Found lots of Fossils

[sonny42]

I do float trips on the Old Man in southern Alta, Lots of ammonite and other fossels, Ammonite , clams come out of the Bears paw formation as i was told, this is the old sea bed this formation is on the earths surface in about 12 places in the world; in Alberta this formation is on the surface in i beleave about 4 different places. and i am not jumping on you for i have picked ammonite and few other fossels myself, but it is against the law to pick them if you do not have a claim on the property, claims can be purchesed from Federal Government, You have found a very special spot.

[Donkey Oatey]

Originally Posted by sonny42

I do float trips on the Old Man in southern Alta, Lots of ammonite and other fossels, Ammonite , clams come out of the Bears paw formation as i was told, this is the old sea bed this formation is on the earths surface in about 12 places in the world; in Alberta this formation is on the surface in i beleave about 4 different places. and i am not jumping on you for i have picked ammonite and few other fossels myself, but it is against the law to pick them if you do not have a claim on the property, claims can be purchesed from Federal Government, You have found a very special spot.

Information is incorrect.

http://www.gprc.ab.ca/departments/sa...ollecting.html

Fossil material legally collected from the surface of the ground can be kept, although ownership remains with the Province of Alberta - the collector acts as a custodian of the fossil.

Fossils collected in the Province of Alberta cannot be sold without obtaining permission from the Government of Alberta. You may find fossils for sale in shops within the province. Most of these fossils are collected in other countries where laws regarding the sale of fossils are different. It is also possible that they were collected illegally within the province. The buying and selling of fossils is strongly discouraged unless it brings them into or keeps them within a public trust.

[Badback]

Great video....

[just_dave]

Originally Posted by Rock Doctor

Actually I'm planning to Stake a mineral claim on this creek, not sure what that will do for me, other than allowing me to build a cabin there, I guess I'll find out, lol.

RD

AHA! Must be GOLD!

[Rock Doctor]

Originally Posted by just_dave

AHA! Must be GOLD!

Gold? What Gold? I don't know anything about finding Gold



What? Hey, where did that come from



RD

[Rock Doctor]

Originally Posted by sonny42

I do float trips on the Old Man in southern Alta, Lots of ammonite and other fossels, Ammonite , clams come out of the Bears paw formation as i was told, this is the old sea bed this formation is on the earths surface in about 12 places in the world; in Alberta this formation is on the surface in i beleave about 4 different places. and i am not jumping on you for i have picked ammonite and few other fossels myself, but it is against the law to pick them if you do not have a claim on the property, claims can be purchesed from Federal Government, You have found a very special spot.

I could take you to a half dozen places within a couple hrs of my house where you can find fossils like this. Some are on Mtn tops, some in river bottoms.
Don't worry about jumping on me, lol. This is not in AB, and I don't live in AB, although I did at one time. I still post here as I do have friends on the site, and am still interested in what's going on there. Peace

RD

[colin455]

RockDoctor. Those are very nice. A couple would proudly grace my mantle if I found them.
My father was an avid collector and also taught me about 'leaverite'.
I don't share the passion he had but can appreciate what you found there.
Thank you for sharing your pictures of them.

[ShawnM]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I'm not exactly a rock hound, but I do pick up some of the more unusual rocks I find.

Not sure what you call those big coiled shells we see in the first rock on your video but I know where there's quite a lot of them, and most of these are bigger then the ones you found and they have rainbow colours in them.
I've seen a few in that location that are maybe two feet in diameter.
They are also embedded in mud rocks like the ones you found.

I also find a lot of what we call agates. I don't believe that is the correct name for what we are finding but they are interesting. They are semi transparent and range in colour from dark amber to reddish to a dirty cream coloured.

One rock that I find especially interesting that I picked up is a clear crystal.
Some think it's clear quartz but as near as i can make out it's a bit harder then quartz. I'm no expert but when I scratch tested it, it would scratch quartz but quartz would not scratch it. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Whatever it is, I'd like to get it cut into a gem and made into a broach or something. If I could find anyone to do it.

