The Rostrum 18 (3) May, 2009 Page 1

The Rostrum

The Newsletter of the Maryland Geological Society Baltimore, Maryland Established 1991

Volume 18, Number 3 May, 2009

President’s Message

On behalf of MGS, I wish to offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Herbert P. Ermler, Joseph F. Cirrincione and Douglas W. Donald for their loss (see “In Memoriam” on page 3).

At the end of this year, Dick Grier, Sr., will step down as Membership Chairman and I will step down as President of MGS. If you are interested in either of these two positions, or any other position, I ask that you consider running.

I would also like to thank Pat Young for accommodating MGS into the Lee Creek spring season schedule and allocating slots for this trip.

As for me, I am off for a pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, along the briny beach.

Your Intrepid Leader,

Brady E. Hamilton

Dates to Remember

Sunday, May 17th - next MGS Meeting

Meeting Time & Location 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Bowie Community Center, 3209 Stonybrook Drive, Bowie, MD 20715

Joint American Fossil Federation and Maryland Geological Society meeting

Mineral of the Meeting: Euclase. Bring a few choice specimens to the meeting

Dr. Robert M. Hazen will speak on “The Biological Origins of Minerals”

Please submit material for the next issue of The Rostrum by June 10th

“I think I can; I think I can”

- The Little Engine That Could

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Maryland Geological Society

Founded in 1991, MGS is comprised of both amateur and professional mineral and fossil collectors. MGS emphasizes collecting, identification, study and display aspects of the geological sciences. MGS is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS) and the Eastern Federation of Mineralogical and Lapidary Societies (EFMLS).

Dues

Dues are $15.00 per individual adult member. Applications for membership may be obtained from the MGS website or by contacting Dick Grier, Sr., Membership Chairman, 8052 Kavanagh Road, Baltimore, MD 21222, (410) 285-5554. Dues are payable by January 1st of each year.

Meetings Meetings are held bimonthly, beginning in January at the Bowie Community Center, located at 3209 Stonybrook Drive, Bowie, MD. The doors open at 11:00 AM noon and the meetings are completed by 3:00 PM. Club meetings will be held as scheduled so long as the Bowie Community Center is open. Call 301-464-1737 after 11:00 AM to find out if the Center is open.

Meeting Dates & Programs for 2009

May 17: Joint MGS & AFF Meeting September 20: Annual Auction July 19: General Meeting November 15: Elections & Pizza Party

Correspondence

Direct mail to Gary & Cindy Lohman, 21995 Barkentine Court, Great Mills, MD 20634. Phone: (301) 862-1957.

The Rostrum Published bimonthly beginning in January. Submit material for publication electronically to Isaiah.423@juno.com or by mail to Gerald Elgert, 9910 Lorain Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20901.

Website

www.ecphora.net/mgs/ Material for the website should be sent to Daryl Serafin at dkjjserafin@comcast.net.

The Rostrum V18 (3) Index

President’s Message 1 Dates to Remember 1 MGS Information 2 Meeting Dates & Programs 2 In Memoriam 3 Donations & Thanks 3 Upcoming Shows & Events 3 Thanks to March Speaker 4 For Sale – Grier Collections 4 Meeting Mineral: Euclase 5 May Speaker 5 Upcoming Field Trips 6 Michigan’s Petoskey Stones 7 Uncovering Fossil Legislation 8 Paint Branch Field Trip 10 C&D and Odessa Field Trip 10 Lee Creek Pilgrimage 11 Photo Page 13

MGS Officers:

President Brady Hamilton (301)562-8956 Vice President Eric Seifter (410)203-1064 Secretary Gary & Cindy Lohman (301)862-1957 Treasurer Dave Andersen (301)869-2662 Assistant Treasurer Mel Hurd (301)580-5612 Newsletter Editor Gerald Elgert (301)681-5720 Associate Editor Jim Stedman (301)589-2250 Website Editor Daryl Serafin (301)464-1659 Website Assistant Mel Hurd (301)580-5612 Membership Chairman Dick Grier, Sr (410)285-5554 Program Chairman Brady Hamilton (301)562-8956 Liaison Officer Mel Hurd (301)580-5612 Ways & Means Dick Grier, Sr. (410)285-5554 MGS Sales Chris Hurd (410)212-1177 Field Trip Chairman Gerald Elgert (301)681-5720 AFMS/EFMLS Rep. Gary Lohman (301)862-1957 Board of Directors:

Mark Bennett (443)370-1325 Mike Folmer (410)850-0193 Bob Farrar (301)464-1137 Gary White (410)551-7826 Gary Grimsley (703)642-2824 Mel Hurd (301)580-5612

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In Memoriam

The Maryland Geological Society community has been diminished by the deaths of three longstanding

members over the past two months. These members contributed greatly to MGS in many different ways and will be sorely missed. The brief comments below on each member were originally drafted by Dick Grier, Sr.

