Please welcome Carmi, a new guest blogger here at Time Scavengers!
Carmi here –
In April, I was one of the trip coordinators for the spring meeting of the Florida Paleontological Society. The Florida Paleontological Society is a collection of professionals, amateurs, and every fossil enthusiast you could possibly imagine from all around Florida- and beyond! The society’s mission is to encourage and educate people on Florida’s rich paleontological history.
Usually, trips consist of field collecting (all over the state!), a series of talks given by paleontologists, and a silent auction, with many fossil goodies. In addition to being a member of the society, I also serve as the secretary, which means that I organize membership applications, coordinate trip logistics, and edit the newsletter… among other things.
The first evening of the trip is typically a dinner with all the members who have arrived early for the meeting. It is an optional event, but it acts as a time for folks to catch up and discuss topics of interest with each other. Following dinner, and a good night’s rest, we set off to the quarry to begin the day’s work.
The formation where we looked for fossils is the lower Miocene Torreya Formation (roughly 23 million years old), a limestone deposited when Florida’s sea levels were much higher. This unit is generally thought to be marine, though there is discussion as to the exact nature of the depositional environment – if you are curious to dive into the literature, GeoLex (one of my favorite ways to compile background literature on a geologic unit) has more publications on the Torreya Formation.
After we had our brief geologic and faunal overview, we set down the hill to begin the search. With the constant rain over the days leading up to the trip, the trip leaders were concerned that getting stuck in the clay rich sediments would be an issue – thankfully, the folks from the mine had smoothed out a portion of the road so that access to the collecting site was not too difficult. Small spoil piles were everywhere, full of all kinds of marine fossils, from shark teeth to impressions of different clams and snails.
One fun fact about the site: while many mines in Florida process material for road base (the material that makes up the highways that transport Floridians all over the state), this mine collected and refined clays used in the production of kitty litter!
The evening portion of the meeting took place at the Florida Geological Survey, who graciously accommodated dinner and our evening events. I gave a talk on my current research project – fossil cephalopods from the Cenozoic of Florida. Victor Perez, a graduate student at the Florida Museum of Natural History, was the other invited speaker and spoke on his dissertation research. Finally, the Assistant State Geologist, Harley Means, gave a talk on the history of the survey, and the services that the survey provides to the citizens of Florida!
After the talks, Harley led interested members throughout the survey, highlighting their museum of Florida fauna and amazing library. Inside the library, there were publications on geology of Florida as well as geology from all around the country. Not only does having these publications assist with understanding of similar earth systems elsewhere, but it acts as a way for state surveys to keep in touch and keep aware of developments in geologic mapping and other functions across the country.
Following the tour of the survey, the silent auction began. Items donated by club members were laid out on tables and folks would silently bid on what they found interesting or loudly dissuade others from bidding on these purchases. All the proceeds from the silent auction support student research in paleontology. My strategy is usually to team up with someone on a pile of publications – last year I won a vintage paleontology textbook, and this year I picked up a copy of my beloved Pliocene Mollusca, by Olsson and Harbison (which is another post entirely). After fierce competition, the auction items went home to various members – almost everyone left the auction with something exciting and new.
Of course, the activities were not over for the officers of the society – there was clean-up and then a board meeting the following day. However, trip participants agreed that it was a great experience.
If you are interested in learning more about the Florida Paleontology Society, check out their website:
http://floridapaleosociety.com/
They have an assortment of free educational resources, different publications for sale, and grants for students in Florida who are working on paleontological research.
Until next time!
If you are not in Florida but looking to get involved in local clubs check out myFOSSIL’s Fossil Clubs and Societies – Jen