TBFC Season 2022-2023 updates:
Next Club Meeting is Feb. 4, 2023 @ 7pm EDT in the USF Behavioral Science Room #103 (In-Person) with Dr. Joshua Slattery!

Next CEMEX Center Hill Trip: Feb. 15, 2023 (Paid, Active Members only. Limit 20 People)
Next Brooksville Trip: Feb. 22, 2023 (Paid, Active Members only. Limit 20 People)
Next Peace River Monthly Trip: Feb. 11, 2023 (water levels permitting) - Check the Field Trips page or the Calendar for details!

President's Message

2022-2023 Season

This sure is a busy time of the year for TBFC. In the next three or four months we’ll need to get in four more monthly meetings, eight or more field trips, and the largest paleo show in the South, FossilFest 2023! As soon as we get the doors to FossilFest closed and the whole show put back into its box, we’re optimistic that we will be loading up for the Peace River Adventure. The Peace River Adventure, April 29 & 30, is TBFC’s largest annual field trip where 300+ people will gather for a “paleo” weekend of fossil hunting, BBQ, an auction and camp fires (at least that’s how we did it prior to COVID and Hurricane Ian). With the help of the Officers, Directors, and good folks like you, everything will be accomplished and we’ll have a great time doing it.

FossilFest - FossilFest 2023 runs March 18 – 19 (set up on March 17). The show is big, one of the biggest amateur run shows in the country. It take a lot of volunteers to operate the show and some folks have already started working on Fossilfest 2023. Please put FossilFest dates in your calendar and schedule your volunteer time as far in advance as you can. We need to know as soon as possible that we have the 100+ volunteers it takes to run FossilFest.

Download the latest FossilFest Flyer

Read the Chronicles each month (Members Only), check the calendar here on the TBFC website, and follow us on Facebook. Also, please be very cautious while venturing out into the rivers and creeks. There’s nothing in those rivers worth dying for.

Good Hunting,

Mike Searle

Announcements

Feb. 4, 2023
Paleontology and Geology of Alum Bluff: Florida’s Largest Natural Exposure
with Dr. Joshua Slattery

7PM IN-PERSON CLUB MEETING at the USF Behavioral Science Room #103

During February’s lecture, Dr. Joshua Slattery will discuss new paleontological and geological research being undertaken at Alum Bluff and nearby localities in the Florida Panhandle. Alum Bluff is largest natural exposure of Neogene and Quaternary aged strata in Florida. It is also one of the best natural laboratories to document and understand the fauna and flora of the Neogene in the Gulf Coastal Plain due to its highly fossiliferous exposures. Alum Bluff is located along the eastern bank of the Apalachicola River in Liberty County and exposes an extended stratigraphic record ranging from the Miocene to Holocene (i.e., the last 18 million years). Although studied for over a century, new research at Alum Bluff and other nearby localities by Dr. Slattery and colleagues is revealing new insights on the formation of shell beds, extinction of nautilid cephalopods in the Western Atlantic, and the physical and biological effects of the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum and Pliocene Warm Interval in Florida.

Dr. Joshua is a longtime member of TBFC, a Ben Waller memorial scholarship winner and currently serves as a TBFC professional advisor.

Tampa Bay Fossil Chronicles

Hopefully you’ve noticed that TBFC has stepped up its game with the newsletter each month. In addition to all of our regular contributors, we’ve added two new recurring articles this season. “In Touch with Inverts” by Rob Carlson was added in September. Recently added, “Paleo Analysis” by Steve Vicari. Each month Steve will be discussing interesting prehistoric fauna and how they relate to extant species.

Please check out all of the articles in each issue. Only TBFC members receive the Chronicles, we don’t post it online or on Facebook.

Be sure to renew your Fossil Permits!