Herbert P. Ermler Herb, a very active member of MGS, joined the club along with his wife, Barbara, in July, 1993. He died of

a heart attack on April 18, 2009 while on a fossil trip in Alabama. Herb was a valued member of this community, and enjoyed going on as many MGS field trips as possible.

Joseph F. Cirrincione Beginning his affiliation with the club in November, 1991, Joe was another very active MGS member. He

died on April 16, 2009. Joe attended most MGS meetings and was generous with his donations to the club auctions. Joe, a well-liked member of the club, was also chief chef at all of our picnics.

Douglas W. Donald Doug had been a MGS member since December 24, 1992. He was a fossil dealer for many years, and made

many mineral and fossil donations to the MGS for its auctions. A very friendly and knowledgeable member of the club, he always enjoyed going on the field trips to PCS Mine at Lee Creek, N.C. Doug was also a long-time AFF member.

Donations & Thanks Dick Grier Sr.

Ways & Means Chairman

Mark Bennett: an Edmontosaurus sp. phalanx, Cretaceous, Hell Creek Formation, from Western South Dakota; a Sand Dollar from Baja, Mexico; seven tumble polished agates; a bag of assorted shark, porpoise, whale & fish vertebrae from Lee Creek, NC; a small bag of assorted teeth, Lee Creek, NC; two bags of assorted teeth; a fern fossil, Pecopteris sp., Pennsylvanian; a 2-inch amethyst xl. group, deep purple; an Eurypterid imprint from the Silurian of New York; a pink dolomite xl. group from Pennsylvania; three small pieces of chrysocolla; a Mako shark tooth cast in pewter for a necklace; tumble polished quartz and tumble polished fortification agate; seven small opalized ammonoids; and Kleine Versteinerungs-Kunde, a book in German by Hans Werner Rothe Jeff Swartz: a beautiful arrow head knife with deer antler handle in heat-treated novaculite Bob and Pam Platt: a bag of crystals of gypsum var. selenite from the Triple W Ranch, Johnson Co., Wyoming. Robin Beers: a cash donation to MGS Joe Cirrincione: a cash donation to MGS Mike Folmer: a cash donation to MGS Grady Frame: a cash donation to MGS Dick Grier, Jr,: a Clovis atlatl point, Early Paleoindian Period, 14,000-9,000 yrs BP, Jefferson Co., IN Michael Hutchins: The Complete Guide To Michigan Fossils by Joseph J. “Paleojoe” Kchool Anonymous donor: two Carcharodon megalodons from a South Carolina river.

Upcoming Shows & Events

May 23rd Saturday only: The Chesapeake Gem and Mineral Society will hold its 20th Annual show and sale in the Ruhl Armory, 1035 York Road, just inside the Baltimore I-695 Beltway in Towson, Maryland from 10 AM to 4 PM. The event will feature minerals, fossils, gemstones, jewelry, door prizes, auctions, demonstrations, free mineral specimens and activities for children. There is free admission.

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A Note of Thanks for Our March Speaker

All of the membership of the Maryland Geological Society wishes to extend a special ‘Thank You’ to Lucia Kuizon for her presentation on the Douglas Point Special Recreation Area and its relationship to the now enacted Paleontological Resources Preservation (PRP) legislation. Lucy has a most enviable job title, that of the National Paleontologist. She works for the Bureau of Land Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior. While a lot of her work involves working with legislative issues and national policy, she also manages to get in some field time. In addition to providing us with some of the historical background and natural history on the Douglas Point area, Lucy was helpful in broadening our understanding of how the PRP creates a uniform policy to govern fossil collecting on federal land and how that affects professional, amateur and causal collectors. Thank you, Lucy.

For Sale

The Grier Fossil & Mineral Collections Dick Grier, Sr.

