The site contains three different formations, and students focused their attention to collecting phyla from the site.
Mr. George Phillips, third from right, instructs Paleobiology students in the stratigraphy of the Smith County Lime Pit site.

The Principles of Paleobiology Class Field Excursion

Geosciences students search for fossils at the Smith County Lime Pit.

Dr. Clary's GG 4203 Principles of Paleobiology students visited the Smith County Lime Pit to collect fossils for their paleoenvironmental projects in November. Serving as the field excursion's guest leader was the Mississippi Museum of Natural Sciences' Curator of Paleontology, George Phillips.

The Smith County Lime Pit is located in Oligocene strata, with three different formations exposed. The pit is currently mined for agricultural lime, but yielded numerous invertebrate fossils for the students. Common finds included crustaceans, echinoids, foraminifera, and bivalve mollusks.

Top Photo: Mr. George Phillips, third from right, instructs Paleobiology students in the stratigraphy of the Smith County Lime Pit site.

Since the rock is crushed for agricultural lime, larger fossils are not present on the Lime Pit bottom. However, small shark teeth and bryozoan fossils are relatively common
Mr. George Phillips, far right, assists students in searching for shark teeth and bryozoan fossils at the bottom of the Smith County Lime Pit.
Students were able to retrieve larger macroinvertebrates from the larger rocks with rock hammers and chisels. Special finds included an intact crab carapace, and relatively large sand dollar.
Paleobiology students search for fossils within the large limestone boulders at the Smith County Lime Pit.