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The Georgia Mineral Society, Inc. 4138 Steve Reynolds Boulevard Norcross, GA 30093-3059 |
DMC Field Trip
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DMC field trip program of the SFMS
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Sea biscuits, gastropods, and a nice shell on matrix
DMC Field Trip
Tampa Bay Mineral and Science Club
Saturday, January 9, 2016
The Tampa Bay Mineral and Science Club hosted the January 2016 DMC trip for Oligocene and Eocene fossils. Field trip chair Fred Hendershot reported 20 attendees from all over the Southeast. He said, “It was a pleasant morning and everyone left with a bag of fossil sand dollars and some found chert and calcite druzy.”
Fred brought a couple of boards with fossils mounted on them to help with identification. There were various fossils from the quarry and some partially cleaned so we would know what to look for. The partially cleaned fossils also showed us that we could collect fossils covered with matrix, but with a dremel and some patience we could end up with some spectacular specimens.
The quarry representative, Saul, welcomed everyone and explained all of the rules of the quarry before we were set loose on a large collecting area.
Charles and I started searching in an area known for good chert/flint. He got plenty of pieces to cut and polish and both of us found a lot of sea biscuits that we hope to clean up. The sea biscuits, Rhyncholampas gouldi, a small puffy echinoid, were the most abundant fossils there, and whole specimens were easy to find without any digging. I also collected 3 bags of sand; two from the Oligocene layer and one from the Eocene.
Other collectors were digging in the Eocene layer and extracting some really nice, large sand dollars (Clypeaster rogersi). I also saw some well-preserved gastropods, a perfect little sea urchin, and one bone fragment. In another area people were finding some beautiful druzy calcite, too.
The quarry management has been extremely gracious in allowing us to collect in the quarry. We appreciate the effort they extend to make our collecting trips there safe and productive. Many thanks to them and to the Tampa club for another successful DMC field trip! We are looking forward to future trips there.
Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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Photo by Lori Carter
Tampa field trip chair Fred Hendershot brought specimens to help with identification
Photo by Lori Carter
In addition to fully prepped specimens, Fred brought partially prepped specimens
so we could see the potential of crusted pieces (close-up below)
Photo by Lori Carter
A cute little sea biscuit in situ
Photo by Lori Carter
Another little sea biscuit in situ showing the bottom of the specimen
Photo by Lori Carter
The quarry are where we were allowed to collect was huge,
so we were allowed to drive to different spots
Photo by Lori Carter
Field trip attendees digging in the Eocene layer
Photo by Lori Carter
This gentleman dug a big hole and found some nice sand dollars
Photo by Lori Carter
A sand dollar straight from the ground
Details of the sand dollar are outlined in black below
Photo by Lori Carter
A curious sea biscuit in the center, sand dollar lower right
Photo by Lori Carter
This gentleman found a beautiful piece of banded chert that looks like a log
He also played with the clay and made himself a "clay dollar"
Photo by Lori Carter
Unidentified bone
Photo by Lori Carter
Perfect little sea urchin
Photo by Lori Carter
Al Klatt found this beautiful gastropod in matrix
Photo by Lori Carter
Look closely at about 10:00 in this piece and you will see a long, tiny shell embedded
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