What Are You Going to Do to Get More Involved with Either the CMM Or the Fossil Club?
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• News from the CMM Paleontology Department • Field Trip Report .- I Calvert Bed 12 described • Minutes of March meeting The Newsletter of Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club The Volume 11-Number. 2 May 2001 Whnle Number 55 What are you going to do to get more involved with either the CMM or the Fossil Club? the Calvert Marine Museum's upcoming elected positions include: President, Vice• Sirenian (sea cow and mermaid) Exhibit. President, Treasurer, and Secretary. This information will now go to our Exhibits Department so they can work their The Field Trip Coordinator, the usual design and fabrication magic! Editor of the Ecphora, and the Membership Coordinator are appointed by the Curator of If you are interested in displaying Paleontology some of your shark tooth fossils for SHARKFEAST (Calvert Marine Museum, An informal survey of those who Saturday, July 21s~ please let me know are presently serving would seem to (410.326-2042 ext. 28). For this event, we indicate that the majority is happy to welcome displays that include shark teeth continue in their present capacity. of any kind. (Note: The Museum is no However, the nominating committee, in all longer able to use the term "SharkFest", as its wisdom, recognizes that it would not be it is r,registered name h" Florida! For lack fair to exclude other club members from of imagination, I have used the term experiencing the thrill of serving in either Please higWight Saturday, June SHARKFEAST, but this wi1llikely change. an elected or appointed office. How could 9th on your calendars. Beginning at Still the same fun-filled shark day!) we limit such opportunity to only a few 12:3Opm, we will have our next fossil club members. Why not broaden the horizons of meetinglshow-and-tell, at which time we To officially mark the opening or others in the club by offering them this will elect the Club's Officers for 2001• our new exhibit on the origin and evolution once-in-a-lifetime chance ... swing the doors 2002. In addition to the aforementioned, of whales and dolphins, Dr. Mark Uhen wide open! Why not apprentice with the our guest, Dr. Robert Holmes from the will give a public lecture on Saturday, best, before its too late? Got the urge, call Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, September 22nd on that very subject. Much now .. .410-326-2042 ext 28. will speak on how he became interested in of Dr. Uhen's research centers on the paleontology. Then at 2:30pm, Dr. Holmes anatomy of the earliest cetaceans. Ifby Saturday, June 9th, you (the will deliver a free public lecture on a new aspiring new candidate) have not made homed (Ceratopsian) dinosaur from Stephen Godfrey your wishes known to at least one member Alberta, Canada. Included please fmd a of the nominating committee, please come copy of the lecture announcement! prepared to present your qualifications (i.e. raise your hand) and share the glory. Christy Visaggi will be at the Calvert Marine Museum for eight weeks And you think nothing good ever happens this summer as a research intern studying, to you ... Upebming Events among other things, the distribution of shark teeth collected from beaches versus In accordance with the By Laws from within Miocene-age sediments of the CMM Fossil Club, the nominating June 6, 2001 Calvert Marine Museum exposed along the western shore of the committee (composed of Pam Platt, Chery~ Fossil Club Meeting - followed by Chesapeake Bay. Snelson, and Stephen Godfrey) will present lecture. At CMM -Solomons, Maryland the candidates for the four elected offices -----.. I have completed the text and within the club at our next club meeting, .,.,atheredthe vast majority of the Saturday June 9th, 2001. The member- illustrations and artifacts to be included in REPORTS ON RECENT FIELD TRIPS Willows. On Saturday, March 10, a cheerful group of fifteen members gathered at this Calvert Formation site on thfr Bay, to launch the new collecting season. We bundled up and set out along the beach, braving the chilly winds ane' waves to see what we could find. The cliffs were quite productive that day, and everyone left with at least one treasure. The finds included eight C megalodon teeth (two were posteriors), lots of nice Hemipristis sp., Isurus sp., Notorynchus sp., Squatina sp., and hammerhead sharks teeth, and porpoise teeth. Porpoise vertebrae, periotic bones, tympanic bullas, a sea cow vertebra, ray teeth, a fish jaw, and numerous invertebrates were also found. We are very grateful that Mr. Hammond Hobbs allowed us to access this wonderful Miocene site, again. Martin Marietta Rocky Point Quarry, New Hanover Co., NC. Fourteen members gathered at the mine on Friday morning, March 30, thrilled to escape the winter chill up North and looking forward to finding some interesting Eocene, Castle Hayne