NAUfrogger Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Hi! I'm new here. I just got back from a north Texas trip to the Sulphur River. It was my first trip and was a tad disappointing although I didn't go very far in the riverbed. I did get some interesting finds that puzzled me and I would love help identifying them if you can. Sorry about the terrible resolution of the pics. Thanks! This first one is black. It is sort of hollow or concave on the back side (not shown in picture) and is very symmetrical left to right. It was found at the N. Sulphur River in TX. You can be hit by a boat and die You can be attacked by a shark and die OR you could fall off the couch and die GET OFF THE COUCH - go scuba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Looks like it has sutures, so I would guess a small section of ammonite/cephalopod type creature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAUfrogger Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 New photo! You can be hit by a boat and die You can be attacked by a shark and die OR you could fall off the couch and die GET OFF THE COUCH - go scuba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 yes, this is a phosphatic cast of a baculites cephalopod segment. you can see some traces of the suture patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 OK, no sutures evident, so I have no idea. Piece of bone/shell/plain rock? Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 A piece of baculite for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bowen Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I agree, it looks like a phosphorized baculite segment. There is a prominant presense of the blackened fossils toward ladonia and pecan gap (up river from hwy 19) and they are usually very worn by the time they get down river. Most of the sutures are white for some reason. Anyway, I'm sorry you were disappointed in your findings. If you return, there are many "hidden" fossils in the NSR. At the hwy 19/NSR exposure there are tons of smooth-ish rocks with rounded sides. they are dried (fossilized) globules of mud. They are in a strata about 8-10 ft below ground level. They are very noticable in the walls of the river bank. They are also all over the ground in the riverbed where they have fallen out of the walls. If you break these open, there are tons of fossils inside. Many of them will have fossils exposed, but most of the time you can't tell what inside until you break them. Usually a few gentle whacks with a 2 pound hammer will fracture them enough to get them open, without destroying the fossils. in a few hours, I frequently find 3-4 decent ammonites, 10+ decent baculite specimens (most with the sutures completely intact) bivalves of all kinds, some really cool snail things which I forgot the name of, and lots of dog tooth calcite. In the sand just on the edge of the water, my kids and I found 14 shark teeth, and some other long fish teeth in a few hours just by digging in the sand. (we were hot so we were laying IN the river digging on the sand bars) In the past, I have found many large bone fragments, and I found an almost complete mossosaur tooth last year. They are there, but it helps to know where and how to look. Best of luck to you if you come our way again. The last time (about 3 weeks ago) we ran into a whole group of really nice people out there. Dave Bowen Collin County, Texas. Paleontology: The next best thing to time travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now