Trip Leaders: Roger and Linda Farish
OLIVER CREEK FIELD TRIP 
Saturday, August 14th
By Roger Farish
FOSSIL COLLECTING – the perfect Covid activity where we all spread out in the open air.
Covid survivors, here’s where we’re headed - A cool, clean, clear stream babbling over limestone and close to home, unheard of, right? Well, just a few dozen miles north of Fort Worth, a bit northwest of Justin is Oliver Creek. A while back we tracked a creek full of tumbled fossils upstream to their source and the gracious landowners have consented, once again, to let us tromp up and down their lovely creek. Not only is it a neat place for a pastoral outing and picnic, but the soft limestone yields ammonites like Oxytropidoceras (you will be required to say this) and echinoids (sea urchins) likeEpiaster whitei, Heteraster texanus and the rarer, regular Salenia mexicana and a few shark teeth. Seams of soft marl hold echinoids ideal for mining. So, you WILL find ammonites and you WILL find echinoids as well as the rest of the typical marine fauna like crab parts, gastropods (snails) and pelecypods (bivalves).
We’ll be collecting on very private land in the Goodland Formation (Lower Cretaceous, middle Albian) just west of Drop, Texas (don’t look for skyscrapers here). This is a fairly large, open creek bed so many people can collect. Perfect for kids – they will find neat stuff - and pets. Just mind your invitees. We are out in nature, so expect the normal fare of bugs and other creepy crawlers. Hopefully we’ll have water in the creek this year so kids can splash or do tadpoles and crawdads.
Meet us at 8:30 AM in Justin, Texas on Hwy. 156 where it shares the road with Hwy. 407 at the Justin Discount Boot Store parking lot right on the highway. Or a simpler way to say it is to go to Justin and meet at the ‘horse’. This is all north and a bit west a few miles of the Texas Motor Speedway on I35W, north of Hwy.114.
Bring your hard-rock tools (hammer, chisels), wading shoes, little clothing, sun protection and plenty of liquids. Collecting buckets will be provided. Much of the creek is overhung by large trees, so shade is available although I am working on some way to rent it out – for the Society benefit, of course. We’ll lunch by the creek, so pack your brown bag. The Society will furnish some drinks and desert – BTW, how are your seed-spitting skills? Please let me know if you can bring an iced-down melon (will reimburse).
As always, check the Paleo Hotline (817-355-4693 metro) for any last-minute changes, but rain (hopefully) or shine, we will do this one. If you have specific questions or if you get lost on that Saturday please contact:
Roger Farish at rffarish@verizon.net, phone 972-898-2700
Don’t be late – IT’S SUMMER – we need to beat the heat.
DPS
The DPS is a group of professional and amateur paleontologists that want to exchange information, interact, and continue their education in paleontology. We meet once a month on the second Wednesday evening of the month at Brookhaven College, Building H.