Formation material, for which this site is well known. Upon disembarking at a convenient parking area within the quarry, the collectors scattered throughout the mine to search the hilly terrain for the rest of the day. The group found about ten Carcharocles auriculatis teeth (several of them were nearly 4"), a huge fish spine (Cylindracanthus sp.) fragment, other sharks teeth including Carcharhinus gibbesi and Isurus praecursor, shark and fish vertebrae, an archaeocete whale bone, tons of echinoderms, several crab carapaces, and cephalopod chamber casts. PCS Phosphate Mine, Aurora, NC. On Saturday, March 31, thirty very enthusiastic collectors gathered in the old parking lot to prepare for the big day we have looked forward to for several years now. We were thrilled that "Lee Creek" was open to collecting, again, as we crowded onto the old, familiar, dusty PCS Phosphate Mine bus. Candace Holliday did a wonderful job driving the bus and organizing our large group, and we appreciate her efforts immensely. The new collecting area was in stark contrast to that which we were used to, consisting of extremely steep hills and much less weathered matrix than in previous years. We were fortunate that day that the thunderstorms, rumbling in the distance, stayed away so that we could collect during the entire 6 hours allotted. It sprinkled a few times, but overall, the weather was fine, especially when one considers how cold it was back home. ~ -~...... _.~-'"- The finds that day included lots of fish mouthplates, vertebrae, whale bones, sharks teeth (including Echinorhinus blakei and Notorynchus sp), atleast two C megalodon teeth (one 5"), a beautiful double ray dermal scute, a "swollen" fish vertebra, and lot of other vertebrate and invertebrate specimens. We are very appreciative that the mine operators allowed us to resume collecting in this prolific Miocene and Pliocene site. We particularly thank Curtis Ormand, for his time and efforts to coordinate our visit. Parkers Creek, Warrior's Rest Sanctuary. There were 16 participants for this fieldtrip, held on Saturday, April 7. This Miocene site north of the Calvert Marine Museum, along the Scientist's Cliffs, is famous for producing abundant invertebrate and invertebrate material. We had a very enjoyable day, although there was still a winter chill in the air. Everyone found several nice specimens, including a 2 ~" crocodile tooth, several small C megalodon teeth including a posterior, many small sharks teeth, vertebrae and a skull fragment. After the Eeldtrip, most of the group met at Adams Rib, to have some dinner and to swap stories about our recent fossil expeditions. We thank Stephen Godfrey for his assistance in obtaining permission for our group to visit this site. - Plum Point. Martin Meyer met nineteen members at the bowling alley on Saturday morning, April 21, to lead us to this excellent collecting site on the Bay. It was no small task, including finding places for all of us to park. In spite of the wind and waves that day, there were a large number of good "Ends", including a seal tooth, a horse tooth, porpoise teeth, sharks teeth (several small C megalodon, abundant Notorynchus sp., Isurus sp., Hemipristis sp., tiger, etc.), ray dermal scutes, fish teeth and mouthplates, a whale tooth, three ear bones, fish coprolite, ray mouthplate fragments and a stinger barb, turtle shell fragments, crab claws, a colonial pipestem and a "nice blue-gre~n rock". We had a great time! Thank you again, Martin Meyer, for your time and efforts and allowing us to visit Plum Point. Silurian Coral Reefs and Swopes Pit. May 12. This trip was cancelled because no one called in. We will offer this trip _____~gain in July, as several people expressed interest in visiting these sites, but were unable to attend due to scheduling onflicts. UPCOMING FIELD TRIPS AND EVENTS, SUMMER 2001 Please remember to call in for yourself and family members (spouse and children of the member), or for one other club member, only, on the date and time indicated. The participants must be current members of both the fossil club and the Calvert Marine Museum. For information about club membership, contact Cheryl Snelson. The numbers of participants for trips are often limited, so if you find out that you won't be able to attend after calling in, please contact Kathy immediately, so she can contact those on the waiting list. Information on directions, lodging, meeting times and meeting places will be provided at the call-in. June 9, 2001, Saturday. 12:30 pm. Fossil Club Meeting. Activities to be determined. June 23, Saturday. Big Brook. Cretaceous. Near Freehold, NJ. Screen for Cretaceous shark teeth (Squalicorax, Scapanorhynchus, Cretolamna, and several species of Odontaspids), belemnites, fish teeth (Enchodus, Edaphodon, Ischyrhiza, Anomaeodus), ray teeth, mosasaur teeth and crab claws. Occasionally, dinosaur teeth, plesiosaur teeth and vertebrae, and ammonites have been found.