That would be me... I am a faceter (cuts gemstones) and I've cut many a piece of quartz. Interesting thing about quartz is that very often one piece can be much TOUGHER than another. Their hardness will be the same but the tougher piece can scratch the other. I've read many explanations for it but it has to do with the alignment of the growth planes, etc.

If you want it cut drop me a PM and we'll work something out.

[FishingMOM]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Not sure what you call those big coiled shells we see in the first rock on your video but I know where there's quite a lot of them, and most of these are bigger then the ones you found and they have rainbow colours in them.
I've seen a few in that location that are maybe two feet in diameter.
They are also embedded in mud rocks like the ones you found.

Them coiled shells are ammonites.

THEY ARE WORTH $(($$)$$$$)

In 1981 the International Colored Gemstone Commission recognized ammolite as a new organic gemstone. It is the rarest gemstone in the world. Only 1 out of 100 ammonite specimens is usable as ammolite. The ammolite fossils can be found in museums worldwide and range in size from 20 inches in diameter to 6 feet in diameter. Because ammolite isn’t very hard it must be treated like a pearl or opal.

http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr.../ammonites.htm

[sonny42]

Originally Posted by Rock Doctor

I could take you to a half dozen places within a couple hrs of my house where you can find fossils like this. Some are on Mtn tops, some in river bottoms.
Don't worry about jumping on me, lol. This is not in AB, and I don't live in AB, although I did at one time. I still post here as I do have friends on the site, and am still interested in what's going on there. Peace

RD

What i am saying is that this formation that has ammolite fossels only comes to the earths surface in a few places in the world, Alberta, Sask. are 2 of the few places.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by sonny42

What i am saying is that this formation that has ammolite fossels only comes to the earths surface in a few places in the world, Alberta, Sask. are 2 of the few places.

The Rock has found Ammonites, not Ammolite.

There is a difference between the two.



Great pics Rock Doc!

Are those Scallop shells?

[greylynx]

Thank you for the pictures Rock Dock.

Your geologist's hammer is starting to look a little beaten up. Perhaps your wife could buy you a new one.

And perhaps you could buy your wife a set of hiking boots. Flip Flops are not permissable on a site.

[Frans]

Originally Posted by Rock Doctor

This is not in AB, and I don't live in AB, although I did at one time. I still post here as I do have friends on the site, and am still interested in what's going on there. Peace

RD

Ha! I got that impression from some of the photos.

I was wondering, how do you pick a location to go look. Just any random old river bed, or do you for a certain topography.

I've found a few, but apart them being high up in the shale, there was no apparent (to me) rhyme or reason to the location.

[Sporty]

Originally Posted by FishingMOM

Them coiled shells are ammonites.

THEY ARE WORTH $(($$)$$$$)





http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr.../ammonites.htm

Which are illegal to sell without first obtaining permission from the Gov of AB

Fossils collected in the Province of Alberta cannot be sold without obtaining permission from the Government of Alberta. You may find fossils for sale in shops within the province. Most of these fossils are collected in other countries where laws regarding the sale of fossils are different. It is also possible that they were collected illegally within the province. The buying and selling of fossils is strongly discouraged unless it brings them into or keeps them within a public trust.

http://www.gprc.ab.ca/departments/sa...ollecting.html

[Dumbo_Dave]

Originally Posted by Rock Doctor

As a BONUS, could any of you Rock Hounds identify this stone structure?
We found this on the same trip:







Size referance pic (She is 8yrs old)


RD

Looks just like what my grandpa used to build for a fire pit under a couple of 50 gal drums to boil his mash. Does the open end face the prevailing wind?

[Sundancefisher]

Great to see other rock hounds.

I am a fanatic. One of our best family trips was visiting the Rock Candy Mine in Grand Forks, SE BC. Highly recommend it. Lots of drusy quartz, flourite and some barite crystals. As much as you can carry out in the day depending upon which package you buy.

[Saltmania]

Thanks for posting. Those are some great photos. My brother in law found some nice fossils of ferns in some shale this year near Flatbed Creek, Tumbler Ridge BC.

[petew]

Great stuff. I hope that some of the rock hounds keep an eye open for Flint/chert . Those of us that do things the traditional way are always looking for a source of flint for our muzzleloaders and arrows.
Pete

[SHORTMAG]

DDave...that was my first thought...a fire pit for "pig in a poke" kinda thing...or perhaps what's left of a rock cache......

