barefootgirl Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Mississippi was our next destination after Kentucky and boy did we load up. We went there for teeth and agate. We came home with bags of echis and some sanddollars. I even found a super cool whale vert. The echis on the left are mine the ones on the right are Rons. The guy in the creek is Ed. He hosted us for a few days. That was the creek with the teeth and echis all in it. This was one of the prettiest creeks Ive been down in a while. The second pict shows some of the teeth I found as well as echis. I found this whale vert after 3 grown men all stepped right over it. I actually thought it was a sand dollar at first. One of my nicer echis. Ron did a good job of getting the vert out of the concretion for me but it was still broken in places so he did a good job of fixing it for me. He knew better than to let me do it. Last time I glued my butt to the floor and then glued my hand to my butt. Im just talented like that The snake is a cotton mouth Ron decided to catch and scare the poor bejeebers out of Ed with. A pretty little concretion with sand dollars in it and the little butterfly was just begging to have his photo taken. An example of the kind of agate we found at this giant rock pile and a piece of coral I found as well. Just some of the teeth I found in Miss. I counted 148 total on that trip. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Dang, what great finds! I love the agate and you know the one you are holding has structure that looks like coral. I am not certain but sure reminds me of it. Maybe a double bonus. It has fire colors too! The echinoid (pic 6) you are holding, is there anyway you could get a pic also from the side of it and the bottom? No hurry just if you get the chance. I would be very interested in seeing it. I'll bet you are pretty excited to find your first whale vert! I sure would be. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Great looking vert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Here is the back of it. I have about 9 or 10 really nice ones. I don't have any side views yet. Yes that is structure you see and I have more than one piece like this. It was the first thing I saw when we got to the agate pile. Here are some waiting to be looked at and washed. This was a cool little find at the agate pile as well. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I just can't place that echinoid. I have an old Geological Survey Paper that I bought not long ago. In the coming days will try to ID it. Has some great details too! Maybe some of the ech experts will know it. Thanks for posting the other pics too! Agate is pretty fascinating. I think I have only found 2 pieces ever. Not in Texas though. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Now that's my kinda hunt! Do you know the age of your finds? I've heard of some Oligocene stuff in MS that gives up whale and sand dollars, so I'm curious if your sand dollars are Periarchus. And that whale vert is about the best one I've seen anywhere, ever. Most often you get a centrum with stubs of processes. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Tha whale vertebrae is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! I'm very partial to agates as well. Those will look great polished up if that's what you are into. If you believe everything you read, perhaps it's time for you to stop reading... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jax Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 WOW, those are some nice Echi's!! The real question is, do you have enough room to display all your new gems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 BFG, I'd say your collection took on a major expansion in size and quality. You sound like you had the best time. Good for you! I like the look of that creek. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Thanks everyone! I just asked Ron what age and formation the Echis came from I dont think anyone told me. The whale vert is going in a glass display case, its one of my prize possessions. Ron said this whale had legs I believe. I need to have some little bronze plaques engraved with names and such on the ones going under glass. I now have a collection to be proud of and I think I might need some more shelves put up in my room. Amazingly enough I still have more stuff to show but Ill give it a break for now. Thanks again everyone!! In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 The material we found in Mississippi came from the Moody's Branch formation (and possibly the Yazoo Clay). Thats all i know. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 The material we found in Mississippi came from the Moody's Branch formation (and possibly the Yazoo Clay). Thats all i know. Lemme get this straight: Mississippi has fossils comin' out the Yazoo? I'm movin' there! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Lemme get this straight: Mississippi has fossils comin' out the Yazoo?I'm movin' there! I knew you would catch that!! In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 yazoo's a city. wazoo's what things come out of. bozo's whatcha call a non-differentiator. wabba wabba...wocketa wocketa i get silly when i'm tired. i'm tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Very nice finds BFG! It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Boy Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Wow, you've found a lifetime of fossils on your trip (at least in my world)! You're going to have a lot of fun organizing, sorting, displaying, and storing all that stuff you've found. When you're done, you'll just have to get them all out again, examine them, care for them, relabel them, reorganize them, resort them...and so on. Ain't fossils fun? Kevin Wilson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Thanks everybody! I'm still going through all my teeth that I found. Trying to figure out the echis as well. I love all my fossils and I cant wait to get everything displayed. I love fossil collecting!!!!!! :wub: In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkchaser Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Wow. Nice finds! RAWR! I am zeee dead bobcat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 From someone who has collected dozens and dozens of whale verts (but never one that complete). For your first that is just too Cool! Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 From someone who has collected dozens and dozens of whale verts (but never one that complete). For your first that is just too Cool! I know thanks! It's on the top shelf with my meg tooth In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Mississippi was our next destination after Kentucky and boy did we load up. We went there for teeth and agate. We came home with bags of echis and some sanddollars. I even found a super cool whale vert. The echis on the left are mine the ones on the right are Rons. The guy in the creek is Ed. He hosted us for a few days. That was the creek with the teeth and echis all in it. This was one of the prettiest creeks Ive been down in a while. The second pict shows some of the teeth I found as well as echis. I found this whale vert after 3 grown men all stepped right over it. I actually thought it was a sand dollar at first. One of my nicer echis. Ron did a good job of getting the vert out of the concretion for me but it was still broken in places so he did a good job of fixing it for me. He knew better than to let me do it. Last time I glued my butt to the floor and then glued my hand to my butt. Im just talented like that The snake is a cotton mouth Ron decided to catch and scare the poor bejeebers out of Ed with. A pretty little concretion with sand dollars in it and the little butterfly was just begging to have his photo taken. An example of the kind of agate we found at this giant rock pile and a piece of coral I found as well. Just some of the teeth I found in Miss. I counted 148 total on that trip. As someone who has collected quite a bit from the Paleogene of the SE USA, I might be able to help you out on the identifcations as I have collect both the Moodys Branch and Yazoo Clay quite extensively in Alabama. Of course I can't be certain without more photos and/or knowing the exact geology, but here are my best guesses: The Cassiduloid echinoid looks like Rhyncholampas ericsoni (Fisher, 1951). If you are collecting from the Moodys Branch Formation it would make sense as R. ericsoni is common in the lower Ocala Limestone (aka Inglis Formation) in Florida and is equivalent in age to the Moodys Branch as well as reported from the Moodys Branch Fm along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. Again, if you are in the Moodys Branch Formation, the sand dollar is probably Periarchus lyelli (Conrad, 1834), very common in said formation. The two most common arcahaeocete Upper Eocene whales in the Gulf Coastal Plain are Basilosaurus cetoides (Owen, 1839) also known as Zeugoldon most commonly found in the Pachuta Marl member of the Yazoo Clay and Zygorhiza kochii (Reichenbach, 1847) most common in the Moodys Branch. Basilosaurus were much larger than Zygorhiza so if your vert is Basilosaurus, it was a baby. The next easiest method to tell the two apart is by the length of the vertebra. If the body of vert (not including the neural arch or processes) is longer than high, it is Basilosaurus. If the vert length and height are about the same, it is Zygorhiza. I would tend to guess due to the size and without a picture of the length of the vert and indications that you were in the Moodys Branch formation that your vert is most likely Zygorhiza. "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hey thank you so much, boy your good!! In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hey thank you so much, boy your good!! No problemo I took a look at the unprepped vert again and saw a turritella-type shell. Was there a lot of well preserved fossil shells? The Moodys Branch Formation in Mississippi is well known for well preserved shells in the Hinds Co. and Clarke Co., MS areas (in Alabama most of the shells are casts). Originally preserved shells would be a further indication that you have Moodys Branch Zygorhiza. Should you ever go again, give me a shout. I haven't had the opportunity to collect a lot in Mississippi. It is a short long drive or a long short drive for me from Georgia. Mike "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 No problemoI took a look at the unprepped vert again and saw a turritella-type shell. Was there a lot of well preserved fossil shells? The Moodys Branch Formation in Mississippi is well known for well preserved shells in the Hinds Co. and Clarke Co., MS areas (in Alabama most of the shells are casts). Originally preserved shells would be a further indication that you have Moodys Branch Zygorhiza. Should you ever go again, give me a shout. I haven't had the opportunity to collect a lot in Mississippi. It is a short long drive or a long short drive for me from Georgia. Mike Oh yeah there were shell everywhere! Nice large conks but most of them fell to pieces, I did manage to get these home though. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Beautiful finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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