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I've been doing a lot of contract prep work for a particular collector for quite a while. He recently picked up some raw material bargains from an old collection and brought some of them by last week for me to clean up for him. When he came to pick them up today, he decided to gift me one of them, which just made my day, since it's an excellent specimen of a species which is hard to find these days in this size and condition. It's a Procerites hodsoni with a diameter of 34cm. which was found in the Bathonian layers at a construction site in Blumberg a few decades ago.
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I made another visit to that site in the Middle Jurassic Aalenian to continue on where I'd left off last week. Here's the original report . I headed back up to the exposure with the intent of continuing along removing more of the weathered blocks from the bank. But first of all, I noticed a possibility to remove a bit more overburden from my dig last week. Like I'd mentioned before, this overburden belongs to the so-called staufensis bank and there's always a chance of finding something in it, although they are few and far between and not always complete. But waddayaknow! I uncovered a Staufenia staufensis ! You can't see it all that well in the first photo, since most of it is still inside the matrix, maybe a bit better in the second one. I had just dug out the missing piece of the venter and took another shot. I banged around a bit more, but soon gave up when the going got too tough. Then I turned my attention for about half an hour to scraping away the dirt and rubble in front of the weathered blocks. Then I started hammering and prying out the blocks, starting as usual at the top. It didn't take long this time before the finds started showing themselves.
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
One large Costileioceras sinon(16cm.) with 2 smaller Ancolioceras opalinoides attached. Haugi subzone, murchisonae zone, late Aalenian. From the Wutach area. -
I decided to try my luck again at one of my old Aalenian spots in the Wutach valley last week and it panned out this time. I'd been there a couple of weeks ago without much success, so I decided to try to follow the horizon this time in the hopes of finding a pristine exposure. This necessitated a lot of digging and delving, and was a bit of a challenge for my sense of orientation, but I finally was able to localize two exposures which look like they could be producing some interesting finds for some time to come. I've been busy the last few days doing some commission work, but I finished that off this afternoon, so now I can get down to working on these finds. Here's what I brought home with me. At the bottom left of the second crate is a larger ammonite which I managed to get done quickly today since there wasn't much matrix at all to remove. Here's the finished product. Staufenia discoidea? 12cm. More to follow as time goes on.
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From the album: German Gastropods and Bivalves
3.5cm. long. From the sinon bank in the middle Jurassic Aalenian murchisonae zone in the Wutach Valley. -
From the album: German Gastropods and Bivalves
3x2.5cm. From the middle Jurassic Aalenian murchisonae zone in the Wutach Valley. -
I was back in the Wutach on Friday and visited a spot in the Callovian. Found a few pieces worth keeping and this is the first one which I just finished prepping. One of the more rare ammonites. A Bullatimorphites bullatus. More to follow once I'm done with the prep.
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
6cm. From the herveyi zone, early Callovian from the Wutach valley. Shell preservation. Not part of my collection, but prepared for a colleague. -
I was hoping today to continue on with my foraging expedition from last week, but when I got to my little mountain in the Wutach, there was still too much snow lying on the slopes to guarantee me not slipping and sliding over precipices, so I decided to just go to my exposure and do a bit more digging. This time I remembered to take along the camera, so I can show you a bit of the landscape and give you an impression of the digging activity. The first three pics are on the approach to the exposure. Can you guess where it is? A little hilly, eh?
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I had the whole day available for a prolonged tour on Saturday, so I decided to spend it exploring the sides of the small mountain in the Wutach valley where I've been making some good finds in the Callovian for the last year or so. Since my usual dig is getting tougher to work, particularly since I'm spending more time removing overburden than I am digging fossils, I figured I'd foray on into the unknown in search of new exposures. I spent a good 4 hours clambering about the slopes at the appropriate height and managed to cover about half of the mountain in that time. I did manage to find a few exposures, but they weren't quite at the horizon I was looking for. Never mind. You can't expect to strike a bonanza every time you do some exploring. I then headed back to my usual spot and managed to dig out a few little ammonites until dusk set in. The day was by no means a loss. It just felt good having a little adventure. If the snow holds back, I may head out again next weekend and check out the other half of the hillside. I'll try to remember to take my camera along with me then in order to let you join in. Sorry I forgot it again, but here are some pics of the little ones at least.
