SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FOSSIL CLUB NEWSLETTER

SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA
FOSSIL CLUB
NEWSLETTER
Founded in
1983
November 2012
Volume 29, Number 11
Editor: Roxane Wilson
Prez Sez
Welcome Members & Friends,
I hope all had a wonderful Halloween and your trick or
treat bags were full of great fossils. The holidays are just
around the corner - time to spend with family and friends.
The River is going down. We had a long rainy season but we
needed the rain, lots of new fossils will have been washed in
the river for us to find in the coming months. Diving now you
may have to use a wetsuit as the water temp has dropped. I
want to thank Mike Nastashio for his display of fossil finds
from diving especially the meg tooth in matrix which is a fantastic find, Gary Howe with his diving finds also had a great
assortment and Ron Seavey with his garage sale find of modern bones and jaws. We thought he was kidding around about
the purchase 3 hours earlier. Nice find Ron, and Gunther Lobisch with his shells from SMR pit trip and Paleo knives great show and tell this month.
Also the club voted on the amended Bylaws with Bob
Miller making a motion to the floor and Mike Kozlowski 2nd
with the club members raising their hands in agreement.
This month we will have Bruce MacFadden from the Florida Museum of Natural History give a talk so don't miss this
meeting. It’s always interesting.
It’s also time to think about donations for the Fossil Auction. If you have a nice specimen you would like to donate let
me or Jim Davis know. We have some great fossils for the
Auction in February and working on more items.
Also I want to thank all who help with the setup and take
down of the table and chairs it makes things go smoother and
faster when we work together. Also those members who are
helping out with picture taking too. THANK YOU ALL
Our December meeting will be our potluck party so start
thinking about your favorite Christmas dish and/or helping
out on the setup and decorating committee.
See you all at the meeting get out and live the adventure.
November Meeting
The November meeting will be on Saturday,
November 10th at 7:00 pm at OUR NEW
MEETING LOCATION at 118 Sullivan St.
in downtown Punta Gorda. (See directions on
back page).
Our speaker will be Bruce MacFadden, the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
He will do a PowerPoint presentation entitled
“Fossils in the Cloud,” which is a new initiative to
put 100 million fossil specimens currently located
in natural history museums onto the web, which
will greatly increase public access to images of
fossils.
Craig, Celeste, Courtney,
Natalie & Valerie Welch
SMR
FIND
KEEP YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH BUT LOOK
DOWN ONCE IN A WHILE; YOU DON’T KNOW
WHAT YOU MIGHT BE STEPPIN’ ON
OF THE
DAY
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Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29, No 11 November, 2012
SWFFC
Executive Board
& Committee
Phone Roster
President:
Chuck Ferrara
(941) 769-2725
Vice President:
Jim Davis
(941) 379-3286
Treasurer &
Editor:
Roxane Wilson
(863) 993-1649
e-mail: fossilfreaks2@yahoo.com OR
idigfossils13@embarqmail.com
Secretary:
Membership:
Kathy Caldwell
(941) 629-5952
e-mail: blondie1638@comcast.net
Dues:
$15.00
$20.00
$ 4.00
Individual
Family
Child joining indepent.
Make check payable to:
Southwest Florida Fossil Club (SWFFC)
Send to:
Kathy Caldwell
1540 Schenley St.
Port Charlotte, FL 33952
Kathy Caldwell
(941) 629-5952
Directors
Doug Reichard
Cay Small
Linda Warner
Kim Westberry
Field Trips
Trip Director
Chuck Ferrara
(941) 769-2725
email: ferrara_307@hotmail.com
The SWFFC Web site can be found at:
http://www.southwestfloridafossilclub.com
Trip Guide
Cay Small
(941) 623-3009
Gainesville Museum Web Site is at:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/
Raffle:
Jim Davis
Smithsonian (Natural History Museum)
www.mnh.si.edu
Club Website:
Tiffany Reichard
Club
Photographer:
Refreshments:
Sandi Bailey
Canoe Outpost in Arcadia
(gives info on Canoe rentals and peace river water levels)
http://www.canoeoutpost.com/Peace/
prwaterlevel.htm
Florida Vertebrate Fossil Permit
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/
vppermit.htm
Aurora Fossil Museum:
www.aurorafossilmuseum.com/
Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29, No. 11 November, 2012
3
SHELLS, SHELLS AND SHELLS
By Chuck Ferrara
Life started in the ocean when the earth was covered by water. That's where it all began . So when the opportunity came for
the club to go on a trip with Roger Portell from the Museum of Natural History to a pit that he takes his undergraduate students to we said YES. This was a real treat for members. Most members are interested in teeth and bones, me included, but
you can’t have a fossil collection from Florida without including fossil shells. We all met at the gate at 8:00 am. Roger met us
to escort us through the pit. There had been lots of rain so all were expecting to do well. Once we got the safety talk - do’s
and don'ts we carpooled from the office to the spot. There were piles everywhere. All found many shells. Everyone filled up
their buckets. Marilyn Martin found a beautiful whale tooth. I found some crab claws and so did Donn Smart and we gave
them to roger for some study. He gave me a stone crab claw. I also found the periodic ear bone from a whale; that is always
overlooked. Everyone finds the tympanic bulla ! Some of the shells found were: Trigonostoma, Cancellaria, Vasuum, Typhis, Cypraea, Trivia, Strombus, Carrier, Limpet, Cone, Tusk & Olive shells.
