C and D canal, Delaware

[val horn]

I had heard that C and D canal site had new dumps.  I had heard that the C and D site was going to be covered over,  I had heard that it was removed/recycled.    I went out last week to look.  There are fewer dunes, and evidence of tractors and trucks, however there is still plenty of unchanged  of material.  It remains a harvest of belemnites and very little else.

 

[PaleoNoel]

Thanks for the update. I visited the spot for the first time back at the end of May before taking the train out of Wilmington. I found the standard belemnites and oyster shells, but also managed to find a little Squalicorax crown which I was quite pleased with as I understand that any vertebrate material is rare from this spot.

[siteseer]

I think it was more productive back in the 80's for some reason.  More people found teeth including those of mosasaurs.

[val horn]

I have seen that other people had found other fossils, but I have not.   Maybe it is surprising about how much is still there after all of this time.  I keep hearing about new dregging but have not seen any and dont know if it would be better or worse.

[Troodon]

Thanks for the photo, brings back good memories when I lived in yhe First State.

[historianmichael]

38 minutes ago, val horn said:

I keep hearing about new dredging but have not seen any and dont know if it would be better or worse.

 

The last rumor I heard is that the new dredging is not going to that spot but to somewhere else.

[FossilDAWG]

When I was there, several years ago, besides the broken belemnites and Exogyra shells I found a lot of small phosphatic molds of bivalves, gastropods, and even a few ammonites such as Baculites segments.  The molds required a very close took (nose inches from the ground) or sieving.  Not too exciting if you're looking for mosasaur teeth, but I thought it was fun.

 

Don

[Adam86cucv]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:29 PM, historianmichael said:

 

The last rumor I heard is that the new dredging is not going to that spot but to somewhere else.

I heard that too...If my memory is correct I believe it was being added to an island in the Delaware bay.  When my son and I looked around a bit (2016-2017?) the spot on the north side of the canal was overgrown with weeds.  The south side of the canal they still had piles of dredge material but they had machinery there to grind the large chunks and spread it out.  We found Exogyra and Pyncnodonte on the south side and on the north side a few Belemnite.  For the past few years I have been wanting to go back in the fall or winter after the weeds have died and do some digging and screening.  

[historianmichael]

2 hours ago, Adam86cucv said:

I heard that too...If my memory is correct I believe it was being added to an island in the Delaware bay.  When my son and I looked around a bit (2016-2017?) the spot on the north side of the canal was overgrown with weeds.  The south side of the canal they still had piles of dredge material but they had machinery there to grind the large chunks and spread it out.  We found Exogyra and Pyncnodonte on the south side and on the north side a few Belemnite.  For the past few years I have been wanting to go back in the fall or winter after the weeds have died and do some digging and screening.  

Sadly the weeds never go away. The only way for that to happen is for heavy machinery to turn over the site.

[Adam86cucv]

2 hours ago, historianmichael said:

Sadly the weeds never go away. The only way for that to happen is for heavy machinery to turn over the site.

True but they are a bit easier to deal with when dead and dried out versus green 

[Plax]

I assume ya'll are only going to Reedy Point spoils? Whatever happened to the other spoil areas between St Georges and the Deep Cut on the north bank? Those were older sediments and had more vertebrate fossils and ammonite frags. Not there since the 80s so take my inquiry with a grain of salt.

[val horn]

 I have been going to the ready point spoils.  Where was the deep cut and those spoils-  maybe it is worth a trip to that area.

[historianmichael]

5 hours ago, Plax said:

I assume ya'll are only going to Reedy Point spoils? Whatever happened to the other spoil areas between St Georges and the Deep Cut on the north bank? Those were older sediments and had more vertebrate fossils and ammonite frags. Not there since the 80s so take my inquiry with a grain of salt.

To my knowledge the other sites in the area are either overgrown, covered by rip rap, or their productive layers have been destroyed by the weather or covered from slumping. 

[Plax]

On 8/17/2022 at 11:29 AM, val horn said:

 I have been going to the ready point spoils.  Where was the deep cut and those spoils-  maybe it is worth a trip to that area.

The Deep Cut is a place. It should be apparent on maps of the canal. You'll always get the same things if you don't explore other sites. Michael is correct about the rip rapped natural exposures but I was referring to spoil piles. If I was collecting the canal I'd certainly ride up the north bank between St. Georges and the Deep cut to see what, if anything was available. That is assuming there is still an access road along both banks of the canal.