Fun Finding Fossils with Friends in Fort...Worth TX

[JamieLynn]

well, it can't ALL alliterate after all....

Texas is so incredibly blessed with a ridiculous amount of fossils, and it's also a BIG state, as we Texans like to remind everyone. So I don't get up to North Texas as much as I would like, but it's definitely worth the four hour drive for some new hunting grounds!  Happily, I have a friend in Fort Worth who let me stay with her and she was excited to show me a new spot she'd found. I've showed her around Central Texas a few times and when I said I was heading up her way, she said..."well..there's not really any spots I know of to take you", so I was going to scout out a few spots when she called back..."I found a spot! 10 minutes from my house!".  She showed me a few things she'd found and I was excited to see it was Grayson Formation, which are not common exposures to be found in Central Texas. 

 

It's a super non-descript spot, practically a ditch, but it was obvious no one had hunted it before, which is AMAZING considering how many fossil hunters are in Texas.  It was littered with tiny heteromorph ammonites called Mariellas.  I didn't find any that were well preserved but they were everywhere! And I know with this formation, you have to look CLOSE. REALLY CLOSE. It's a lot of micromorph fossils, interspersed with large oysters.  It's hard to see past the oysters sometimes.  It was actually pretty late in the day and we hunted till the sun set, so some long shadows. Erich Rose called it Echinoid Light - that early morning and late evening long shadows which show up surface decor so well. 

 

A Mariella - it's about 3/4 inch long

 

As I mentioned, none of the Mariellas were well preserved, but they were surprisingly intact...up to 6 whorls sometimes! 

 

We found a couple of little ammonites Otoscaphites but they were also pretty worn. 

 

 

My first great find was a complete Engonoceras serpentium. I have found fragments of them, but had yet to find a whole one. It's tiny but complete! 

 

 

I was on the lookout for any echinoids, but didn't see anything until just as we were starting to wrap up....I was walking back to my bucket and my eye caught that telltale round shape. I was VERY VERY excited, because I've only found a couple of these echinoids at the Waco Pit which is no longer open to collectors. I have one decent sized moderately crushed one and one tiny good one, so to come across this monster in perfect condition made my heart do a little flip flop! 

 

 

A Goniophorus scotti. One of my favorite little echies.

 

 

 

I have to admit I was feeling a little bad that I was hoarding this echie, because my friend who generously shared the site with me didn't find one....but then SHE FOUND THE SHARK TOOTH....not a foot away from where I found the echie. So she was happy and I was happy and everyone was happy. hahahah

 

Found a couple of other nice samples of the fauna typical in the Greyson (also known as Del Rio in Central Texas) -

a really lovely Neithea texana:

 

A good sized Plicatula 

 

and an interesting worm tube cluster. Pyrgopolon squamosus 

 

And of course, I brought back some micro matrix to look through!  That Grayson/Del Rio stuff is hard to process because it is primarily clay mud. But I was happy I did because I found a few good things! Another tiny Goniophorus (sadly, crushed) and some pretty little gastropods of unknown genera

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus found ONE single Comatulid Crinoid - Roveocrinus sp.

But this was  a real surprise! I have not found Baculites in the Grayson, but this little piece was in the Micro matrix! 

 

And one of my favorite things to find...a little starfish ossicle! 

I'm still hoping to find my "whole brittlestar" someday.... 

 

But thankful for friends who love fossils as much as I do. Hunting alone is nice, I enjoy the solitude very much, but it is also really nice to hunt with friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Great hunting and sounds like a lot of fun.

[Jaybot]

Very nice hunt- that Engonoceras serpentium is very nice, great find!

[Darktooth]

Great report and pics Jamie!

Thanks for sharing this with us!

[JohnJ]

You have to love the diverse species in the Grayson Formation.  The Goniophorus is really cool!

[FossilNerd]

Glad you got to get out there and hunt with your friend. Congrats on the beautiful Echie! 

[SusanTX]

18 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

well, it can't ALL alliterate after all....

