Editorial Note. As with most clubs that frequent the mine, this club has out-of-area members, a few of which may show little regard for the "good name" of the hosting organization. This should alert all East Coast clubs to a potential risk of open membership. On trips such as this, the club is "represented" by its members -- for good or bad. I dont know if a paleo-"black list" is legal, but it would be nice to think, that the few inconsiderate collectors that ride the bus with us, would be known to all clubs that visit the mine.
Under the caption, Fossil Fools should be an account of a Florida club that recently visited the mine. As it was explained to me, not only did members breach the flag lines, but they moved them, and at one point, caused mining operations to stop altogether. This club has been barred from the mine. If this information is true, this club has jeopardized collecting there by everyone and should be banned from every mine in the country. If anyone has details contrary to the accounts I heard, I'd be pleased to present the "other side" of the story.
Candace reported that Ken Young found a Squatina tooth and seeing a Squalodon canine, several nice mako, Hexanchus and Notorynchus teeth. She tried to describe a tooth that she termed as being "either a very pathologic Hexanchus or a Megachasma". She also heard of a large C. megalodon but did not see it. Candace continues to collect the Pungo River with great success for smaller teeth and other items. I'm looking forward to my last visit of the season, I hope next weekend's weather holds out.
Walt went on to say that, "the bones do not have much strength-- they appear to be weathered or somewhat rotted. On the other hand, the sediment within about an inch from the bone is well cemented. Strong matrix, weak bone. Any suggestions?" If any reader has expertise in preparing this material, Walt would appreciate suggestions.
Most of day's visitors headed directly into the Yorktown where they criss-crossed the low, slow to erode mounds of tailings. Their reports were discouraging: despite heavy rains, little new material was exposed and collecting was very poor. Notable Yorktown finds included Steve Alter's nice 5 inch class C. megalodon and Gary Grimsley's terrific 3 inch mako.
I had failed to get a seat on the first bus, so, when finally arriving on site, I looked at the congested Yorktown and opted for the Pungo River. Those that had chosen this later option, all reported average to good collecting. The best tooth I saw from this formation was a near perfect, albeit pathological, bramble tooth (a popular item this day, I found one in lesser condition and another incomplete specimen was picked by Melissa Manwaring.) An area of mixed Pungo River and Yorktown material yielded a near perfect (also slightly pathological) Hexanchus upper to Howie Cohn.
The rumors of an expanded collecting area did not materialize, and high waters had further diminished the collecting area. I didn't stay around for Sunday's results, but if noteworthy material was found, I'll append this report at a later date.
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Bill Heim has started providing color images of Lee Creek teeth for the website. These will gradually be integrated into several sections (Selachian Topics and Shark Species) and will appear as small color images that will uploaded larger files if clicked upon. The intial thrust will be the whites and makos. The adjoining picture will bring you to an example |
That 3-inch C. carcharias tooth from the September 20th trip was tracked down by the combined efforts of Richard Chandler and Candace Holliday. the lucky collector was John Fitez.
" I read the latest report you had on the hunting this past weekend
and I can't believe anybody could have anything bad to say about it.
Since this was my first trip up there I really can't compare it to the
"good old days" that I've heard about, but it was still the single best
day fossil hunting I've ever had! I found the 2 nicest Mako teeth I've
ever even seen (2 1/8", 2 3/8" flawless Pungos), 2 flawless 1 3/4" Great
Whites, 4 small megalodons (one of which was a gorgeous gold Pungo),
numerous small teeth, whale/dolphin/fish vertebrae, etc. On the bus ride
back I saw a couple of Hexanchus, perfect small Squalodon molar, several
other black megalodons (up to probably 5 1/2" found by a young girl), a
couple small C. chubutensis teeth and a bunch of other nice fossils.
True, a couple people didn't find much, but overall I thought the trip
was a success despite tons of footprints left over from the previous
week. This was by far the most enjoyable day I've ever spent hunting
fossils and I can't wait to get back up there again. Even if the
hunting is not anywhere near what it used to be, it's still better
than anywhere else.
I guess readers must keep in mind that those reporting on a weekend's collecting are describing the collecting from their perspective -- and many, including myself, have become jaded over time.
That doesn't mean that nothing was found. Rita said she got a 3-incher on Saturday and a number of makos. Candace Holliday reported that on Sunday, John Pascal found a worn 5-1/2-incher with a damaged root and Tom Parks a 2-1/2 to 3" meg & a bird bone Her finds included a decent whale tooth, fish material and many small shark teeth.
