This is "Fossil Friday" post #136. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!
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For this week's port, we have a guest post from ESCONI member Marie Angkuw. She has contributed quite a few Fossil Friday posts, including a Fossil Friday #93 on the "Pyritized Ammonites from the Jurassic Coast of England".
Post card from Holden Beach, North Carolina…
By Marie Angkuw
In April 2022, a long-awaited storm damage repair project began on Holden Beach, North Carolina.Two dredges pumped and transferred 1,000,000 cubic yards of sand into the area to “re-nourish” and widen the beach.While this project was important for the area that is vulnerable to storm damage and erosion, it brought a bit of a gift for local shell and fossil collectors.Already a popular beach for finding shells and shark teeth, the dredging resulted in a bonanza of fossilized echinoderms that wash up each day with the rising and receding tides.
These “irregular” sea urchins--Hardouinia mortonis--date between 66 and 70 million years ago and come from the Peedee Formation in North and South Carolina.The formation name is derived from marine deposit exposures along the Great Pee Dee River. Modern day echinoderms include starfish, sea cucumbers and sand dollars. It is believed that the dredging along Holden Beach disturbed a bed of fossilized sea urchins, releasing them to wash up onto the shore in numbers never seen before.
In late October, Rhonda Gates, Deborah Lovely, Judith Wake, Jann Bergsten and Marie Angkuw made the 15-hour road trip to collect these treasures on Holden Beach.And collect we did!
Rhonda Gates mixing it up with fisherman on Holden Beach.
The recognizable radial symmetry of the 5-point star can still be seen on many of the specimens found.
Irregular echinoids include flattened sand dollars, sea biscuits, and heart urchins. Photo shows top and bottom of same specimen.
These are beautiful and interesting, even when damaged by the tides or other sea life of the time that left tell-tale predacious holes.We weren’t lucky enough to find one with fossilized spines.But, there was plenty to pick up, even when walking three side by side.The only real challenge was carrying bags of these beauties back to the car after walking several miles in one direction, only to go out again and fill up another couple of bags.But who’s complaining!We were out on the beach, in sunny, 80-degree weather, and it’s November!
