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Here are two links to posts dealing with how to post pictures on Black River Fossils forums.
1. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by ditchweezil
2. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by Daryl
Well... not really panic, but I noticed the last trip was cancelled at the last minute. I was one of the fortunate few to get a spot set aside for blackriverfossils. (Thanks!) I dont want to come across wrong as I fully realize that we are extremely lucky to have this opportunity and the mine owners owe us nothing and that if they say its no-go there is a good reason for it and, and, and... My question is, say you're there and you cant go in for whatever reason and the thought of driving all the way back to Florida without so much as some Yorktown formation stuck in the treads of your brand new steel toed boots makes you ill, whatever can you do?I think I have read everything written on this site and I am aware that there are a few "spoil piles" that are/were nearby. Is it legal to dig in these piles? I mean can you move some dirt around without anyone getting mad? Or should I pack my Pungo and my Yorktown camo? Thats a joke, I'm not sneaking around even if they are perfectly preserved huge beautiful wonderful megalodon teeth...but searching around...hmmmm. lol
Aside from Green Mill Run are there any other opportunities in that general area?
Anyone else going the Sunday after Thanksgiving?
Well Toofless I will also be at PCS on the 25th. We were also there this past spring for the first time. My fiancee - lets call her - "NotSoObsessed" and I found some cool fossils. She found half of what would have been an over 5" Meg but no complete megs for us. It really rained that night and the next day we went to Green Mill Run or should I say "River"! The water was high muddy and fast. But being as obsessed as I am I was able to coax her in the thigh deep water. And I sure am glad we did. We sifted for 3 hours and came away with over 300 teeth! We found 2 almost complete Great Whites, a couple sweet Squalicorax, a really nice tiger, some Gobblins and an Enchodus Ferrox tooth which I wasn't sure what it was until Dr. Godfrey from CMM identified it for us. This was after week 11 at PCS and I'm sure it had been hit hard many times. So if PCS gets rained out I will be GRM. I will be easy to spot. I'll be the one begging "Please just a couple more sifters full" while she just shakes her head and says NO!
Thanks for the info Obsessed! Hopefully I will get to meet you and "Some what less than Obsessed". I have one of those too. She will let little things like alligators keep her from finding fossils so its left up to me to secure our family fossil fortune. I just dont get her priorities sometimes. lol
How big/long is the productive area of GMR? I plan to bring my sifting stuff just in case.
What about tools for in the mine? I see some people bring shovels or rakes. Are they just digging and looking for the bigger teeth? Is that productive?
Being that you have been before is it easy to ID the different formations? I have studied the pics on this site extensively but still dont feel to certain I know what I am looking for. The one formation has the black gravel looking (phosphate, I guess) stuff in it so that is similar to what I look for down here when collecting and will probably catch my eye. I wonder how much of the area is the non productive stuff and just what that looks like? I guess the guides are there to help rookies like me. Perhaps I am "over-researching".
I did the same thing before I went the first time - I researched like a madman. The formations are easy to ID once you see them in the field. The black phosphatic pebbles are found in the Yorktown formation, and that's where the megalodon teeth are, as well as mako, parotodus, bulls, modern tigers, and two species of cow sharks. There are also big scallop shells and flatter shells called pectins, and some other rounded looking shell that cuts like butter when you slice into it with a shovel. Its also loaded with big bones. The other formation is the Pungo and it has tiny pieces of shells, lots of limestone, and black to grey ashy looking sediment. That stuff is early miocene, and its loaded with smaller teeth, plus the occasional chubutensis.
When I go, I take a shovel because I like to dig deep. Some people take rakes. They cover a bigger area digging, but they can't go as deep. This season with such a large area, I wouldn't dig unless I found an area with bones pouring out of it. There's just too much to find surface collecting. Find a guide and get a quick geology lesson and you'll be fine.
GMR is pretty long. If you're a hardcore, you'll want to try it out. Some gorgeous great whites come out of there!
Dw,
Your descriptions are pretty accurate. However, newcomers should know it's a mistake to completely overlook other sediments. The wet clay causes teeth to stick in the dragline bucket and get dropped in strange dirt. I once found a beatiful 4" meg in the shell bed-on a tiny clump of clay that must have gotten stuck on the bucket and fell with a later drop. Even in passing by areas that one thinks are counterproductive to meg hunting, one should always have their eyes scanning the ground. Also, keep in mind that if the guides knew where the big teeth were, they'd all be there finding them!!!! There are 7 layers of Pungo Fm in the mine-and all can produce chubbies. There are 5 layers of YT Fm and all but the lowest can produce good teeth. The Pio-pliocene shell bed can be but isnt usually productive for teeth. Most are reworked. The best hope for good teeth--rain on a regular schedule--and not so much it closes the mine roads like it did a couple of weeks ago. That fossil bus is just not geared for what we put it through sometimes....no 4WD!
One reason for taking a potato rake is that it helps greatly in climbing hills and staying on them!