Bill Heim saw John's large tooth and a couple small (3-inch class) megs. He remembered Tom also finding a ?seal canine and saw a Squalodon canine. He had a friend who recovered a partial myliobatid plate from the Pungo River and saw a "real nice Carcharodon carcharias, not large, but in real good shape, and with the coloration of the upper Yorktown vice James City." Bill found 2 anterior subauriculatus/"angustidens/chubutensis whatevers in good shape, one about 2-1/4 inch and a minnow-odon measuring about 1-1/4 inch."
The weekend's truly noteworthy find was made by Becky -- a pristine, Pungo River golden yellow, four inch, C. cf megalodon (no lateral cusplets) tooth still in a slab of Pungo River limestone with a pathological tip (split into two points). If this information is correct, I'd move this to the top of the list of this season's top finds.
In an earlier report, I mentioned a 3 inch C. carcharias tooth from the mine. I wasn't able to confirm a 3-incher, but Dick Grier found a two-incher (measured perpendicular) that weekend. Bob Purdy (Smithsonian) indicated that 3-inch class C. carcharias teeth are known from the Pliocene of North Carolina.
As for the LOST WEEKENDS, I recieved a couple comments that a bramble was found and a 5-inch, Pungo River black, C. megalodon. If nothing else turns up, it may turn out these weekends proved unproductive. I'll be down again on the 25th, so I'll be able to provide a full report at that time.
LOST AURORA WEEKENDS. I've done everything, but call Becky, to find out what transpired these last two weekends. No word from any sources and no unsolicited updates. My apologies!
John Bruner contributed a translation of his article from Mundo Marino to this website. It can be found in the C. megalodon pages. That publication's next issue will be dedicated to sharks. ( Details accompany the translation.)
The 78 full-sized pages are mostly very detailed drawings. Each bone in the seal is illustrated next to the corresponding bone of the dolphin (in so far as possible) so that an easy comparision can be made. It should prove very useful for fossil collectors in trying to determine whether a bone (found at Aurora for example) is seal or dolphin.
Direct orders to the North Carolina Fossil Club, PO Box 2777, Durham, NC 27715. The $13 price includes domestic postage. For faster handling, add the word BOOK to your envelope. Bulk-order prices available. The 1994 and 1995 publications are still available, I believe they're priced at $7.00 each which includes postage.
Candace noted that on Saturday, a number of medium-sized (2 - 3 inch) teeth were found. She saw one 4- 3/4 inch C. megalodon and heard of a 5-incher. She also reported on two seal teeth, plenty of makos, a few bird bones and lots of smaller teeth. Candace was fortunate enough to find what is thought to be a tibia from either a seal or a walrus.
Richard e-mailed some additional details on the Saturday visit. Tom Parks found one of those seal teeth, a premolar, with both roots intact. He went on to note that another collector found, "a GIGANTIC Carcharodon carcharias tooth, approximately 3 inches" in height and that Steve Ames had an "unequivocal , Galeocerdo mayumbensis, a first for Lee Creek as far as I know." As Richard noted, these are season-class finds. All in all, a very good day.
Sunday continued to provide material which is not always the case with back-to-back visits. (Those visiting next weekend better pray for rain.) Candace reported another five inch C. megalodon, several 2 to 4-inchers and a couple more of those neat megalodon posteriors. In addition to numerous smaller teeth (Candace picked 2-300 from Pungo River exposures), a superb shark snout and Bob Werner found an upper posterior seal tooth, dubbed by Becky as "the find of the day".
Candace Holliday reported that she had heard of one large and "several 2-1/2 to 3 inch megs". She noted that some good-sized Makos were found, hearing of two seal teeth, and of Steve's great bramble. She commented that it had rained this Monday creating the prospects of another reasonable weekend for the 20th.
[Note: Describing the collecting as mediocre is a relative evaluation. The mine is not producing large teeth as in the past, but rain exposes many smaller teeth which are subject to much less collecting pressure. A seal tooth was my highlight on the weekend of the sixth, but my finds included a dozen porpoise teeth and 200 - 300 shark teeth -- I'm still a sucker for the Pungo River.]
As a follow-up to the 9-6 weekend, John Nay reports that his "interesting find" was confirmed to be a Megachasma (from the Yorktown). As was the case with his Triaenodon found last spring, it is now part of the NMNH (Smithsonian) collection.
Over the summer, a new book, Biology of the Megamouth Shark was released. It provides extensive information on the species, and includes excellent specifics on the teeth and dentition. I hope to obtain ordering information to include in the next update.
Rita McDaniel was "certified" over the summer and now wears a white hat -- Congratulations! While most of us were busy collecting, Bret Kent was nearby being interviewed on camera by the Discovery Channel.
I'll need feedback on the next six weeks results, so if you can drop me an e-mail, I'll try to keep these pages up to date.
The Maryland Geological Society website is really starting to come together, be sure to make a visit. It would be nice if all the clubs could put together a class site like this one.