Dropped In On The Piles At Aurora This Morning

[sixgill pete]

I had some business this morning close by to Aurora. So after it was done, I dropped in on the piles around town. In all I was rather disappointed in the quality of the piles in general. Most of them yielded nothing. Two or three only offered up rocks and broken teeth. However I did find 2 piles that were productive. One was full of very high quality shells, but few teeth. Another had lots of smaller teeth that were in good shape. One of these offered up a nice cow shark upper and the other a couple of nicer hemi's and a decent mako. As usual, I brought home several buckets of material to check for micro's. Hopefully, if I selected right, there will be some good ones to find.

Any ways, here are my finds from today.

The better stuff, great shells, the good teeth and some crab claws.......

Close ups .....

the rest of the goodies ...

[cowsharks]

Compared to reject material of yesteryear, the material this year and last year was not that great. This year was the first year in a long time that I decided not to take home any material. It was all muddy clumps of large rocks. What would be great is if someone could sorta turn over the material in the field/parking lot. That stuff represents the better material from years ago.

[sixgill pete]

Daryl, I agree, the material the last few years has been horrible. The stuff at the museum this year is the worst I have ever seen there, the stuff in the field (ples is almost as bad. The parking lot does in fact have some pretty good stuff, but as you said, could use to be turned over. I found an exceptional area in the parking lot and dug up three buckets there for micro's. The other two piles in town seemed to be the best ones, at least that is where I found my teeth.

[ibuprofen200mg]

Never been out that way, about how long did it take to collect that material?

[MakoMeCrazy]

Not bad. I took some material from the back lot near the parking lot and it hasn't been too great so far.

[cowsharks]

How deep/thick is the material in the parking lot/field? I'm guessing 6 to 8 inches or so? I considering taking some of that stuff home as well but forgot. Plus, on Friday afternoon before the festival, a guy riding a tractor pulled into the the lot and was towing a heavy roller to mash down and compact the softer areas. This was most likely to prevent cars from sinking and getting stuck the next day. He methodically went up and down the lot flattening out bumps and mashed the stuff down good. As I watched him go back and forth all I could think of was how much more the teeth would be broken up.

I feel sorry for the folks who will drive long(er) distances to go collect these new piles that don't seem to be too fruitful. I guess we got spoiled with the better reject material and so now when the new stuff doesn't have nearly as much, the desire to travel all the way out there for a visit doesn't seem so appealing. In the end it could be the museum that suffers because fewer people will want to return with their kids if they aren't finding much of anything. I volunteered for a couple hours on Sat on the piles in the back across the street from the museum, and I had to work hard to find a few teeth to hand out to the little kids who weren't finding anything. I kept wanting to look for a hose so I could wash down the piles to make it easier to at least surface collect.

[greel]

I'm one of those who have skipped the festival for the past couple years due to the poor spoil piles.

Not sure the reason for it. Heard two theories. The first is that the screening process has changed,

while I've also heard it's because of the poor area (less fossils) that is now being collected. I lean

toward the first explanation. Even the little teeth found tend to be beaten to snarge. If it is because of

the change in collecting area, I don't really care if they open the gates to collectors anymore. But I

really do think its due to screening methods. Supposedly they were moving closer to the area of the

golden age of fossil collecting. Not being on the inside, I'm left to scratching my head like most folks.

The good thing is I have plenty of other hobbies to keep me busy!

-greel

[zachj]

I wish that the mine would just drag line up some yorktown for us and not screen it and just put it in a dump truck and then drive it straight to the parking lot and dump it. that would be amazing

[cowsharks]

I'm one of those who have skipped the festival for the past couple years due to the poor spoil piles.

Not sure the reason for it. Heard two theories. The first is that the screening process has changed,

while I've also heard it's because of the poor area (less fossils) that is now being collected. I lean

toward the first explanation. Even the little teeth found tend to be beaten to snarge. If it is because of

the change in collecting area, I don't really care if they open the gates to collectors anymore. But I

really do think its due to screening methods. Supposedly they were moving closer to the area of the

golden age of fossil collecting. Not being on the inside, I'm left to scratching my head like most folks.