All had a great time and thank you to all the members for following the safety instructions. Roger said we had a great group no issues. After the pit we went and had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. You should have heard Roger talk about how shark teeth
and bones just get in his way; they are overburden covering up the shells that he needs to get to. He uses Megs as skipping
stones. When he was in Peru the big Megs are too heavy; he just throws them away. Oh yes, he was serious too. It was
funny to hear him carry on about how he hates bones and teeth. We had a great laugh. Thank you all members who went on
this trip. I can’t tell you when we will have this opportunity again but it was a real treat. It shows how the FLMNH wants to
work with the fossil clubs and we need to work with them. Thank you Roger Portell.
SMR
TRIP
MORE SMR PICTURES
ON NEXT PAGE
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Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29, No. 11 November, 2012
How You Represent Your Club
When you do go to the field, not only do your represent yourself, but you are also representing your club and the things that
you do and say reflect on both.
When you go into the field, one of the most important things is that you have permission to be at that location. If there is a
fence or gate, somebody owns that property and if you don't ask to be there, you're trespassing. Whether it’s a creek or a field
or a quarry, someone owns the rights to that location and without their permission it reflects badly on all of us. Later on, those
of us trying to get on the property are turned away due to trespassers upsetting the landowners. If you feel you have to be
sneaky, think of the other honest people out there trying to do the same thing and the one that you're hurting is them.
Field Trips: When we go on trips, we represent ourselves and our club to a high standard. These people have graciously let
us on their property with very strict guidelines.
There are several rules that we try to follow:
a. Wear appropriate clothing such as long pants (so if you do slide down a hill, you don't injure your legs due to rocks,
shells, etc.) and good footwear (no sandals or flip-flops)
b. If required, a hard hat and safety glasses
c. You must show up on time
d. If a liability release form is to be signed, you need to make sure that your name gets put on it
e. Make sure that the safety lecture is adhered to
Just remember, when you are out hunting, sometimes people are watching you to see how you act and if they know you belong to a certain club, that can come back and reflect on your club as a whole (it can be in a good way or a bad way). We
have a great club that people are very proud of and we have worked very hard to maintain the image that we have so all of us
should work extra hard to keep up our good name. These are some simple easy-to-follow guidelines for all of us to go by. So
remember, have permission to be where you are and hunt safely while you're there so you can come back and do it another
day.
Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29 No. 11 November, 2012
5
General Fossil Shark Tooth Information
By: Steven A. Alter
Since shark skeletons are composed of cartilage instead of bone, often the only
parts of the shark to survive as fossils are teeth. Fossil shark teeth date back hundreds of millions of years. The most common, however, are from the Cenozoic Era
(65 million years ago to present).
How a Tooth Becomes A Fossil
A tooth become a fossil when it is buried in sediment (or other material) soon after
being lost from a shark's mouth. The sediment precludes oxygen and harmful bacteria from reaching the tooth and destroying it. The general fossilization process
varies greatly depending on the exact situation. In general it takes approximately
10,000 years for a tooth to become a true fossil.
Why Fossil Teeth Are Different Colors
The color of a tooth is determined solely by the color of sediment in which it is buried while fossilizing. The tooth absorbs minerals from the surrounding sediment. As
the minerals replace the natural structure of the tooth, the tooth becomes the
same general color as the sediment. Therefore, color is not an effective indicator of
the age of a tooth. The most common color for shark teeth is a black root with a
grayish crown. Different colors are more uncommon and significantly increase the
value of a tooth.
Where the Teeth are Found and How Old They Are
The majority of the teeth I offer for sale in this catalog are from the MiocenePliocene Epochs (approximately 24.5 million to 2 million years ago). During this
time period oceans sporadically covered many parts of what is now the Southeastern United States. For this reason many of the teeth I have to offer come from
South Carolina rivers (which cut through the fossil-rich Hawthorne Formation) or
from South Florida phosphate mining operations (which unearth fossils from the
Bone Valley Formation). Most of the teeth from these locations are between 3 and
10 million years old.
History of the Carcharocles megalodon Shark
I specialize in teeth from the Carcharocles megalodon shark which thrived during
the above time period. This shark was the largest shark to ever swim the ocean.
Reaching an overall maximum length of approximately 60 feet, this shark was
three times the size of the modern Great White (Carcharodon carcharias) shark.
