Cretaceous belemnites are a typical find at Big Brook, New Jersey. Big Brook is a classic New Jersey fossil collecting that has treated collectors for more than 100 years. Belemnites are the internal shells of Cretaceous Period squid. The teeming cephalopod schools must have filled the ancient seas. The fossil belemnites are a rich amber-colored calcite that is nearly translucent at times. This specimen is about 4.5 inches long.
Fossil Collector: Dusty S.
Location: Big Brook, New Jersey
Twisted Crabs in a beach rock.
The piece is about 3.5 inch in any direction. I was metal detecting on the beach in the low surf when I saw this rock tumbling back towards the sea. It’s odd shape caught my eye so I picked it up placed it in my finds bag and continued on. Later at home when I really looked is when I saw the fossils within.
Location: Seaside Park, NJ
Fossil Collector: Rich G.
Shark teeth through the looking glass. Well drillings can provide a micro-sized snap shop into fossil formations not available on the surface. This well drilling in Richwood, New Jersey punched into the Cretaceous Mount Laurel/Navesink Formation more than 100 feet below the surface.
The fossils were carefully sifted with window screen from the glauconite-rich "green sand" brought to the surface. Fossils in the sample included shark teeth, shark and ecinoderm spines, encodus fish teeth and dermal denticles.
Although Big Brook is primarily known for it's Cretaceous fossils, other tidbits occasionally fall into the collector's screen. These deer teeth weathered out of a much more recent deposit from the stream banks. It is possible to find nearly anything when you are stream collecting. If anyone has a better ID on the teeth please post a response.Each is about one inch long.
Location: Big Brook, NJ
Collector: Scott S.
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