The good thing is I have plenty of other hobbies to keep me busy!

-greel

I will always attend the festival regardless of whether there is any fossil material to collect, good or bad. I enjoy hitting other spots down that way, as well as seeing friends, the food, and the auction. Needless to say, the fossil material is a real bonus and is what is used to help draw folks out there. The museum has great displays, but honestly, once you've seen it once or twice, not much changes so they need to have the allure of the fossil material to keep folks interest up. I'm sure the folks at the museum work hard to try and get the best material they can, but in the end they take what they get.

Last year I was in the back field when one of the dump trucks pulled up with a fresh load of reject material. We watched three loads get dumped and used the opportunity to talk to the driver. He said the material was getting processed twice, or something like that; I guess in an attempt to extract as much phosphate as possible. One of the piles that got dumped looked like no material I had ever seen in 15 yrs of collecting down there; it was all ground up shells - no dirt whatsoever. My friend and I sifted the entire pile that afternoon with a 1/2" mesh screen. We found only a few teeth in it. Besides ground up shells, this pile had a ton of coral in it as well as hunks of granite (I think). We scanned the stuff that went through the 1/2" screen but saw no little teeth at all. Not sure what the heck that stuff was. I took home a bucket full of it but found very little micros - other folks said they found nice micro's in it though.

Like you, I too have heard that collecting in the mine is supposedly better when they are mining closer to the water (Pamlico Sound). As I have watched the Google Earth satellite images show the progression of mining operations get closer and closer to the water, I envisioned the Megs getting bigger and bigger! Who knows how good collecting would be right now because they are filling in the area with reclamation pretty fast it seems.

I took the bus tour of the mine during the festival, and Curtis Ormond was the guide who did the tour with Q&A. One person asked when the mine would open once again to fossil collectors. First, he indicated that one reason for remaining closed to collectors right now is because of the narrow precipitous valley formed by the excavating process. THey aren't dredging the same way the used to, and as a result, there are extremely high walls with not enough space between them to be considered safe for collectors. As the mining operation continues to move further south away from the water, the mining area will open up like a "V", and it should become safe once again for collectors. Curtis estimated about 3 more years before that might happen, but there's no guarantee. So, what I took away from what he said was that, at best it might be another few years before collecting is allowed again, maybe as many as 5 yrs or so.

[MakoMeCrazy]

I will always attend the festival regardless of whether there is any fossil material to collect, good or bad. I enjoy hitting other spots down that way, as well as seeing friends, the food, and the auction. Needless to say, the fossil material is a real bonus and is what is used to help draw folks out there. The museum has great displays, but honestly, once you've seen it once or twice, not much changes so they need to have the allure of the fossil material to keep folks interest up. I'm sure the folks at the museum work hard to try and get the best material they can, but in the end they take what they get.

Last year I was in the back field when one of the dump trucks pulled up with a fresh load of reject material. We watched three loads get dumped and used the opportunity to talk to the driver. He said the material was getting processed twice, or something like that; I guess in an attempt to extract as much phosphate as possible. One of the piles that got dumped looked like no material I had ever seen in 15 yrs of collecting down there; it was all ground up shells - no dirt whatsoever. My friend and I sifted the entire pile that afternoon with a 1/2" mesh screen. We found only a few teeth in it. Besides ground up shells, this pile had a ton of coral in it as well as hunks of granite (I think). We scanned the stuff that went through the 1/2" screen but saw no little teeth at all. Not sure what the heck that stuff was. I took home a bucket full of it but found very little micros - other folks said they found nice micro's in it though.

Like you, I too have heard that collecting in the mine is supposedly better when they are mining closer to the water (Pamlico Sound). As I have watched the Google Earth satellite images show the progression of mining operations get closer and closer to the water, I envisioned the Megs getting bigger and bigger! Who knows how good collecting would be right now because they are filling in the area with reclamation pretty fast it seems.

