DMC January 2006 field trip

An Official Field Trip of The Rome Georgia Mineral Society, Rome GA (HOST)

The Durham Mines are Georgia’s best locality for beautifully preserved Paleozoic plant fossils. Commonly referred to as ‘Fern Fossils”, but more accurately described as “Coal Fossils”, the site offers a wide variety of species: Lycopods such as Lepidodendron; giant horsetails such as Calamites (and its leaves known as Annularia); and seed ferns such as Pecopteris and Alethopteris. You can occasionally find fossilized seeds. For identification purposes, we will provide a sheet to get you started, but any good fossil book will be useful as well when you get home.

The fossils are found by splitting the abundant shale at the site. Most will yield twigs and bark, but with persistence you will find good leaves.

Meet: At the site, in Walker Co., Ga. This is in the NW corner of the state of Georgia.

Tools: Bring digging tools. A flat chisel and hammer are essential. A small cart or hand truck may be useful for hauling larger pieces of take home material.

Other: Also, bring lunch and fluids. This is a good site for children. Any pets MUST be on a leash at all times.

Special: This field trip is being offered during one of the "open gate" Saturdays of The Lula Lake Land Trust. The Lula Lake Land Trust is a non profit organization protecting the Rock Creek watershed on Lookout Mountain. There are two beautiful and spectacular waterfalls located on a portion of the Trust site, which is 4.50 miles north of Durham Rd. on Hwy 157, and on the right. This is an ideal spot for lunch, and further site seeing after working the mines.

Weather: This site is located on a section of Lookout Mountain within Georgia. Conditions on the mountain can some times be different than the surrounding valleys. The field trip will be cancelled if there are any winter weather advisories (watches or warnings) issued for Walker Co., Ga. by the National Weather Service 12 hours in advance of the meeting time, or for the date of the trip. The make up date would be the following Saturday, 2/4/06.

Lodging: There are many hotels located in Chattanooga, TN, or off many of the exits on I-75 in Georgia. The following are names and numbers for a few, located in Dalton, GA.

"Field trips are open to all members of associated clubs of the DMC program of the SFMS Field Trip Committee and to all members of SFMS member clubs who have provided their membership with SFMS liability insurance. Because of insurance requirements, members of the GENERAL PUBLIC are NOT invited on this or any DMC program field trips!"