Crittenden Springs, Nevada, USA ... Early Triassic ammonoids

[SPrice]

 This location got on my list last summer but was a little further down because of two issues... 1) lacking an All Wheel or Four Wheel Drive vehicle.  Birthday present to myself after much searching and Voila! I have an Orange 2010 Honda Element AWD! the first break-in trip with it off road was back in late January of this year.  And the number 2) issue - which was both literal and a figurative descriptor for a bodily function - I contracted a nice dose of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on the job.  A tape gun was the culprit.  So solution to #2 was to extricate myself from the job and get the surgical procedure. Done! I retired on March, 6 and had the surgery the next day.  And yesterday I got the stitches out. Yay! 

 

And moving forward to the research, planning and execution of my excursion to Crittenden Springs, NV located in the northeast corner of the state. Distance to the destination - about 221 miles/355 km....time 3.5 hours. Nice road trip on I-80 West departing at 5 45AM, in the dark, obviously, with stars galore once I got away from the Salt Lake Valley light pollution.  On my left - south - the constellation Scorpius had risen as the precursor to the Milky Way rising during the predawn hours. Which means the summer astrophotography season has begun! Astro at night, fossils in the daytime.  Same location!  Oh yeah! Sleeping is for some other time. 

 

At dawn, I paused for a leg stretch break and to see the sunrise over the Bonneville Salt Flats.  This is the world famous land speed racing course during the fall, while winter and spring are wet and summer provides the heat to evaporate the water leaving a pristine, flat racetrack from 2.5 miles to around 9 miles depending on the salt conditions.

 

Cobb Peak on the right and Graham Peak ( 7600') on the left. The water depth you see is ankle deep.

 

 

 

Looking to the East.

 

 

 

These two chaps  went for a stroll into the super briny salt pond for whatever reason.  Ruined their footwear?  ...most likely.

 

 

Salt, Sun and Sky.

 

 

Sun's up, daylight's burning, time to roll!

 

 

 

Okay, the paved road part is behind me and now comes a 23 mile gravel road cruise to my destination with a beautiful day before me. 

 

 

 Heading north on BLM land, check. Open range cattle grazing, check.

 

 

Three boats in the desert, check!

 

 

First herd of Mule Deer crossing the road and heading to the hills, check!  There were approx. 26 Muley's in this herd. To be repeated over the next 20 miles until I lost count and guesstimated over 200 deer were seen, jumping the fences, running across the road in front me and later in the day doing the same thing on my way home.

 

 

Four stragglers climbing a 45 degree angle slope.

 

 

Moving along...a nice rock formation and around the next curve the Crittenden Reservoir. 

 

 

 

The turnoff into Long Canyon is just a few miles ahead.

 

 

Just passed the reservoir the turnoff revealed where the AWD vehicle was saving grace. Had I been in my good old Chevy Impala Cop Car, it would have been a turnaround point 4 miles short. 

 

No photos of the washes, ruts and ditches I navigated, but had I made this trip earlier in the spring I would have a major muddy road to struggle with as did the previous vehicle which left  deep, dried tire tracks  through  the soft mucky area where the Crittenden Springs  underground water source got its name. The Honda Element went down into every ditch and wash and crawled right out the other side. The vehicle's short nose and tail readily avoided scraping the steep angles in and out. 

 

And here we are at the mouth of the east/west oriented Long Canyon facing north. 

 

 

And  looking at the north canyon hills on the south side of the canyon. Hmmm...snow...which means I've gained some elevation.

 

 

I picked a spot to park, grabbed a hammer, chisel and gloves and up I went. Not two minutes later, I scan the rubble and Hey!  there's a good omen that I might just be in the right place. 

 

 

Left the cm scale cards in my bucket.  Doh!  The pick point is just over the smaller ammonite on the back side of the frontal section of the larger specimen.

 

 

I scanned this rubble pile for a bit to see what else I could find. Several more sections of large size ammonites were found as well as some dendrites, of which I collected a few. 

 

 

Onward and upward.

 

My car is almost dead center below. This area is what my researched suggested was where a bulldozer was used to reveal the layers/seams of fossils. 

 

 

 

And now I should back up a bit. In my online research I found several sites noting this location, several interesting science papers and publications and a blogger's site with photographic details. The only incidence in my search on TFF was posted here:  

 

 

 

Posted in 2015 by Mike Foley.   Go to Number 48 in his list of bulletins in the above post.  That's where you'll get to read the real deal on this location. I'm only a very late arrival.  I think Hyatt and Smith were here in 1905.  And much digging and excavations have been active in this location for many decades. One gentleman has been collecting here for over 30 years and is named in the above paper and one of the primary authors. 

 

Moving on...from the last picture I posted above where the bulldozer was employed in heavy overburden removal to reveal the main 3 layers, seams or as noted to be lenses of the ammonite beds, then at the conclusion of the excavations and collecting of many, many specimens and species the bulldozer then buried the site for restoration by nature. 

 

A rough specimen but a keeper for prepping practice.  Found below a trench dug by some very enthusiastic fossil miners back on 2008 or 2009  when it was first found. I surface hunted the tailings piles below each of the large holes I found. 

 

 

 

My hammer is hanging on a juniper limb and in the photo below from 2009 the same juniper is visible in the freshly dug hole found by James Jenks back then. 

 

 

 

The boulder is from the trench/hole shows in the bottom of both pics. 

 

 

Time to break the thread into Part One and Part two. I need a short break for lunch. 

 

 

Edited March 20 by SPrice
typos

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for the great landscape photos!

[SPrice]

You're welcome and on to the findings!

[jpc]

Excellent report.  So, is there water on the Bonneville Salt Flats?  Does that suggest its been a snowy winter?  Here in Casper (about 6 hours east of SPrice's home) we have had very very little snow.

[Newbie_1971]

Why no photos of the Salt plant ?

[SPrice]

2 hours ago, Newbie_1971 said:

Why no photos of the Salt plant ?

It was dark both ways ... going at pre-dawn and also post sunset coming home.

 

[SPrice]

3 hours ago, jpc said:

Excellent report.  So, is there water on the Bonneville Salt Flats?  Does that suggest its been a snowy winter?  Here in Casper (about 6 hours east of SPrice's home) we have had very very little snow.

 

 

Thanks! The water posted is just east of the salt flats racetrack. I was going close to 80 mph heading to Wendover after this short stop in the rest area. Then there is a causeway / road between the giant puddle and the actual road onto the flats.  On this map screenshot you can see the dike/road around the pond. I stopped at the rest area bottom center.  The road onto the flats is on the left.  They may have been dry or just a little wet.  Snow this winter in the Salt Lake valley was nothing like last year's 40 plus feet at some ski resorts.

 

 

[jpc]

thanks...in any case, that first picture of the reflected mountains is a beauty.  

[Yoda]

@SPrice

Excellent trip report

Very scenic 

[PFOOLEY]

Great report (part)!...now on to the findings!!

 

New Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoids from Crittenden Springs, Elko County, Nevada: Implications for taxonomy, biostratigraphy and biogeography

 

Jenksetall2010.pdf

[Tidgy's Dad]

Fantastic phtography!