I took the bus tour of the mine during the festival, and Curtis Ormond was the guide who did the tour with Q&A. One person asked when the mine would open once again to fossil collectors. First, he indicated that one reason for remaining closed to collectors right now is because of the narrow precipitous valley formed by the excavating process. THey aren't dredging the same way the used to, and as a result, there are extremely high walls with not enough space between them to be considered safe for collectors. As the mining operation continues to move further south away from the water, the mining area will open up like a "V", and it should become safe once again for collectors. Curtis estimated about 3 more years before that might happen, but there's no guarantee. So, what I took away from what he said was that, at best it might be another few years before collecting is allowed again, maybe as many as 5 yrs or so.

Thank you for the information cowsharks, we can finally get an estimate on when the mine will be open to collectors again. I find that the piles have been about the same the last few years, but I defiantly think the piles in front of the museum are the best. The piles in the back didn't yield much this year, so next year I will spend a lot more time near the front. Although a portion of the back piles had rocks that were 2 + inches, I couldn't sift there because the material was too big for my 1/4 inch. If I brought 1/2 inch I would sift some of the larger gravel in the back piles.

I didn't do so badly this year. I was surface collecting the whole time. Like cowsharks, I will go to the festival year after year just to talk to Bill Eberlin, AL, and the other fossil vendors. I am looking forward to seeing the collections the most next year because I have not yet viewed them. I have always wanted to, but the piles drew me in all day long. It was sort of a trade off.

This is just an example of how good finds can still come from Aurora.

[sixgill pete]

Never been out that way, about how long did it take to collect that material?

ibu, i was there for about 2-3 hours I guess. Back in the better days a few years ago, i could have found this and more in an hour or less.

[sixgill pete]

Daryl, the area where I dug my buckets in the lot was at least 8 inches deep I would say. I am very picky about what I bring home to search for micros, I have a criteria and it seems to work well for me. As far as the material, no way it is as good as what used to be brought there. Not saying you cannot find anything good, but overall the quality is gone, No more 1 1/2 to 2 inch mako's fewer and more beaten up megs, even the bigger 1 inch plus hemis are not as common. still lots of smaller Carcharhinus, and plenty of tigers. Have not seen a whale tooth, sperm or Squalodon in a few years nor any croc teeth.

[cowsharks]

...... Have not seen a whale tooth, sperm or Squalodon in a few years nor any croc teeth.

I had to laugh when I read that sentence...the last time I saw any of those type of teeth was many years ago when I used to screen/sift the reject material over at the DPW site. We used to pull tons of mako's out of those piles, as well as decent small Megs, etc.

[RickNC]

As was mentioned, the stuff I brought home from this years new reject was absolutely full of large chunks of granite.

[flyersfan805]

looks like you still had some fun, wether the piles are good or bad, I'd rather be sifting through it than working!

[sixgill pete]

I had to laugh when I read that sentence...the last time I saw any of those type of teeth was many years ago when I used to screen/sift the reject material over at the DPW site. We used to pull tons of mako's out of those piles, as well as decent small Megs, etc.

4 years ago I found 6 sperm whale teeth in 1 pile. Also from the same batch found a Squalodon molar and a couple of incisors.

[sixgill pete]

looks like you still had some fun, wether the piles are good or bad, I'd rather be sifting through it than working!

Mike, it's always fun and even if all you find is rocks, it is definitely better than working.

[zachj]

4 years ago I found 6 sperm whale teeth in 1 pile. Also from the same batch found a Squalodon molar and a couple of incisors.

pics!

[mako-mama]

That Pungo layer that has the black burrow infulls used to be loaded with squalodon and retroflexus teeth. Guess the good old days really were better. BTW: I've broken a few of those black rocks and found nice shark vertebrae inside as well as a few other items-shells, etc. Worth a try to take home a bucket of it. Make sure you get the black rock that has the rough gray surface. I havent tried breaking any in a couple of years so it might be changed as well now.

[sixgill pete]

Never knew that about the infills Pat. And man, I have tossed so so so many of them aside.

[Scylla]

What mineral is the black rock made of? I'm thinking that it could be dissolved to reveal the fossils within depending on the chemistry maybe?