{"id":2864,"date":"2021-05-17T00:12:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T04:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/?p=2864"},"modified":"2021-05-17T00:12:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T04:12:34","slug":"field-trip-to-union-chapel-mine-steven-c-minkin-paleozoic-footprint-site-fossil-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/field-trip-to-union-chapel-mine-steven-c-minkin-paleozoic-footprint-site-fossil-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Trip to Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 8 2021 Field Trip to Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Charles Snider<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had been looking forward to this fossil trip sponsored by\nthe Georgia Mineral Society for the chance to find tetrapod tracks. I was\nfamiliar with ferns, branches, and other vegetation because I had gone to\nCarbondale and Centralia, Pennsylvania sites of old strip mines, and collecting\nthrough the shale and slate, had found many fine ferns and fronds. This was the\nfirst chance to find real critters! Of course, I knew that if I made a\nbreakthrough discovery that it would need to be shared with the Alabama club,\nand respective university and state agencies, but I would be happy with that\nfor a breakthrough discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived the night before and stayed in Birmingham. All I\nneeded was a place to sleep and shower, so I found a cheap hotel near downtown.\nHow cheap was it? Let me put it this way, the night attendant was behind\nbullet-proof glass. I made it in great time however, somehow avoided the\nregular and horrific traffic around Atlanta, so I had time to step out in\nBirmingham that evening. I had my first post-covid margarita at a fine place\nthat followed COVID protocol and then a night-cap at an establishment called\nCollins Bar. I recommend Collins Bar because their main decora is a huge mural\nof the entire wall behind the bar of the Periodic Table of Elements. So, while\nyou are sipping a drink, you are quizzing yourself, or others on the Periodic\nTable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, I met the field trip leaders at the nearby\nWalmart for sign-in. I have said this before, I wonder if Walmart appreciates\nthat they are the universal meeting site of most gem, mineral, and fossil\nsociety field trips? If they did, they should offer early Saturday morning\nsales on gloves, chisels, hammers, and prybars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We carpooled to the fossil site, formerly known as the Union\nChapel Mine, and now also called the Steven C.\nMinkin Paleozoic Footprint Site. The area is large and full of slate and shale,\nto turn over, crack, split in half, and examine closely. The site sat on an\nancient marsh, so is full of Pennsylvanian Age plant fossils, ferns, fauna, and\ntetrapod tracks and other vertebrates. The abundance of fossils, and the abundance\nof variety make this former coal mining site one of the most significant fossil\nsites in the world. In the 1990s, the grandson of the owners of the coal mine\nbrought some examples from the mine to their high school science teacher, who\nrecognized that these were something special. The teacher was able to visit the\nstudent\u2019s family\u2019s mine, and recognized the significance of the tetrapod\ntracks, and abundance of flora, fauna, invertebrate, and other fossils, and\nshared the information with the local paleontology club, word spread to\nprofessional paleontologists, the university, and the state. Now through a\ncollective partnership of private and public, state and academic, the site is\npreserved and protected for fossil digs by academics, researchers, and fossil\nclubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The labor is not intensive\nunless you want to crack and pry apart larger shale and slate pieces. There is\na lot of material on the surface for collecting and examining. There are cliff\nwalls to one side, but that area is off limits. Past visits had yielded tracks,\nand we were told of someone\u2019s discovery of the tracks of a giant scorpion.\nDuring the dig, I had the good fortune of seeing others\u2019 finds that included\nburrows of insects, many broken branches, twigs, and other tree parts, and potential\ntracks. My personal finds included an almost 12 inch branch in a large plate,\nsome plates with broken bark, twigs, and branches, and some interesting plates\nthat had gas bubbles that I learned later were marsh bubbles \u2013 not the most\nexciting find, but fascinating to think that marsh bubbles were preserved in\nsitu like that. At the follow-up Zoom show-and-tell, some fellow members had\nfound tracks, where you could see the claws, and the back and forth motion of\nthe crawling creature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For future visits, be sure\nto take plenty of snacks and water. While the area is adjacent to where you\npark, the nearby gas station, or Walmart are far enough from the remote\nlocation that your limited time and access to this special place would be\ncompromised if you were leaving for snacks or drinks. There is no shade, so be\nprepared with sunscreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did engage in a conversation with members who noted that if some of the surface stone were moved with a bulldozer, and just 5 feet lower were exposed, that there would likely be new, and potentially breakthrough discoveries to be made. This was an excellent trip however, well organized and coordinated, and I am hopeful to return. For other fossil stories, and especially geode hunting and geode cracking articles, please find other articles at http:\/\/www.americangeode.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Union
Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Union
Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Union
Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 8 2021 Field Trip to Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By Charles Snider I had been looking forward to this fossil trip sponsored by the Georgia Mineral Society for the chance to find tetrapod tracks. I was familiar with ferns, branches, and other vegetation because I had gone to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Field Trip to Union Chapel Mine\/Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site Fossil Location”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,52,101,102,157,156,95,5,32,47,20,94,93,80,79,46,96,158,33,97,159,160,1],"tags":[76,55,40,58,78,68,77,67,3,163,131,181,39,73,164,84,183,81,135,182],"class_list":["post-2864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antiques","category-antiques-roadshow","category-conservancy","category-environmentalism","category-gem-and-mineral-clubs","category-gem-and-mineral-shows","category-gemstone","category-geodes","category-geology","category-ice-age","category-interior-design","category-jewelry","category-lapidary","category-museums","category-new-york-2","category-paleontology","category-peridot","category-rock-shows","category-science","category-star-wars","category-tucson-gem-and-mineral-show","category-tucson-gem-show","category-uncategorized","tag-american-geode","tag-diamond","tag-diamonds","tag-gem-and-mineral","tag-gem-and-mineral-club","tag-gem-and-mineral-clubs","tag-gem-and-mineral-show","tag-gem-and-mineral-shows","tag-geode","tag-geode-cracking","tag-geodes","tag-graves-mountain","tag-herkimer-diamond","tag-herkimer-diamonds","tag-indiana-geode","tag-mindat","tag-minkin-fossil-site","tag-museums-2","tag-paleontology","tag-union-chapel-mine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2871,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions\/2871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}