GMS     The Georgia Mineral Society, Inc.
4138 Steve Reynolds Boulevard
Norcross, GA 30093-3059

DMC Field Trip
GMS is the founding member of the
DMC field trip program of the SFMS

If you have any questions about field trips send email to

Field Report for the September 20, 2014 DMC Trip
by Toby Stewart
dmc
It was a beautiful sunny day on September 20, when Cobb County Gem and Mineral Society Inc. (CCGMS), hosted the September DMC trip. Dr. John Anderson, CCGMS Field Trip Team Member, Paleontologist and Dean at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Virginia led the trip. John has conducted extensive research on fossils in the Sandersville Limestone and published his findings in scientific journals. So, John was the perfect person to answer all the questions the fossil hunters attending the trip had as they found pieces of bone or other parts of vertebrates in their sifting frame.
dmc
Geologists Bill Waggener and Dion Stewart added their help and expertise to the field trip.

dmc
Al’s largest shark tooth
almost matches the size of the
Megalodon tooth on his T-shirt.

Below, he shows the biggest
shark tooth find of the day
compared to a good-sized
average shark tooth.
dmc
Participants collected fossils in a creek that had eroded the limestone bedrock into a karst topography with sinkholes, a cave, and natural bridges. The fossils were found in the Sandersville Limestone, an Upper Eocene Jacksonian marine unit, which was deposited between 26 to 28 mya ago when ancient seas covered the central part of Georgia. Participants sifted the sand and gravels of the creek finding skate teeth, shark teeth, shark coprolite, manatee and reptile bones as well as invertebrates. Many fossilized sand dollars were hidden in the limestone that made up the bed of the creek. The geology team taught participants how to recognize the small discrete signs of sand dollars in the bank, and demonstrated how to carefully remove them with chisels and hammers. They also explained how to clean the sand dollars after the trip. Although all of the participants found a wide variety of fossils, the finds of the day were an especially large shark tooth and a whale tooth!
dmc
The whale tooth find of the day

Seven different DMC clubs were represented by members who were able to attend the trip. The trip was limited to 38 participants due to private land restrictions. Water, snacks, and plastic containers to put small fossil finds of shark and skate teeth were provided to participants by CCGMS.

[All photos by CCGMS]

Click below for field trip policies

policies
Copyright © Georgia Mineral Society, Inc.