GMS Field Trip

GMS Field Trip
Middle to Late Cambrian Fossils in Alabama
Saturday, January 11, 2014

An impressive group of intrepid rockhounds braved bad weather to collect fossils in Alabama. Once we were all assembled at the meeting place, the rain stopped and the day just got better and better.

At the first site, everyone quickly found many nice samples of the weirdly divoted limestone we’ve been trying to figure out since last year. Current consensus is that the markings are not fossil traces but modern traces. If they are modern, the mystery now is who made them? Mayfly larvae, mollusks, mussels – still not sure, though mayflies seem to be the most probable culprit. As the adults in the group pondered the puzzle, the kids in the group discovered the magical potential of the beach. Nick cleverly assembled a ”floating meal” from an abundance of found objects.

At the second site we split shale gingerly and searched carefully for trilobites. Several perfect specimens were found in the shale and we had a great deal of success looking through shale that was already weathered and broken. The kids found puddles, mud, mud puddles, a crayfish with a blue claw, large mollusks (still alive), and a little tortoise which was actually pretty cool*

At the third and final site, we got off to a bit of a slow start because the lake was so incredibly low. A large portion of the beach that is normally inaccessible was just too enticing to ignore. Charles helped me find some fascinating sand that appears to be tiny manganese balls. Once we migrated to the part of the beach with more concretions, everyone started finding brooksellas! There were so many found I didn’t get a picture of each one and lost count around the 20 plus mark. We even found some outstanding trilobites. By late afternoon a stiff breeze blowing across the lake seemed to be nudging us on our way, so we left with our pockets full of brooksellas and another memorable field trip under our belts.

* No animals were harmed in the making of this field trip

Lori Carter, on behalf of
Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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