Collecting Marine Fossils near Huntsville, Alabama

November, 2008
by Ray Hill

FOSSILS FOUND HERE: Crinoid heads and stems. Blastoids. Horn Corals. Colony Corals. Brachiopods, Bryozoa, (Archimedes and other species) Trilobites, and different trace fossils.

Here's a photo of a piece of limestone with a fossil Bryozoa - Archimedes found at this site.

Monday morning, myself and two of my Rockbuddies drove from Atlanta, GA to just below Huntsville, Alabama on a fossil hunting trip. One of my buddies and I had found this location back in the spring and wanted to go back there to collect more fossil goodies. I didn't remember it taking as long as it did to get there last time. It appeared like a lot longer trip. It took nearly four and a half hours to get to the location from Atlanta, and that was with just one short pit-stop along the way.

We left Atlanta heading west of I-20 and went all the way into Alabama. About forty miles into Alabama (Don't hold me to that. I didn't measure it!) we exited off I-20 and drove north on state highway 431. Except for having to go through a couple of towns along the way, we made good time on 431. It is a four lane highway all the way north to Huntsville from where we left I-20. It was about 58 degrees when we arrived at the location and started out with light jackets on but shed those after only a few minutes. You get to walking up and down in the road-side ditch and climbing on the bank and you get warmed up quick.

And here's a shot of a group of some of the items that are found at this site. Horn Corals, Brachiopods, Crinoid Stems, and Archimedes, Bryozoa.

The marine fossils found at this site are Mississippian age. From 320 to 360 million years old. Bangar Limestone. Morgan County, Alabama.

This is a photo of the collecting site. You can see that I had to park right beside the road. Not much area for parking. The photo shows the bank where we collected.

This site is located on state highway 431, about three miles south of Huntsville. If you were coming from Huntsville, you would go south on highway 431about three miles until you came to Mile Marker 329, which will be on your right. About 20 yards north of the mile marker sign there is a good sized bank on the same side of the road as the sign. Fossils can be found in the ditch along here and on the bank above the ditch. Many of the fossils found here will be in larger hard limestone rocks.

I picked up about 50 Archimedies (Bryozoa) fossils that probably averaged about 1/4" in diameter and about one inch long. I found these fairly plentiful up on the bank above the ditch. They look like a course threaded screw. Strange. I also found two nice rock specimens with the Archimedies fossils running across it. These were real prizes for me. I also picked up eight horn coral specimens that are about 1-1/2" long and well formed. I found about 20 brachiopods that average about a half inch in diameter. These were loose in the dirt.

Here's another shot of me standing next to the truck. The bank is in the background. Dave, my rockbuddy, shot this from across the road. He called out "Hey Ray. Smile"

Ramona, my retired scientist Rockbuddy spent most of her time going up and down in the large ditch and collected two five gallon buckets running-over full of specimens. Every little bit she would say, "Oh Ray, look at this one..." and hold up a real beauty. A rock the size of a football with fossil Archimedies running through it. I accused her of bringing all that material with her.........!! Of the three of us, I think Ramona walked away with the prize.

Dave, one of my new Rockbuddies, picked up a pint size zip-loc plastic bag about half full of Archimedies, Horn Corals and Brachiopods. He came away with a five-gallon bucket about two-thirds full of larger rocks. I didn't get to look at them but he says he did good. Dave, who is relatively new to going on field trips has surely gotten the bug and is now anxious to go on other trips.

We had been to this site once before and I knew that some of the fossils were weathering out of the soil up on the bank. I took along a 1/4" screen frame and a shovel to do some sifting for the small fossils. However, when we got to this site everything was wet from where it had rained the night before. The soil was so wet that I was unable to do any sifting. It was like mud. I think that if you were to go to this site when the soil is dry that you could do some sifting and find a lot more of the smaller fossils. If you go there, try sifting the dirt from up on the bank and the sand in the ditch. You should do good.

Ray Hill
Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc.
www.greatsouth.net
888-933-GEMS

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