Paleoworld-101 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Had a great day today fossil hunting at Belmont near Newcastle in NSW Australia today with fellow fossil forum member Richard ("Rick_Jo") and his dad. My mum and i got up not so bright but very early this morning at 5AM to make the 3 hour one way trip to the fossicking locality known as the "Belmont Insect Beds", where we would spend the day hacking away at rocks with the rest of the "Fossil Club Of NSW" who i thank for organsing the trip. In total there was about 20 people all fossil hunting together, a decent turn out. I drove most of the way there, 2 and a half hours to add to my learner drivers logbook. Stopped for breakfast at Mcdonalds and then met the rest of the fossil club outside a shopping centre at 10:30 before heading off in a long car convoy together towards the locality. The site itself was a rocky dirt road running through a patch of natural bushland in an otherwise suburban suburb. The fossils weren't especially rare, but the hardness of the rock made it difficult to split and so finding anything other than small plant fragments became a challenge. Here is the site- Just about everyone found a leaf or two of Glossopteris but the insects (for which the formation is most famous) prooved to be especially difficult to find. Out of the 20 people searching, one person found a wing of some sort and another found a small Beetle. One isolated fish fin was also found by the same person who found the beetle, lucky guy!!! I didn't find any insects but came home with these nice Glossopteris leaves instead. See below. I did however find a slab with over 10 small "crustaceans" on it (ID'd by the local expert in the club) but they are too small to photograph properly so i have left them out. Richard also found some nice leaves and i'm sure he will post pics of them here as well. Overall it was a great day, can't wait for the fossil clubs next adventure. Now i just need to find space for these in my display cabinets somewhere lol "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmoceras Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Despite not finding any insects you found some stunning plant fossils, very well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Very nice! Try and get pics of those crustaceans! "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 What a fabulous colour.... Nice finds.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down under fossil hunter Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Well done Nathan it must be great to get out with that group, can't wait to see where you guys go next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Those leaves are very attractive, and something of an icon in the fossil record, so I'm jealous! I'd like to see the crustaceans, too. Can you put an accurate date on these beds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Good trip report, and some nice finds. Thanks for sharing it with us. Are the crustaceans chonchostracans? I'll add my voice to the ones that want pics. Regards. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 OK guys if you insist, i will try and get some pics up of the so-called "crustaceans" tonight, but they don't really look like much (to me at least). I think they are supposed to be branchiopod crustaceans (whatever they are...). "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick_Jo Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I had a fantastic day getting out with group of like minded people to fossil hunt. It was a good chance to catch up with Nathan who comes from the same area as myself, which came as a pleasant surprise to both of us as it was the first time either of us had been on a field trip with the club. On arrival i realised I was a little under tooled with my small rock hammer and chisel which didn't really cut but I was fortunate enough to make some finds. The club is great and should anyone in the Sydney region read this and be interested their website is: http://www.fossilclubnsw.org.au/ I very much look forward to future expeditions with the club, they seem very active and have some great trip planned for this year. I decided that as we (myself & my father) had traveled so far north that I should make the most of the opportunity to investigate some other fossil locations that I has heard about around the area. The first was Caves Beach. Caves beach appears to have been formed from a river or avail fan system as the Cliff face is predominantly conglomerate with various rock sizes that would indicate that water has flown at this place for some time at varying speeds near the end of the Permian or beginning of Triassic. As the cliff was mostly conglomerate I was not able to find any fossils within the layers however evidence of Glossoptris branches could be found fossilised & petrified in the rock matrix and on the rock plateau which would either indicate that they were washed down streams or that they flourised at various times along the river banks. (this is my amateur observation) Glossoptris tree branch / stump Conglomerate banding From this location we headed to another sea side fossil site at Terrigal. I had more luck at this location and was fortunate enough to make some new finds. Can someone tell me what plant this leaf fossil is? All in all a great day.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Woops sorry mate i completely missed your post until now, thanks for posting pics! Those leaves look like Dicroidium ferns to me, well done!!! "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Where are the crustaceans! "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Where are the crustaceans! Ah yes forgot about that too, sorry i'll try post pics tonight. But trust me they don't look like much lol "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Cool plants--nice finds! Yes, since you mentioned crustaceans we surely now want to see em..! No pressure! Understand the effort of trying to photograph the really small stuff...I've got many a poor photo!!! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 (edited) Well here they are. I'm sorry i couldn't get a better quality pic but considering their small size (only a few mm long) the pics actually turned out better than i expected. Lucky i have my HD Camcorder with high zoom power There were ID'd as "Branchiopod Crustaceans" by the local expert. Is that possibly a tail in the second photo? I have no idea lol they hardly resemble crustaceans to me. There are lots more than what is photographed here but they are harder to see on-camera. I could count over 30 of these things on the 2 small slabs that i found. I see a slight resemblance between these fossils and 'D' in the pic above Edited March 20, 2013 by Paleoworld-101 "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Well the pics came out well enough.. Interesting! Any branchiopod is worth finding/having - they're none too common from what I've seen. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Very nice pics, I've never seen that site before. Gives me a sense of place to fossils in my collection from there. I have one plate of the Glossopteris leaves with that beautiful coloration. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Those are cool! Full plate pics? "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Those are cool! Full plate pics? From a distance the plates don't really look like much, just a slab of ordinary grey rock. The crustaceans are too small and inconspicuous to be seen unfortunately. "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 It's amazing what you can do with full sun and careful positioning of rock and camera... even if you only pull a little further out than the pics you already showed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick_Jo Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Nice pics! You were fortunate to find crustaceans, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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