The Grier fossil & mineral collections are up for sale by Dick, Sr. and Jr. at 10% off. There are literally

hundreds of mostly competition quality specimens available, and close to one thousand in all sizes. Specimens are both self-collected and purchased world wide. We have been collecting for over 45 years. Still remaining are thousands of worldwide shark teeth, some very rare, obtained by trading with European collectors over the Internet. There are large numbers of ammonites, echinoids, and brachiopods, as well as fern fossils, vertebrate fossils and others. The minerals remaining include gold, emeralds, silver minerals, topazes, beryls, tourmalines, aquamarines, amethyst and heliodor. Minerals range from micromount and thumbnail size to museum-size. All specimens are crystallized. So far the meteorites, dinosaur teeth and the larger shark teeth have been sold, as well as my collection of tourmalines from around the world. Please come and visit us by appointment. Arrange for an appointment by calling Dick Grier, Sr. at (410)285-5554. We live in Dundalk, a South East suburb of Baltimore, at 8052 Kavanagh Road. Come by and see us!

Dick, Sr, with his collection

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Mineral of the Meeting: Euclase Bob Farrar

The Mineral of the Meeting for the May meeting of MGS will be euclase. Euclase is an uncommon mineral,

and many rockhounds are not familiar with it. However, it is a beautiful and interesting mineral that deserves the attention of any collector. Euclase is a member of the silicate group, with the formula AlBe[(OH)(SiO4)]. It crystalizes in the monoclinic system. Euclase is most typically some shade of blue or blue-green, and can also be yellow or colorless. It has a hardness of 7.5. One of the most characteristic properties of euclase is its perfect cleavage. Its name, in fact, roughly translates to mean "good fracture". Thus, despite its relatively great hardness, euclase crystals tend to be rather fragile. Crystal form, color, hardness and cleavage usually serve to distinguish euclase.

Euclase occurs in pegmatites, hydrothermal deposits, and other formations. Among the best known localities is Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, in Brazil, where it occurs in hydrothermal deposits with imperial topaz. These crystals are colorless to blue-green to blue, and are often gemmy, but are rarely over an inch long. They are found at a rate of about 1 euclase crystal to every 1000 imperial topaz crystals, and are greatly prized by local miners and dealers. Among the best euclase crystals are from the Chivor Emerald Mine in Colombia. These are gemmy, blue, and up to 6 inches long. In Equador, Brazil (that’s a town, not the country), Rio Grande do Norte, are found blocky, colorless to white crystals with a blue zone in the middle. These are probably the most commonly seen euclase crystals on the mineral market. In Zimbabwe, sharp, double-terminated blue crystals are found. Fine crystals also come from Tanzania. Localities in the USA are not as well known, but include the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, Park County in Colorado, and Topsham, Maine.

Euclase is not commonly used as a gemstone, but when it is, it can be beautiful. When faceted, the blue material from Ouro Preto, Brazil, is gorgeous. Because of its perfect cleavage, euclase is difficult to cut. This, and the scarcity of facetable material, make cut euclase quite expensive. Thus, while euclase is not among the best known of minerals, it is among the more interesting, and is well worth learning more about.

Speaker for the May Meeting Dr. Robert M. Hazen

“The Biological Origins of Minerals”

Dr. Robert M. Hazen is the Senior Research Scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory and the Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University. He will speak on the biological origins of minerals. For information on Dr. Hazen, his research, and an introduction to his subject see http://www.gl.ciw.edu/news/mineralogy/mineral_kingdom_has_coevolved_with_life and http://hazen.gl.ciw.edu/

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MGS Field Trips Gerald Elgert, Field Trip Chairman

The Maryland Geological Society is an advocate of responsible collecting. The society has permission to collect in all of the sites listed that require such permission. Some sites allow only organizations to attend, while at others individuals are welcome to go on their own. Most trips are weather dependent and some require at least an average level of physical fitness. A few are announced on short notice, either by way of mouth or via eMails. The best way to reach me is via an eMail at Isaiah.423@juno.com or by telephone at (301)681-5720. Saturday, May 16th to the Vulcan Quarry in Manassas, Virginia

This will be a combined field trip with the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County. The rock is diabase, with one level having a layer of hornfels. This quarry has produced prehnite, apophillite, calcite, amethyst, other quartz, chalcopyrite, pyrite, epidote, and zeolites -- stilbite, chabazite, heulandite, stellerite, and others.

Please let me know if you plan to attend by May 9 so I can provide the quarry with an accurate headcount. Children 10 and up are welcome if accompanied by a parents. Mickey Stump, our host, has offered to show the children some of the equipment, including their giant enormous trucks.