Texas is so incredibly blessed with a ridiculous amount of fossils, and it's also a BIG state, as we Texans like to remind everyone. So I don't get up to North Texas as much as I would like, but it's definitely worth the four hour drive for some new hunting grounds!  Happily, I have a friend in Fort Worth who let me stay with her and she was excited to show me a new spot she'd found. I've showed her around Central Texas a few times and when I said I was heading up her way, she said..."well..there's not really any spots I know of to take you", so I was going to scout out a few spots when she called back..."I found a spot! 10 minutes from my house!".  She showed me a few things she'd found and I was excited to see it was Grayson Formation, which are not common exposures to be found in Central Texas. 

 

It's a super non-descript spot, practically a ditch, but it was obvious no one had hunted it before, which is AMAZING considering how many fossil hunters are in Texas.  It was littered with tiny heteromorph ammonites called Mariellas.  I didn't find any that were well preserved but they were everywhere! And I know with this formation, you have to look CLOSE. REALLY CLOSE. It's a lot of micromorph fossils, interspersed with large oysters.  It's hard to see past the oysters sometimes.  It was actually pretty late in the day and we hunted till the sun set, so some long shadows. Erich Rose called it Echinoid Light - that early morning and late evening long shadows which show up surface decor so well. 

 

A Mariella - it's about 3/4 inch long

 

As I mentioned, none of the Mariellas were well preserved, but they were surprisingly intact...up to 6 whorls sometimes! 

 

We found a couple of little ammonites Otoscaphites but they were also pretty worn. 

 

 

My first great find was a complete Engonoceras serpentium. I have found fragments of them, but had yet to find a whole one. It's tiny but complete! 

 

 

I was on the lookout for any echinoids, but didn't see anything until just as we were starting to wrap up....I was walking back to my bucket and my eye caught that telltale round shape. I was VERY VERY excited, because I've only found a couple of these echinoids at the Waco Pit which is no longer open to collectors. I have one decent sized moderately crushed one and one tiny good one, so to come across this monster in perfect condition made my heart do a little flip flop! 

 

 

A Goniophorus scotti. One of my favorite little echies.

 

 

 

I have to admit I was feeling a little bad that I was hoarding this echie, because my friend who generously shared the site with me didn't find one....but then SHE FOUND THE SHARK TOOTH....not a foot away from where I found the echie. So she was happy and I was happy and everyone was happy. hahahah

 

Found a couple of other nice samples of the fauna typical in the Greyson (also known as Del Rio in Central Texas) -

a really lovely Neithea texana:

 

A good sized Plicatula 

 

and an interesting worm tube cluster. Pyrgopolon squamosus 

 

And of course, I brought back some micro matrix to look through!  That Grayson/Del Rio stuff is hard to process because it is primarily clay mud. But I was happy I did because I found a few good things! Another tiny Goniophorus (sadly, crushed) and some pretty little gastropods of unknown genera

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus found ONE single Comatulid Crinoid - Roveocrinus sp.

But this was  a real surprise! I have not found Baculites in the Grayson, but this little piece was in the Micro matrix! 

 

And one of my favorite things to find...a little starfish ossicle! 

I'm still hoping to find my "whole brittlestar" someday.... 

 

But thankful for friends who love fossils as much as I do. Hunting alone is nice, I enjoy the solitude very much, but it is also really nice to hunt with friends. 

 

 

 

I live between Weatherford and Granbury. My land is literally the top of rock. After it rains I always find new specimens, arrowheads and other cool stuff.

I have heard that the Brazos River Basin has a bunch of treasures. 

Maybe we can go looking together on my friends private property at River.

 

 

[patelinho7]

Great finds and fantastic photography as usual! What species of shark was the tooth?

[JamieLynn]

@patelinho7 - it was a nice little Cretolamna appendiculata. They are not exactly common, but are the species most often found in the Del Rio/Greyson

[gwestbrook]

I absolutely love those echies too! But, I've only ever found the more regular and irregular ones in the Cretaceous sites I have access too. 

[JamieLynn]

@gwestbrook Yeah, out there in "West" Texas you get a little less diverse Cretaceous formations. Lots of Walnut/Comanche Peak/Ft Tarrant, but not much else until you go further South or North! 

[gwestbrook]

1 hour ago, JamieLynn said:

@gwestbrook Yeah, out there in "West" Texas you get a little less diverse Cretaceous formations. Lots of Walnut/Comanche Peak/Ft Tarrant, but not much else until you go further South or North! 

Yes, very true