- This event has passed.
Fossil field trip
August 4, 2018 @ 7:30 AM - 11:00 AM
By popular demand, we will be having another field trip to the Stone City fossil site along the Brazos River at the SR 21 bridge on Saturday August 4 (Rain day is August 11). We will meet at 7:30am at the BRTC to carpool and will fossil until it gets too hot to stand. Access is moderately easy, and the fossils are easily picked from the mud and mudstone of the side of the river bank. There can be poison ivy, but last year, it didn’t get in our way. Bruce Neville will be our leader this year. Last year, Bruce collected 42 species from this site!
The Stone City or Whiskey Bridge Fossil Site is one of the most fossiliferous sites in Texas and was first described in 1848 by Friedrich Roemer. The fossils are from the Eocene, approximately 35 million years ago. A “cheat sheet” of the most common fossils can be found at http://www.hgms.org/client_trips/WhiskeyBridge/files/CollectingGuide1and2.pdf. A more complete handbook of the fossils from the site, Middle Eocene Claiborne Invertebrate Fossils, can be purchased from the Houston Gem and Mineral Society for $10 at http://dev.hgms.org/publications/paleo-books/.
You will want to bring: hat, water, sunscreen, work gloves, insect repellent, quart-sized zippered sandwich bags, a garden trowel or claw, and a plastic bucket. Wear shoes or boots that you don’t mind getting muddy. For those interested in the smaller fossils, pill bottles, a magnifier, and a sieve will be handy.