GMS Field Trip

GMS Field Trip
Geodes and Ordovician Fossils in Kentucky
Saturday, July 13, 2019

This trip required the permission of 2 property owners, so Charles Carter and Juergen Poppelreuter went all the way to Kentucky and back to locate them just one month before the trip! But as you will see, it was worth the effort! We started by fulfilling a promise we made to the property owners by removing 7 big garbage bags full of trash from a side creek.

Then we quickly got to work geode hunting. With several gravel bars to search, it was a matter of choosing which specimens to take home. Potential geodes in the southeast are often solid, so everyone broke them open on the spot with either hammer & chisel or with a geode cracker. That was fun because we got to see what was inside that day instead of waiting to cut them open later. By the way, cutting them open is not recommended. They can have loose crystals inside that get lost or broken as well as clusters that extend into the center of the void that you might cut right through and ruin a nice specimen.

While everyone else cracked away, I chased butterflies with my camera without snapping a single photo, so I turned to my usual quest for those curious “beekite” formations for which I have a particular fondness.

Everyone found a geode that made them happy, plus a few Ordovician fossils including crinoid stems, horn corals, and brachiopods. There were also some weird, possibly fossil, but currently unidentified specimens too.

Many thanks to the property owners for allowing us to collect in such a fun place. Also, a special thank you to Charles and Juergen for going above and beyond to gain access for this trip!

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