Saturday and Sunday, May 23rd. to May 24th to Red Hill and the Bear Valley open pit mine in Pennsylvania.

This will be a combined trip with the Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club. Spring has finally found its way to us despite an earlier prediction of Pennsylvania pundit Punxsutawney Phil. So in view of this reality I am scheduling the club’s combined annual spring trip to Red Hill and the Bear Valley Mine for the weekend of May 23rd to May 24th. The Red Hill site, located in Clinton County, Pennsylvania will be visited on Saturday. It was discovered during road construction and is now a world class research site of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. There is a Resident Research Associate there as well as a museum that we will also visit. The most productive exposures run for about a quarter of a mile along the highway and maybe fifty or so feet up the face of the cliff. This is the sedimentary Catskill Formation, late Devonian, with an

estimated age of some 365 million years. The fossil rich matrix is a red/green mudstone with abundant plant and animal remains including the highly sought after and often found eight toed tetrapod, Hynerpeton. On previous trips club members have found a complete skull of this creature. We will be finding scales and teeth from fish and sharks plus impressions of the plants living in that era. Jaws with articulated teeth, spines and placoderm dermal plates from armored fishes are found here as well.

On Sunday we will travel to the nearby Bear Valley open pit coal mine, now disused and open to collectors. The coal has been mined away and what remains are vast fields of shale littered with ferns, cattails, horsetails; you name it. There is a pile of fossil trees that must be 50 feet high by 300 feet in length.

This is a two day trip although some may want to do just the one day. Red Hill is a good four hour drive from the metro DC area. We will be making accommodations at the Sportsman’s Hotel and Restaurant in North Bend. The restaurant there is very good. On the way home and maybe on the way up there are some other sites it may be possible to visit that produce blastoids, horn corals and even some dog tooth calcite.

Details to follow. Please contact me by phone (301)681-5720 or via eMail (Isaiah.423@juno.com) if you plan to attend.

Saturday, June 6th Trilobite Madness

About the closest sites for trilobites are to be found in Frederick County, Virginia. On my last trip to the Isaac’s Creek site the Virginia highway maintenance crews had seeded many of the hill sides and barren areas where the biggest and best trilos and ammonites were to be found. I have reports from other clubs that persistent searching on the hill tops and banks along the creek still produces our quarry. We’ll meet at the Staples parking lot which is just across from the Beltway Plaza Mall on Greenbelt Road at 9:00 AM. The trip will be dependent upon the weather and secured permission to trespass on an adjacent property.

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Email reminders will be sent out by the preceding Thursday. Please contact me by phone (301)681-5720 or via eMail (Isaiah.423@juno.com) if you plan to attend.

Any time trips are frequently announced on short notice. I visit a number of local sites on a regular basis and occasionally scout out promising locations within a day’s drive. There is a tracks site in Western Maryland and another in Pennsylvania that need more exploring. My last time there a toe print of a lizard like beast was discovered. There is a ravine in New Jersey where ammonites are rumored to be. How about a Severn Formation site being exposed by construction in Southern Maryland? I’m offering an open invitation for anyone to accompany me on these excursions. Please contact me by phone (301)681-5720 or via eMail (Isaiah.423@juno.com) if you plan to attend.

Michigan’s Petoskey Stones Michael Hutchins

During the first week of April 2009, I was fortunate to be able to travel to the small town of Petoskey in

northern Michigan, where I attended and gave presentations at the Annual Conferences of the Michigan Chapter of the Wildlife Society and the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative. The meetings were held consecutively on the campus of North Central Michigan College. Petoskey is located on the southeastern shore of Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan.

I had done some research on the area before my trip and found that the city’s name was synonymous with a paleontological phenomenon that I had become familiar with as the result of a friend’s gift. A few years back, a good friend, Greg Geise, Director of the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, MI, had send me a beautiful polished stone—known as a “Petoskey Stone.” These remarkable and unique objects are actually the fossilized remains of Devonian (355-415 mya) corals of the genus Hexagonaria. One hundred millions years before the time of the dinosaurs, Michigan was covered by a warm shallow sea that extended from what is now the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Canada. As these ancient colonial corals died, mud and other sediments covered them, and eventually transformed into shale. During the fossilization process, the coral’s porous structure was filled in by calcium carbonate, making it now possible to give the stones a beautifully polished surface. At one time, some of these ancient corals were invaded by crude oil, which gives some of them a soft brown color. It is the amount of crude oil invading each stone, which gives it either a lighter or darker color.

