match for the type of dinosaur that likely would have made the track? While we're at it, I'd also be curious to know what size gastroliths this dinosaur might have had inside of it, if anyone knows. Thinking it could be fun to piece together a little set of parts roughly related to this track. For reference, here's the thread where I showed a picture of the track in question. Thank you!!

Hello! I have seen this. The seller assures that it is completely natural and is not polished. What do you think? Is it a good piece? Thank you very much

Hi All, I have the opportunity to acquire this specimen.... just curious to know everyone's thoughts? Anything I should be wary about? As far as quality is concerned, where do you think this rates on a scale of 1-10 (10 being museum quality/exceptional track, etc., and 1 being an entirely genuine/original track but a very poor example). I'm still learning about dino tracks.... Thank you so much!