Fossil Hunting in Chesapeake Bay

Went fossil hunting - took a tip off the Internet for a great (albeit Public) fossil site down on the Chesapeake Bay. The Calvert Cliffs State Park is apparently well known for it's fossilized shark teeth, shells, and snails. It was a great trip; there's about a 1.8 mile hike to get to the beach -

Holy beaver damage!

Once I got there, I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me!!

So, I decided I would just sit and have lunch first - eating lunch on the beach in Chesapeake Bay.

Actually found my first tooth right where I was sitting. I sifted through the debris and sand right at my feet and turned up (what I thought was) a Cretoxyrhina (shark) tooth. As it turns out, though, this area is Miocene, not Cretaceous where I'm used to hunting. So these sharks were MUCH younger than anything I've found before.

Actually found a non-shark tooth as well. Some sort of fang (seen on the far right). I have no clue what it might be though!

Had a great variety of shells as well. Much better looking than the cretaceous junk I normally see in the Western Kansas chalk!

Not an extraordinary fossil hunting day, but to paraphrase my friend Tom Caggianno, 'a bad day hunting fossils, is better than any other day!'

More information on the Calvert County exposure - http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/brochures/sharks.html