Those of you who keep up with news have probably seen reports of the discovery of ancient fossils the world round. Most of them are huge in size, all the way down to what can be held in ones hand. What about those tiny fossils that can still be seen and not make too many headlines? We're also talking bout microscopic level too? There are fossil enthusiasts out there who specialize in that area and are making great strides in understanding how those tiny fossilized lifeforms contributed to the ancient landscape.
One day while sifting for shark teeth and other marine fossils on a creek. I was using a quarter inch screen mesh sifter and wondered what in the world was actually getting through that mesh? I decided to find out by bucketing up that material to sift at home. When on the creek, the process is this. I will sift the gravel onto a pile, the only thing that remains is sand and smaller gravel. I take the smaller gravel and sand and resift one more time with a kitchen sieve to get rid of the excess sand by dipping the sieve into the current. The sand adds extra weight to the material that is already bulky, and extra weight isn't idea for traipsing the treacherous terrain!
When I get the gravel home there is the tedious process of washing the silt off and laying out to dry on a large trash bag. It takes about a day and half to dry depending on how dry the environment is during those days. When the gravel dries I take the kitchen sieve one last time, and try to get rid of the remaining sand.
I then place the gravel in a red solo cup and take the gravel into my office and spread out in a paper plate a lil' bit at a time, so I don't miss the cool stuff in that gravel. From there I start finding tiny shark, fish, ray teeth, shells, urchin spines, scutes, coprolites and all sorts of stuff in that paper plate!
Here are some of those tiny finds, shark, ray and fish teeth but also found bivalves, gastropod steinkerns and fish coprolites (fish poop). Opening up my eyes to a whole new world! A tiny world where I look forward to discovering something new! I'm get just as excited when I'm looking for tiny wonders in that creek! Now each time I make a trip to any fossil bearing creek with marine fossils I make sure to bring home some of the material to sift later! Pic#1- Assortment of Micro fossils found, Pic#2- Assortment of several species of shark, Pic#3- Hybodont teeth, an older shark species, Pic#4- Pycnodont fish teeth, Pic#5- Hadrodus Priscus fish teeth, Pic#6- smallest shark teeth yet found, Pic#7- Ptychotrygon saw fish teeth, Pic#8- Enchodus fish teeth, Pic#9- Fish Coprolites.
That's some GOOD STUFF, right there!! It's like a whole 'nother field trip!! I need to start doing that. Thanks for another great blog post.