New Members LiamLuuu Posted August 6 New Members Share Posted August 6 Went for a fossil hunt with my family at the Potomac River last Saturday. We decided to go to Purse State Park but ended up going to a random beach which we later found out to be Chapman State Park. It is much closer to Washington DC and has fewer people. We arrived at quite a great time, the tide was lowering and the beach was covered with shades. However, we didn't bring any tools, so the four of us searched on the beach's surface for about 2 hours. We found quite a few shark teeth, eagle ray teeth, and Turritella. Here are the results. Does anyone know what species I have found? Thank you! By the way, here are some tips for hunting fossils at the Potomac River: 1. Check the tide before you go 2. Bring some tools: sieves and shovels are enough. 3. Most of the shark teeth lie on the surface, so you don't have to dig too deep into the sand. Just walk around the beach and keep your eyes on the surface and you'll have great finds. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atoothsatooth42 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Nice finds! Never tried that spot, I’ll have to give it a go. Looks like you have mostly sand tigers and goblin shark teeth. Pretty typical for the Paleocene epoch. Always great to find! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automech Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Welcome to the Forum! Congratulations on your first time out. A good website to help ID Potomac River fossils is fossilguy.com. A close friend has been there also. It's a little North of where I hunt. So, I'll be heading there in the near future with him and his family. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 Turritella is the genus name (in latin) of a marine gastropod and must have distinct signs of recognition to be Turritella. Here it is not the case, it is better to speak of gasteropod. Coco 1 ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Pareidolia : here Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 On 8/6/2024 at 10:22 AM, LiamLuuu said: Went for a fossil hunt with my family at the Potomac River last Saturday. We decided to go to Purse State Park but ended up going to a random beach which we later found out to be Chapman State Park. It is much closer to Washington DC and has fewer people. We arrived at quite a great time, the tide was lowering and the beach was covered with shades. And best to go either in winter orc following rough weather, and during the week, when there is less competition 1 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members MattMapps Posted August 13 New Members Share Posted August 13 That looks like an awesome haul! I'm pretty new to fossil hunting myself, so I'm still learning how to identify different species. From what I can see in your pictures, you might have found some Carcharhinus (requiem shark) teeth, but I'm not entirely sure. The larger, more curved ones might belong to the Hemipristis (snaggletooth shark), and the smaller, triangular ones could be from a Sand Tiger shark. The other pieces look like eagle ray teeth and maybe some other fish parts. Thanks for the tips on fossil hunting at the Potomac River.........I'll definitely keep them in mind for my next trip. I'm new to this forum, so I'm excited to learn more and share experiences with everyone here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atoothsatooth42 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 8 hours ago, MattMapps said: That looks like an awesome haul! I'm pretty new to fossil hunting myself, so I'm still learning how to identify different species. From what I can see in your pictures, you might have found some Carcharhinus (requiem shark) teeth, but I'm not entirely sure. The larger, more curved ones might belong to the Hemipristis (snaggletooth shark), and the smaller, triangular ones could be from a Sand Tiger shark. The other pieces look like eagle ray teeth and maybe some other fish parts. Thanks for the tips on fossil hunting at the Potomac River.........I'll definitely keep them in mind for my next trip. I'm new to this forum, so I'm excited to learn more and share experiences with everyone here! A very good eye! However, the fossils in this area of the Potomac are from the Paleocene epoch, so Hemipristis/snaggle tooth and Carcharhinus/ requiem species aren’t present in this fossil record. Those species are found in the oligocene, Miocene and earlier epochs. Most of these are going to be Sand Tiger, Goblin and mackerel sharks teeth. There are definitely parts of the Potomac that have those former mentioned species in Miocene deposits, namely at places like Stratford Cliffs, and Westmoreland state park! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patelinho7 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Huh, I had no clue that was a viable spot. Good work! Nice finds, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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