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Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29 No. 11 November, 2012
Carcharocles megalodon Teeth and What Makes Them So Valuable
The teeth from the megalodon shark are truly massive in both length and width.
The largest teeth are as large as a man's hand and can weigh well over a pound.
The largest complete megalodon tooth ever found measures just over 7" in slant
height (measure of the longest side from tip of tooth to the top of the root). Teeth
this size, however, are extremely rare. There are only a few teeth in the world that
measure over 7" legitimately (however there have been lots of "stretched fakes" so
be careful what you buy!!). Smaller teeth are much more common with the average size being about 3 1/2" - 4 1/2" in slant height. Teeth over 5" are uncommon
and over 6" are very rare, so the value of teeth this size is significantly greater
than the smaller ones.
Another factor that greatly increases the value of a tooth is the degree of preservation. The vast majority of teeth that have become fossils have been destroyed by
natural processes (erosion, chemical processes, etc.). Most megalodon teeth found
have undergone quite a bit of destruction, with chunks of the tooth broken off, the
enamel eaten through, or significant erosion wearing the natural features of the
tooth. Occasionally, one comes across a perfectly preserved tooth still bearing its
original features and sheen. While uncommon, teeth like this are found and are of
significant value.
This article was reprinted with permission from the author.
Modern day Great White on top
Man in middle
Megalodon on bottom
Southwest Florida Fossil Club Newsletter, Vol. 29 No. 11 November, 2012
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FOSSIL SHOW 2012
The Fossil Club of Lee County
Saturday Dec 1st
9am to 5pm
Admission: $3 (children under 12 FREE)
Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium
Corner of Colonial Blvd. & Ortiz Ave.
Entrance: 3450 Ortiz Ave.
Ft. Myers I-75 Exit 136- Go West to 1st Light
Turn Right. Entrance 500 Feet on Left
Kid’s Fossil Dig
Door Prizes
Raffles
Silent Auctions
Games
Exhibits
SUGGESTIONS??
We encourage members to let us know what
changes or additions you would like to see—
speakers—fieldtrips—raffle—anything you think
should be changed or ideas for meetings or projects
we want to hear them (BE NICE). Seriously, we do
want your input. If there’s anything in particular
you like about the club or meetings, let us know
that too, so we’ll know how we’re doing. This is
your club too and we want to make it enjoyable for
ALL.
ARE YOU GETTING YOUR
NEWSLETTER???
FOSSIL TALKS By Dr. Charles o’Connor
11am—Florida’s Fossils
Fossilization, Saber-Tooth Cats, Mammoths, Giant Ground Sloths, Huge Sharks,
How to Hunt fossils & much more. Many
fossils on display
2:30—Sharks
Biology, Fossil Teeth & Megalodons– the
largest shark of all time. Many teeth on
display
SouthWest Florida Fossil Club
Code of Ethics
1. Members of the SouthWest Florida Fossil Club
are expected to respect all private and public
properties.
2. No member shall collect without appropriate
permission on private or public properties.
3. Members should make a sincere effort to keep
themselves informed of laws, regulations, and
rules on collecting on private or public proper
ties.
4. Members shall not use firearms, blasting
equipment, or dredging apparatuses without
appropriate licenses and permits.
5. Members shall dispose of litter properly.
If you are on the email listing, you should be receiving your newsletter via the internet. You should
get it by the Monday before the meeting. Whenever
you don’t receive a newsletter, if you will email or
call me to let me know, I will try again. We don’t
want you to miss out on any of your newsletter copies. If you should change your email address, be
sure to email me your new address. You can reach
me at either
idigfossils13@embarqmail.com or
fossilfreaks2@yahoo.com
6. Members shall report to proper state offices
any seemingly important paleontological and
archaeological sites.
7. Members shall respect and cooperate with
field trip leaders or designated authorities
in all collecting areas.
8. Members shall appreciate and protect our
heritage of natural resources.
9. Members shall conduct themselves in a manner
that best represents the SouthWest Florida
Fossil Club.
Roxane Wilson
P.O. Box 1308
We meet on the second Saturday of each month at 7:00 pm at the
Punta Gorda Historical Society at 118 Sullivan St.
DIRECTIONS
TO
M EETING
IN
D OW N T OWN P U N TA G O R DA
From U.S.41 southbound turn left on E.Retta Esplanade. Go a short distance and turn right
on Sullivan St. The building is not far, on your left side.
From U.S.41 northbound turn left on Hwy. 17 (W. Marion Ave.) Go a short distance and
turn right on Sullivan St. The building is not far, on your right side.
From I-75 exit at Exit 164. Turn left onto US-17 S/Duncan Rd. Go approximately 2.4
miles. Turn Right on Sullivan St. The building is not far, on your right side.
From Kings Highway Take Kings Hwy. to the end and turn left on Highway 41 South. Just
after you cross Peace River Bridge, take the first left (Retta Esplanade) and then your first
right.