"MOONSHINERS"...another great idea!!

[althetrainer]

Our 10-year-old is a dino buff and he loves all fossils. It would be a huge thing for him to find even just a small piece. Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[deanmc]

[sikwhiskey]

Originally Posted by Dumbo_Dave

Looks just like what my grandpa used to build for a fire pit under a couple of 50 gal drums to boil his mash. Does the open end face the prevailing wind?

Or cooking a pig or deer on a spit. If it is located on a flood plane of a river bed could be a Sluice!

[Rock Doctor]

Originally Posted by Dumbo_Dave

Looks just like what my grandpa used to build for a fire pit under a couple of 50 gal drums to boil his mash. Does the open end face the prevailing wind?

Prevailing wind is from the West, and a bit Northwest. The open end of this is pointing North. Again though, this structure shows no sign of fire or heat damage to the stones.

Originally Posted by petew

Great stuff. I hope that some of the rock hounds keep an eye open for Flint/chert . Those of us that do things the traditional way are always looking for a source of flint for our muzzleloaders and arrows.
Pete

Could you post a few pics? I'm sure I've found a bit of flint, but nothing in any quantities.

Originally Posted by sikwhiskey

Or cooking a pig or deer on a spit. If it is located on a flood plane of a river bed could be a Sluice!

I suspect this is not a sluice. It's about 15ft above the water line (Maybe 5ft above the high water line). There is no sign of tailings at all, no sign of "River Rocks" around it other than the stones it's built from.

Someone mentioned that it's used to make loading a horse easier........... Possible I guess

RD

[KegRiver]

I thought you folks might like to see the shells I was talking about.
So this past weekend my kid brother and I went a picked up a few.

My photos don't do them justice, but they are the best I can do.

So here are some of the shells we've been finding. A very few. Actually we picked up several hundred pounds of rocks with shells in them, here are a few.


Here is the start of the days collection. Actually we were only there about an hour.



Here I tried to capture the rainbow of colours emitted from the mother of pear surface of the shell. It doesn't show very well.


Here is my 17 year old nephew holding the largest one we found. This shell covers the entire end of this rock. I estimate that the diameter of this shell is around 16 inches.

[Guitarplayingfish]

I love rocks!!

Awesome pictures, I enjoyed them.

I found a bunch of bacculite and some ammonite today, although they were all in bad condition.

My most prized "rock" is a ~60-75lb ammonite I found last year.. walked it 2km back to my vehicle, was super intense. It is still completely enclosed in rock, so the beautiful red,purple and potentially blue gem has not been oxidized or exposed to the elements other than a sliver at the top.

On my ever growing list of things to buy:

Air scry

I hear it takes years to chip off a single stone if worked casually.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Rock Doctor

I did some checking, and it would be agains the rules to take them from a park or protected area, ect. This is just a random creek out in the middle of nowhere, so it sounds like I'm OK.
Actually I'm planning to Stake a mineral claim on this creek, not sure what that will do for me, other than allowing me to build a cabin there, I guess I'll find out, lol.

RD

If you are in Alberta...


You might be amazed that a lot of the creeks and streams in Alberta have already been claimed. Some landowners still have mineral rights too. The process of a mineral claim in Alberta is complicated and along waterways even more so.
As far as collecting fossils in Alberta.. . There are lots of fossils but the fossils don't mean much if you can't see them in place. Instead of taking the fossils , protect the area and get the local school kids involved.

A letter worth reading about ammonite shell collecting in Alberta.
http://inform.energy.gov.ab.ca/Docum...IL-2004-18.pdf

If you want to mine minerals.. .http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/minerals/718.asp

[RescueDiver]

Cool

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by RescueDiver

Cool

ya, fossils rock.

[Rock Doctor]

Sorry about resurrecting such an old Thread, but I thought I would add an update. I have 3 sets of pics to add.
I brought a couple pieces of petrified wood and some other stones to my buddies place and sliced them up with his rock saw.
This is the large piece that I found:












This should be a video

[Rock Doctor]

This is the smaller piece of petrified wood: