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FOSSIL HUNT IN MARSHALL COUNTY
Late one evening in June we decided to take a field trip to the Sulpher area to uncover some marine invertebrate fossils. Since we live in Norman, OK we decided to save driving time and make a weekend of it by camping at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
We planned our trip by researching the rock ages in the area. We thought this would give us a glimpse of what we might find in the area. We really didn't have a specific place in mind to go looking so we planned on just driving through the country looking for some interesting areas. Topographical maps of the area showed some hills in the area and we thought we might find some good road cuts to look at.
While searching the web, we discovered a place called "White Mound" where supposedly some great trilobite specimens were discovered. Fortunately for us, we had a mutual friend who had contacts with the Ranger Service in Sulpher, who in turn, had many contacts in the local community. We hoped that we would be granted permission to enter the area for a dig, but we still wanted to try and uncover some sites of our own.
Armed with the neccessary equipment for the area we departed the next afternoon for the park and set up camp when we arrived. Later that evening, we ventured into town for some water and supplies for the next day. We stopped at a local store and noticed an ammonite sitting close to the register. We asked about the origin of it and the shop keeper told us that it came from an area about 30 minutes south of town. We explained that we were a couple of amateur rockhounders in town looking for fossils and asked if he knew of any good locations. The shopkeeper pulled a road map out from behind the counter with pencil marks indicating some fossil hunting areas he knew about. He told us where the ammonite came from and that we might try in that area because the public lands in the local Sulpher area had been picked and cleaned of fossil remains many times over. He told us that there was a fiber optic line being buried in the area on his map and the workers were uncovering huge full specimens of ammonite. We thanked him and told him that if we found a decent full specimen of ammonite we would certainly bring it by for his collection.
The next day we packed up and hit the road early. We drove to the area where the ammonite came from, but unfortunately the dig was over and the area was all cleaned up. We drove a little further south toward the Texas border and we spotted a nice area of exposed rock. We took a look at our position and then parked the car and began exploring the area. We climbed a small hill leading to a plateau about 20 feet up where we found the remains of what appeared to be igneous rocks, as well as some fragments of shale scattered about in a grassy area. Sparcely decorating the pieces of shale were some species of colonial animals. We then ventured down the hill to a wide open space about 50 yards from the highway. The area was a mixture of loose rock and grass, with more exposed areas of rock than grass. We decided to check out one particular area and with one tap of the hammer we uncovered a gold mine of invertebrates in the rock just at the surface. We spent the next half hour or so extracting some of the better pieces with our hammer and chisels being careful to leave some matrix in place.
While we were extracting one particular piece, an OHP officer pulled up to see what we were doing. We explained our purpose to him and showed him a specimen we had pulled from the ground. He informed us that a couple of weeks earlier he had come across a guy down in a ditch about 20 miles NW of where we were pulling out giant pieces of rock from an area where some road construction was occuring. He gave us directions to the site and wished us luck all the while shaking his head in disbelief at our determination to dig in the dirt in 100+ degree temperature.
Once we had collected three or four good specimens we packed up our equipment, cleaned up the area, noted our position on the map and made for the next town to replenish our water supply. After hitting the store we decided to head on over to the spot where the officer had seen the guy a couple of weeks earlier. We followed his directions and found it with ease. We pulled off to the side of the road and began exploring the area. It was a ditch widening project and it looked like it was a fresh new dig (within the last 12 hours.) Within about five minutes we found some amazing specimens of snail shaped fossils along with pieces of ammonite. Some of the ammonite pieces were so big that we could hardly believe the size of the full structure. We spent another hour or so wandering around the area trying to find some of the best pieces we could. Once we had collected a half dozen or so good pieces, we decided to head on home to Norman (no stops on the way as we were filthy from head to toe!)
After returning home, exhausted from the sun and driving, we discovered that rocks from the area we were digging in were of the Cretaceous. We began a little research in the books and on the internet to try and identify our finds. Once we identified them based upon age and description, we logged them into our books and called it a night. The cleaning process would have to wait for the next day.
Unfortunately we didn't uncover any full specimens of ammonite so we didn't have anything to bring back to the shop keeper back in Sulpher, but on our next visit through there we might bring him one of our other clean fossil finds from the day. You know, we never did get that call about permission to enter the White Mound area but we did have a good trip and came home with some beautiful pieces that will surely go on display in our private collection. Many thanks to that shop owner and the OHP officer for helping make our day a success!
Rob and Kristi