New - What To Look For In This Location

[Jace]

HI everyone

This is my first Question for the forum

We have 68 Acres of land near Picton NSW, It's nearly entirely Black Shale and has had multiple creeks/rivers run through it over the years and they have Eroded very steep gullies everywhere, one is close on 100 meters deep from the road level,

My questions are:

1. Is there a particular sign i can look for to signal fossils may be around?

2. The shale gets lighter and darker in different areas, is this important?

3. Will i find fossil bones possibly? or will i only find impressions in rocks left by creatures/plants?

4. If i do find fossilized bones, whats the best way to go about removing them safely from the shale walls?

5. Should i dig into the shale? or just look through fallen pieces?

Would love some help on these as i'm heading out for a look on the weekend

Thanks!

Jace.

[fossilized6s]

If you could get your hands on a map of the geology of your exact area that would be my first route. Rivers, creeks or dried beds are always a good place to start. The rain touches every layer of the rock, slowly eroding it away, and sometimes uncovering and depositing fossils into creeks and rivers that usually lay at the base of large rock formations. And just hiking hiking hiking. And always watch out for gator, crocs and brown snakes sir! This is just basic hunting 101.

[Missourian]

It sounds like you're already doing the first step this weekend (or second, if you get a geo map ). When in the field, keep an eye out for any and all traces of fossils. Look for structures, which could potentially be shells, bones, or plant material; and details, including differences in color and/or texture, no matter how subtle. Such fossils initially found may not be a big deal, but they may provide clues on what else may turn up (assuming there are fossils to be found).

Oh, and good luck.

[Jersey]

This may be of interest (regarding fish fossils in the area): http://www.fossilmall.com/Science/FishFossils/Actinopterygii/Actinopterygii.htm

[Jace]

HI Charlie!

I can get one of those no problem, and as for the crocs and snakes.. I've been a reptile keeper/handler for 15 years I love my reptiles and i'm a qualified Snake catcher

I had a further question, I often find large bands of jet black shiney Coal in the embankments around the property, is this carbon left from a Swampy - plant filled time in the area? Would i find fossils in it possibly?

Also there are 3 different types of shale i've found. Some is a gunmetal grey color, some is a dark orange and some is a light orange/cream colored type.

Type 1. The gunmetal grey shale is usually very brittle and you can snap plates of it with your fingers and it is mostly crumbled into small fragments that stay in place due to the land weight ontop of it.

Type 2. The Dark orange shale is tougher but still brittle and is in larger pieces.

Type 3. The Light colored shale is hard and very tightly packed, it tends to be in thicker plates all puzzled together so its hard to even slide sheets out without collapsing a large area out of the wall.

The layers are as below.

Layer 1: Dry top soil - grey to Orange
Layer 2: Hard grey and orange Clay ( exactly what you'd buy for doing pottery )
Layer 3: Wet orange clay
Layer 4: Orange Gravel/rock/pebble filled dirt with lots of Iron layers, often contains rough odd shaped smooth balls of fine grain sandstone that when broken open contain Fine orange rust powder.
Layer 5: usually Coal bands with Grey Shale and slate.
Layer 6: Often more different colored slate and shale with chalky lines between the dirt and rock.
Layer 7: only seen a few times, hard red fired clay-like rock, often has hard shiney red bubbly looking rocks erode from it.

Any thoughts?

[Fossildude19]

Another interesting website HERE.

Regards,

[JimB88]

the layers just above and below a coal seam often have plant fossils in them. The first step is to find the age of the sediments with the geological map as that would give you an idea of what could be found.

[fossilized6s]

You can definitely find fossils in coal beds, but most are very fragile and don't do well exposed to the elements.

This was just found in a coal layer http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/46343-winner-of-the-april-2014-vertebrate-find-of-the-month/

And yes, shale also can produce some awesome stuff too.

I know there are dozens of members on here from Australia that could probably help you in your hunt/s. I'm really interested to see what you may find. You Aussies had some pretty large and amazing creatures roaming the lands millions of years ago!

[jpc]

Or... just go out to the outcrops and see what you can find. Keep you r eyes peeled for big things, small things, impressions, three dimensional remains. Anything that stands out in the rock. Good luck. In any case, shales such as you describe are good hunting places for fossils. Of course, some are also totally devoid of fossils. You never know until you try.

[Jace]

Awesome info and links guys! I'll let you know how it goes, Thank for all the advise

[Jace]

Okidoki! i found a map. Here it is!

Where to look:

Southwest of sydney a few inches ( map zoomed in )

Between Menangle - oakdale and Picton is a rough triangle showing the area our property is located.

Looks like its mostly Triassic - Wianamatta Group - RW - Sandstone and Shale ( though our property has little loose sandstone.. and no sandstone outcrops at all, Though there are some close-by )

As you can see in the area - there is also quaternary gravel sand silt clay - What does Quaternary mean? Says is Cainozoic.. i am also uneducated on it's meaning.

Hope to hear what you guys think

Jace.

[jpc]

Quaternary means basically Pleistocene.... Ice Age stuff. Geologically very young.

[Jace]

Quaternary means basically Pleistocene.... Ice Age stuff. Geologically very young.

Thankyou! Makes sense