Interestingly, the deposits from which the fossil corals originated were not found in Michigan, but rather in regions to the north. Around 70,000 years ago, the Wisconsin ice sheet, began forming in the vicinity of Hudson Bay. This massive glacier, which some geologists believe was two miles thick, began moving southward, gouging out huge colonies of fossilized coral that had weathered to the surface. As the glacier moved across the state it carried with it a large quantity of these corals, which when the ice melted, were deposited widely across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The glacial action itself helped to shape the Petoskey stones. The crushing weight of the glacier, combined with its forward movement, dragged the fossilized corals over bedrock, and broke them up. Most Petoskey stones are round in shape and their surface is relatively smooth. This is due to the constant wave action produced by Lake Michigan and other northern lakes, which produces a tumbling action. Stones found further away from lakes tend to be far more rough and irregular in shape. The best places to find Petoskey stones are on lake beaches, in streambeds running into lakes, in gravel pits, and in road cuts (also known as cutbanks).

In 1965, then Governor George Romney signed House Bill 2297, recognizing the Petoskey as Michigan’s Official State Stone. State regulations restrict collection of the stones. In State and National Parks collecting is prohibited, and fines can range from $50-$500. However, given the traditional nature of the activity, the authorities typically tolerate a few stones being taken out for personal viewing and study. One cannot collect on private property without permission, but collection is permitted at road cuts 66 feet from the center of the road. Petoskey stone collecting has, unfortunately, become commercialized and this is a reason for concern. I noticed

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many people selling stones, including local rock shops, the hotel I stayed at, and the airport gift shop. Some of the stones have even been transformed into tacky souvenirs—including being cut into the shapes of animals and the state of Michigan. Even small, poor quality polished stones sold for $7, while the larger ones sold for $20 or more, depending on size and quality.

As it so happened, my friend, Greg Geise, also attended the conference and was able to join me for a day of Petoskey hunting. To help in our search, we used Bruce Mueller and William Wilde’s The Complete Guide to Petoskey Stones, published by The University of Michigan Press and the Petoskey Publishing Company. We started out from Petoskey at 9:00 AM and drove south on Highway 31 towards Traverse City at the southern most tip of Grand Traverse Bay. The views of Lake Michigan, its shores still covered with ice, were spectacular. Our first stop was Fisherman’s Island State Park, located just one mile south of Charlevoix. The book suggested hunting on the beach or driving to the end of the road and searching in and around a shallow stream. But there was so much snow on the road, and the ruts were so deep, that the underside of the car was scraping. We decided to pull over and look on the beach, which still had a great deal of ice on it. We walked south along the beach looking for Petoskeys amongst a sea of normal beach stones, but saw nothing. However, we happened upon a small stream a few hundred yards down the beach and decided to explore. Walking slowly up the streambed, Greg spotted the first Petoskey, and after we had developed a “search image”, we found several other fine specimens. Our hands became nearly numb from plunging them into the icy water. After a couple of hours of collecting and feeling the need to thaw out, we decided to move on.

After stopping in Traverse City to have lunch and peruse a few antique malls and bookstores, we headed north toward Sutton Bay, a small community located at the northwestern side of Grand Traverse Bay. The Muller and Wilde book had recommended two road cuts in this portion of the state and I wanted to find them. The first site was at Rt. 72 and Armstrong Road. This was a large road cut that exposed one side of a large sand dune. There were many rocks protruding from and scattered down the cut, a good sign. We parked the car safely to the side and began examining the area. Within a few minutes, we had found several Petoskey stones, including many that were less weathered than those we had found near the lakeshore.

We spent perhaps two hours at this location, before moving onto the next site, a large road cut on Rt. 22 just outside the township of Sutton’s Bay. This road cut was much larger and steeper than the one we had visited earlier. However, there were also many existing footprints on the bank, suggesting that this location had attracted others. After searching for 30 minutes or so, neither one of us could find any Petoskey stones. I eventually found one, but it was of lesser quality than the ones we had found at the two previous locations. However, there were some larger, darker colored grey rocks protruding from the bank, which appeared to be weathered shale. Cracking a few open with my rock hammer, I began to find numerous shell fossils. One larger rock I found split open very easily and revealed hundreds of brachiopod fossils. One round section was nearly 24 inches in diameter and was thick with white brachiopods and other shells, some of them red in the dark shale. I gave this to Greg, knowing I’d never be able to get it home on the plane. I kept a smaller (6 x 12 inch) piece for myself, which I knew would easily fit into my brief case.

By this time, it was beginning to get dark. Exhausted from the day of productive hunting, we stopped to get some dinner and a beer in Traverse City and then proceeded back to the hotel. It was a great day of fossil hunting and a wonderful time spent with the friend who had originally introduced me to the strange and fascinating State Stone of Michigan, The Petoskey Stone.

Uncovering the Real Fossil Legislation Jim Stedman, Associate Editor

On March 30, 2009, the Paleontological Resources Preservation (PRP) legislation became law (as part of the

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009). Fossil collectors have spent a decade arguing over the merits of the PRP legislation. Some very contradictory assertions were made about it during that debate and, I suspect, many are still believed to be true. Now that it’s law, I thought it was time to dig through the dirt (carefully) and uncover the real fossil legislation. Why was the PRP legislation enacted?

This law creates a uniform policy to govern fossil collecting on federal land. Previously, the federal government had been administering an inconsistent patchwork of statutes and policies. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s seminal report of 2000 (Fossils on Federal and Indian Lands), many federal

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paleontological sites had suffered from unauthorized collecting and vandalism. The Interior report also concluded that penalties against such activity had been inadequate. What land is covered by the new legislation?

For purposes of this legislation (and this article), “federal land” is defined as all land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, with the exception of Indian land, as well as National Forest Service land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture. So, both Secretaries have administrative authority. What’s a “paleontological resource” according to the law?

It’s “any fossilized remains, traces, or imprints of organisms, preserved in or on the earth’s crust, that are of paleontological interest and that provide information about the history of life on earth.” How does the new legislation affect amateur fossil collectors?

The legislation is a step forward for amateur collectors (individuals collecting for personal use, not financial gain). The administering Secretaries are required to allow the “casual collecting” of some fossils on some federal land without a permit where that is consistent with the law. Casual collecting is defined as: “the collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal use, either by surface collection or the use of non-powered hand tools resulting in only negligible disturbance to the Earth’s surface and other resources.”

But, be careful, the statute limits casual collecting to federal land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Forest Service. This means that collecting without a permit is against the law on all other federal land covered by this legislation, such as that of the National Park Service.

This is an expansion for amateur collectors from prior law and policy. Previously, only the Bureau of Land Management allowed fossil collecting for personal use without a permit on federal land. Such collecting was limited, as under the new law, to invertebrate and plant fossils. What about someone who collects fossils to sell?

Collecting fossils for commercial purposes (i.e., for subsequent sale) on covered federal land is prohibited under the new law, as it was previously. What does this law say about collecting rocks and minerals on federal land?

The new statute does not apply to the “casual collecting” of a rock or mineral not specifically protected under this legislation. Any other statute or policy already governing such collecting remains in effect. What are some of the requirements for securing a permit to collect on federal land?

With the exception of casual collecting, all fossil collecting on federal land requires a permit. Permits may be awarded only to qualified applicants for activities that advance paleontological knowledge or public education. Collected specimens remain the property of the United States and must be housed in an approved repository. Does this legislation authorize federal agents to arrest people collecting fossils on state or private land and

confiscate their fossils?

No. The law applies only to covered federal land. None of its provisions are to be interpreted as applying to the lawful collecting or sale of paleontological resources from non-federal land. What are the penalties for violating the statute? Do they include the forfeiture of the equipment and

vehicles used in committing a violation?

In an effort to remedy the inadequacies of previous penalties, the legislation establishes significant criminal and civil penalties for violations of its provisions. These may include fines and jail time (up to 5 years). But, since you’re not going to run afoul of the new law, I wont go into all the details. The provision regarding the forfeiture of vehicles and equipment was dropped during the legislative process. Will people face criminal prosecution for inadvertently violating the law’s provisions by, say, visiting a national

park, and picking up and taking home a rock that turns out to be a fossil?

No. The criminal penalties apply only to individuals who “knowingly” violate these provisions or advise someone else to do so. What are the next steps for the legislation?

The administering Secretaries are to issue regulations to implement the statute. They must provide an opportunity for public comment. What are the next steps for us?

Fossil collectors should monitor the regulation making process closely because, among other actions, the Secretaries will determine what’s a “reasonable amount” under the “casual collecting” authority, and what are “common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources.”

More importantly, when you’re going to be on federal land, find out for sure what you can and cannot do. If you’re not sure whether it’s federal land, find out. Don’t collect now and find out later.

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Paint Branch Field Trip Jim Pitts

On Saturday, April 11, 2009, Gerald Elgert led Kiyoshi Sasaki and Fumiko Shirakura and myself, Jim Pitts,

on a trip to the Paint Branch Creek in College Park. The three of us are new members of the Maryland Geological Society and are fairly new to rock hunting. It was a wonderfully wet and rainy morning, but that just made the rocks stand out that much better. Lots of the “Potomac River Stone” was found, along with a few pieces of fossilized wood and a couple samples of Skolithosa worm borrows. All in all, the trip was very educational and productive. Unfortunately, I found so many nice rocks I’ll probably have to buy a cab grinder now … Hope to see everyone on the next trip.

Fumiko Shirakura, Jim Pitts and Kiyoshi Sasaki. Photo by Gerald Elgert.

C&D Canal and Odessa Field Trip Fumiko Shirakura

We had a fossil field trip to Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and Odessa Petrified Wood Site on April 18. It

was a beautiful day. My husband, Kiyoshi, and I moved from Oklahoma, where we lived before for about 8 years, to Maryland last August. Our first fossil hunting in Maryland was to Paint Branch with Gerald. The trip to C & D Canal and Odessa was the second fossil collecting trip for us. We had no idea what kind of fossils we could find in Maryland. At the spoils site at C&D Canal, John Wolf showed us his impressive collections. That gave us ideas of what we might find. We found gastropods, one two-segment attached Baculites, Exogyra, and Belemnitella. We were especially happy to find the Belemnites because that was something we couldn’t find in Oklahoma or Texas where we sometimes visited!

Our second stop was Odessa Petrified Wood Site. It took us a while to find petrified wood in the field. As our eyes developed a search image, we started to find some good size ones. The largest one was 12 inch long and 4 inch wide. We never collected petrified wood before. So, we were very excited about the finding! We were so excited (and greedy) that we stayed at the site after everybody left.

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On the way back to home, we again stopped by the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal site again. We spent only 20 minutes there just before dusk. Kiyoshi found a 1-inch Enchodus (?) tooth and one tiny shark (?) tooth.

We were very happy about what we found in this field trip. But that was not the only made this trip really great. The members who went with us were very kind and helpful. They showed how and where to look for fossils. Without their help, we couldn’t find anything. It was really a good day. Thank you MGS and all members who went with us!

(Editor’s note – MGS members Donald Greaves, Michael Hutchens, John Wolf and Gerald Elgert were also on the trip. At the canal Michael found an extremely rare Mosasaur tooth and an unidentified spine, possibly from a sawfish. Gerald found a nice Ghost Shrimp claw and a fish vertebrae. Kiyoshi also found some unidentified teeth.)

Kiyoshi Sasaki, Fumiko Shirakura, John Wolf, Michael Hutchins, Donald Greaves and Gerald Elgert

A Lee Creek Pilgrimage Michael Hutchens

I had waited for many years to make my first pilgrimage to the Mecca of East Coast Miocene fossil hunting: The Lee Creek Mine in Aurora, NC. I was therefore ecstatic when Bruce Hargreaves, President of the Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club told me that two slots were available for Saturday, the 11th of April. My wife Song and I left our home in Silver Spring, MD between 2:00 and 2:30 PM Friday afternoon and immediately ran into some of the worst traffic we’ve ever seen, even for the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Traffic was literally bumper-to-bumper from the I-95 exit going south all the way to Potomac Mills. We never did figure out what caused the severe backup, but it took us nearly four hours to travel the first 40 miles. However, after that, traffic cleared out and the trip was much smoother. As usual, I had Map-quested our trip to find the best route to our motel in beautiful downtown Chocowinity, NC. After twisting through the back roads of NC in the dark for what seemed like an eternity (and almost running out of gas before we located a 24-hour pay at the pump station), we finally arrived at our destination at around 10:00 PM. Our motel, The Lemon Tree Inn, was no Hilton or even a Howard Johnson’s, but the price was right ($42 a night) and it was clean and quiet enough so that we got a decent, but very short night’s sleep.

