05/10/09 GMR Better late than never report I guessMy plan was to get an early start and be at the creek by about 7 am or so, but for various reasons we didn't arrive and enter the creek until about 11 am or so. We entered the creek and started down stream to find gravel to sift and didn't get very far as my shovel and feet felt some gravel, so we took a few test sifts. We immediately found teeth and belemnites in the 1/4" screen sifter, so we decided to give it a whirl right there. My sister took the 1/4" sifter and I took the 1/2" one. A short while later, MikeDOTB strolls down stream to us, and after introducing each other we struck up a fossiling friendship and spend the rest of the day sifting that same spot together (we might have left but he convinced us it was worth staying). And, Mike, thanks for doing that because it was worth it. Let me tell you, Mike is a great guy and I look forward to hooking up with him again on another GMR adventure in the future. Just to give you an idea, I've never met a guy who'd give away a meg, but he gave one to a little boy that was curious to what we were doing (well, it was worn and about 3/4 of one, but it was still a meg). Mike also used 1/2" mesh. After three sifts he found an awesome great white, complete, and his day was made, anything after that was gravy. My next sift yielded two pretty good makos and a partial worn meg, and my next sift gave me another 1/2 meg. My hopes were high. After finding some assorted teeth (sand tigers, a few crow sharks, some goblin sharks, worn makos and meg chunks, and some belemnites) I found what I thought was my prize for the day, and 1.5 inch long mosasaur tooth piece...aw...only a piece, but pretty cool. However, the next sift gave me the real prize, a complete 1" long mosasaur tooth! Here's another note: Mike was kidding about the folks he's been collecting with that have fallen into the drink, including himself. Well, add two more members, me and my sister, both with a face full of GMR water.
Well, on to the fossiling pics:
|
Location
| Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
| ID | 3353 |
| Member | Fat Boy |
| Date Added | 5/22/2009 |
 |
| My finds for the day. |
|
 |
| MikeDOTB's early finds. He found a nice posterior meg later that day too. We both used 1/2" mesh screens. |
|
 |
| If it only had a root! Maybe next time. My biggest GW ever and it's a shamer. I still like it! |
|
 |
| Big GMR mako, a bit beat up...but it was my biggest whole tooth. |
|
 |
| 1/2 a meg is all that I was allowed on this trip. |
|
 |
| Here's a nice Lepomis macrochirus. Not yet fossilized, fortunately for him, released to be caught on another day. |
|
 |
| My best find of my weekend I think, a nice, heavy mosasaur tooth. I like it so much I think that I'll superglue it to my upper molars. I'll find another one one day for the other side. |
|
 |
| I have several crow sharks in my collection, S. pristodontus and S. kaupi, but I think that the one on the right is a different species. Thoughts? |
|
|