FOSSIL EXPEDITIONS NEWSLETTER
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at keeping you up-to-date on Florida's out-of-date
wildlife. If you have questions or comments, please
feel free to e-mail us at: Mark@fossilexpeditions.com
Methods
From:
DIVING VS. DIGGING: Which method is best?
Beginner fossil hunters often ask, "Which method is the best for searching?
Digging (or stooping) in a pit? Diving in deep water rivers or the ocean?
Or snorkeling in the shallows of creeks?" It all depends on who you ask.
There are pros and cons for each method. You have to figure out which one
works best for you.
DIVING
PROS
Deeper water -
Fossils are usually larger and in better condition
in deeper water because they have been exposed to less "wash & wear"
from fast-moving currents or tides.
Less Competition - Fewer
people dive than snorkel or search on dry land,
lessening your competition for the really neat stuff.
CONS
More equipment.
Anyone who dives knows it can be a pain in the butt to lug around two tanks, a
weight belt, B/C, octopus, flippers and all the other little gadgets
and gizmos associated with the sport. If
there’s more than one of you diving, the logistics increase.
Ever try suiting up while standing on a muddy
bank or in the water? Or lifting your tank in and out of a canoe
or small boat?
Less visibility - Many Florida waterways are dark due to the
tannin produced as vegetation breaks down.
The deeper the river, the less visibility you have without a dive light.
In narrow rivers, divers downstream
have limited visibility if the diver upstream is stirring up the
bottom looking for fossils.
Greater risk. - Although alligators frequent shallow water too,
deeper water makes it more difficult to
see if they’re around. Debris, such as tree trunks or limbs,
or tangled fishing line are also harder to spot and
stay away from.
Snorkeling
PROS
Travel Lighter -
Without a dive tank, weight belt and other gear, you can
hike or canoe easily to secluded spots, and travel in
water without having to come up for air every two hours.
Less Risk -
Although alligators and snakes can be found in shallow
water, it's less likely you'll encounter them if you've
got great visibility in shallow water.
CONS
Deep Water Restrictions -
While you can certainly snorkel in deeper water, you'll
tire out quicker bobbing up and down in anything over
about three or four feet deep.
Rainy Season -
Once the rainy season starts in June (Southwest Florida weather),
you can count on the creeks and rivers filling up fast,
limiting your searching to diving (as long as you've got
great visibility) or bank collecting.
Pits
PROS
Better Preservation -
Often times, fossils found in pits are more beautifully
preserved than those found in rivers or the ocean,
because they have been protected from tidal wear or river
currents.
Stay Drier -
If all you have to do is stoop as you walk along the edge of
a pit, you'll stay a lot drier than with other fossil
hunting methods. However, walking in or around
some pits is like trying to wade through a large bowl
of wet cement mix. Sometimes you have to dig, too.
Straight down. No shade. It gets mighty hot in Florida,
especially mid-summer.
Easier, safer searching (providing you have permission to be there) -
Under ideal conditions (please note that I said "ideal")
pits are great, especially if you can drive right up
to them, be there early in the morning after a night of
heavy rain. You can see critters easier and don't have
to lug around a lot of heavy equipment such as dive tanks
and weight belts.
CONS
No tresspassing signs -
Probably the greatest obstacle to pit collecting is
getting permission to come on to the property. Why
should a land owner allow you in? You're a financial
liability, not an asset. There is no economic value
to allowing you to hunt on private property, and since
so many people are sue-happy these days, rarely do
land owners grant permission for people to hunt.
Shut-down perception -
Although the state is unlikely to shut down a development
or mining operation if a few fossilized animal bones
turn up (whereas they probably will for human bones),
the perception is there that they will. The most common
comment I hear from back-hoe operators is that their
bosses instruct them to cover up any bones they find
quickly and keep on digging to avoid any possible delays.
Petrified Wood
From:
Hiking Through a Prehistoric Forest
I'm not sure why, but I don't find petrified wood in every Florida creek
or river. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place, or deep enough,
or the sediments aren't old enough, or the preserving mineral contents
are insufficient, or the area I'm searching has never had enough trees
growing to become petrified -- only shrubs and grasses.
...According to Dr. Manchester, two catgories of wood are found in the
petrified record: casts and permineralizations. When wood is buried
quickly in either case, low oxygen levels retard fungal and bacterial
breakdown. For wood to become a cast, minerals and other material fill
in the spaces left behind as the original wood decays. A cast will
leave the outside form of the wood, but lose the cell structure, making
it tough to identify the individual genus or species.