Our wake up call was scheduled for 6:00 AM and we packed up and met Bruce at the motel entrance at 6:30. He was kind enough to show us how to get to the parking lot where we would meet our guides. Immediately

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outside our motel, we turned right on Route 33 and drove around 28 miles until we hit Route 306 and turned left. Proceeding around 4 additional miles down Route 306, we saw the parking lot on the right and pulled in at around 7:00 AM. It rained pretty hard on us on the way to the mine, which convinced us we were going to be rained out and disappointed. However, as they say, “Never say never.” When we got to the parking lot, the sky began to lighten up and the weather began to get progressively better. Many people were beginning to gather, and soon the guides called us forward to show our IDs, complete our paperwork and receive our hard hats and safety goggles. Following a brief safety instruction, we boarded the first bus to the mine. The bus was full of eager collectors of all sizes, shapes and ages over 18, the minimum age to enter. After a short ride, the bus proceeded through a gate and, upon reaching our destination, we all spilled out. When the second bus arrived and its passengers had disembarked, we walked down the road about a quarter mile and then descended into the mine via a very steep dirt ramp.

The collecting area was composed of a series of spoils piles that covered a large area, perhaps a half a mile or more in circumference. The hilly terrain was steep in spots and interspersed with ponds. The collecting area had been marked for safety purposes, with orange warning poles situated in areas where collectors were prohibited from approaching or passing. These were largely meant to keep people away from the edges of water or other soft substrates that could result in someone sinking into or getting caught in deep mud or tumbling over a steep incline and injuring themselves. Adherence to all the rules is critical, as severe injuries or deaths could result in the loss of collecting privileges for the public, as well as bad news for the family members of the injured party.

We had around six hours of collecting time. We traipsed up and down many hills, scanning the ground for the telltale shine of shark teeth. During the first several hours, we collected about 17 small teeth and some complete mollusk shells, mostly olives, cones and various pelecypods, but nothing unusual or spectacular. At one point, I told Song I was going to hike over to some of the more remote areas within the collecting area and nearer to the active draglines. From a distance, I could see a few others working those areas. Having finally arrived, I ran into a group of four people who were collecting together. I started searching in

the same area, and we all began to find some nice specimens of whale and dolphin vertebrae. In fact, whalebone was scattered everywhere. I found one huge, nearly complete whale vertebrae lying on the surface that had been weathered white in the sun. Later I found several others. My pack suddenly became very heavy. Song finally caught up with me and after hunting around a bit more, we were getting tired, and decided to head back towards the entrance, slowly hunting along the way. Then came the long, arduous slog up the steep ramp to get out of the mine. I made my own little switchbacks to help ease the pain of the ascent. My heart was pumping pretty hard when we got to the top, where we turned in our badges and goggles and got back on the bus. We didn’t find anything very unusual. However, Bruce had found a broken five-inch, jet black C. megalodon tooth shortly after arriving at the site and a report on www.Elasmo.com indicated that an individual from Florida had, in fact, found a 3 inch “Meg” that day. A seal molar, two Squalodon canines, a portion of a baleen whale skull with four vertebrae and some tuna vertebrae were also found.

Once back at the parking lot, we decided to drive into Aurora and take a quick look at the Fossil Museum. The Museum was small, but had a nice and representative collection of the specimens that can be found in the mine. They also had some nice fossils for sale, most at reasonable prices, but some others were quite expensive. I bought a couple of books on North Carolina fossils, including one on the paleontology of the mine. After meandering around the small museum for about 30 minutes, we jumped back into the car and began the long trek home. All in all it was a great pilgrimage to one of the best known fossil sites on the east coast. The weather was cooperative, and although we did not find anything spectacular, we got some needed post-winter exercise and spent some quality time together out-of-doors. We must have had a pretty good time because we are going back again next week, this time with the Friends of the Aurora Museum!

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MGS Photo Page

From our field trips

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Dates to Remember

Sunday, May 17th – MGS Meeting

Meeting Time & Location 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Bowie Community Center 3209 Stonybrook Drive, Bowie, MD 20715

301-464-1737

Location/Directions: The Center is located off of Route 450 in Bowie. Detailed directions and a map can be found on the MGS website.

Mineral of the Meeting: Euclase. Bring a few choice specimens to the meeting.

Dr. Robert M. Hazen will speak on “The Biological Origins of Minerals”

The Rostrum

Gerald Elgert, Editor 9910 Lorain Avenue Silver Spring, Maryland 20901

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