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From the album: Early Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
10cm. Found in the Wutach valley by Stephan Hack. Scipionianum subzone, semicostatum zone, early Sinemurian, Arietenkalk Formation. One of the very few species in this formation with a raised keel. -
From the album: Pisces
Unidentified shark vertebra. 15mm. diameter. An extreme rarity for the Middle Jurassic Late Aalenian in the Wutach valley where it was found. -
Steinkern
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
15cm. A rare find from the Wutach valley. Retrocostatum zone, late Bathonian. -
Macrocephalites (Pleurocephalites) (Buckman 1922)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
5cm. From the Callovian herveyi Zone in the Wutach Valley. -
Macrocephalites (Pleurocephalites) sp. (Buckman 1922)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
6.5cm. From the herveyi zone, Callovian in the Wutach valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
20cm. A little squashed in places, but affording a few interesting views upon the septal chambers and walls. Fossilization and preservation are amazing things. Again from the Callovian in Wutach valley. -
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
14cm. From the herveyi zone, Callovian in the Wutach valley.-
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From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
12cm. From the Callovian herveyi zone (Rotes Erzlager) in the Wutach valley. -
Yesterday I returned to the new spot in the Callovian of the Wutach valley which I presented in one of my previous posts. This time the guys couldn't come, so I walked in alone, not to say without a little trepidation since I lost my way on the return journey last time. But thanks to google earth, a geological map of the area and a memory of at least a couple of landmarks, I managed to find my way in. Finding my way out was no problem, since I made sure to file away every twist and turn this time. My knapsack was however so heavy that I ended up depositing it after I'd just managed to lug it up the steep incline above the exposure and found my way back to the foresters road. I then walked out and drove back in with my car to pick it up, which actually isn't allowed, but... well, rules are made to be broken, right? At any rate, I remembered to take along my camera this time and made a few shots while at the exposure which I'll show here for starters. The first is a shot of the corner I was working on, the second a typical oops, broke it in two and gotta glue it back together in the workshop situation and the third shows my finds at halftime. Just imagine double the amount plus all your tools on your back and trying to clamber up about 20 meters of slippery slope. At least I could use my pickle to keep my balance. I'll post the prepared finds bit by bit here as I get them done. I'm particularly excited about the large Macrocephalites on the right.
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From the album: Slices
9.5cm. From the Middle Jurassic Callovian herveyi zone in the Wutach valley. -
Macrocephalites (Macrocephalites) megalocephalus (Callomon, Dietl & Niederhoefer 1989)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
15cm. An indigineous species to the Wutach valley. Originating from the koenigi zone, lower Callovian. -
Yesterday I was invited by a few collector friends to join them at a site in the Wutach valley which I had not yet had the opportunity to visit. It was a bit tricky getting there, so I'm glad that they guided me on the walk in. I had to leave earlier than them and ended up taking a wrong turn on the way out since I was deep in conversation with them on the way in and didn't pay proper attention to the lefts and rights, but that's another story. Suffice to say I spent an hour longer in the woods than planned, but I was saved by a nice person in the town I ended up in who drove me back to my car. Anyway, we had a successful day of collecting and I just wanted to show an ammonite that I just finished prepping. It's a Bullatimorphites bullatus partial phragmocone with a diameter of 4.5cm. The stratigraphy is the same as at my other Callovian site, so it was also interesting to compare exposures. I'll post some more here as I get them finished and hope to get back there for some more digging in a couple of weeks time.
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Bullatimorphites (Kheraiceras) bullatus (D'Orbigny 1846)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
4.5cm. Partial phragmocone with shell intact. Herveyi zone, Early Callovian. From the Wutach valley. -
As many of you have probably noticed, I've been concentrating my fossil hunting efforts mostly on the Kimmeridgian in the Danube Valley or on the Callovian in the Wutach. Yesterday I felt like having a change of scenerey, so I decided to visit the classic site at Scheffheu in the Wutach Valley. I didn't realize it at the tme, but I hadn't been back there for a day of serious collecting for 5 years. My, how time flies! At any rate, it was amazing to see how the site had changed over these few years. The beaten path up the hill, which leads first through woods and which used to continue on up to the top through stone strewn open spaces was now practically overshadowed with tall shrubs and trees and only opened up at the very top. The exposures were basically the same ones, but some were now covered with debris and others were better exposed due to land slips. Also, some of them which had been composed of steely hard rock which was practically impossible to break into were now sufficiently weathered to be able to have a go at them. This time I thought to take along my camera, so I can give you a few impressions. First, a shot of the exposure in the middle Jurassic Aalenian which I decided after a bit of reconnaissance could be worth a closer investigation. I then decided to create a bench at this spot, which was out of the sun. I could tell by the makeup of the stone that I was in the staufensis Bank and it didn't take all that long before I had found a few ammonites. Yes, it was a little muddy in spots. In situ pics with a few ammos before and after excavation. Even though the matrix was weathered making for cracks, it is still extremely hard, so it's not always possible to extract the fossils in one piece. You just have to make sure to collect up all the bits and then there's some puzzle work to do at home. After a couple of hours at this level, I decided to try get down lower to the next fossiliferous layer, the sinon Banks, which provides a slightly different fauna. I had to remove a few larger blocks to this purpose. It was somewhat tedious, but it worked. Continued....
