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Field
Collecting
August 2007 North Carolina Trip
I experienced first hand the extreme heat and drought situation the south has been experiencing while collecting in North Carolina. The quarry temperature registered 112 degrees F., making collecting a challenge. We collected marine fossils from Miocene quarries, as well as Pleistocene and Cretaceous shark's teeth from Greenville. Miocene echinoids, along with Cretaceous mollusks and sharks teeth were collected near Wilmington. The large complete megalodon teeth eluded me this trip, but the other fossils were plentiful. A return visit to the beautiful North Carolina Fossil Museum in Aurora is always a treat. Strolling through their collection reminds me of the fossils that "got away" from me.
June 2007 Field Collecting in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota
Wet
weather made collecting a little more challenging this year. The
bentonite clays became very slick, sticking to all of our
equipment and the fossils we were searching for. In spite
of the weather, it still turned out to be a successful
collecting experience. New bones were unearthed to add to our
future reconstructed dinosaur Edmontosaurus. Among these
treasures are 3 ribs, a radius (arm bone), a carpal (hand bone),
a wrist bone, a large dorsal vertebra and several tail vertebra,
a clavicle (breast bone), 2 foot bones, various skull parts, and
a lower left jaw. Still to be identified fossils, along with
other flora and fauna always add to the excitement of the trip
and help us put together a glimpse of life during the
Cretaceous. Included in this years finds was a foot bone from a
Cretaceous crocodile, a new type of plant seed, and various yet
to be determined microfossils.
Notes from our Fall 2006 trip
Another exciting trip into the Hell Creek Formation in the Badlands of South Dakota brought many new finds to add to our growing collection of late Cretaceous fossils. Our Early October 2006 trip was our eleventh year of collecting at this site. As always, it was filled with many surprises.
Triceratops, ankylosaur, and various carnivore remains were found in association with the duckbill dinosaur bones we were digging. Cretaceous pinecones and leaves were some of the associated flora recovered, and even some beautifully handcrafted points and arrowheads created by skilled early Native American craftsmen were found.
This year's additions to our duckbilled dinosaur skeleton include many beautiful bones. Among these were two ulna, several vertebra, a juvenile humerus and rib, various skull parts and more. Many of these bones belong to the Cretaceous dinosaur Edmontosaurus annectens that lived at the end of the era of dinosaurs over 65 million years ago. This giant of the Cretaceous could grow to a length of 44 feet and weigh several tons. It lived in large herds and was probably a major source of food for the tyrannosaurus rex.
