The Houston Gem and Mineral Society
Just edit this element to add your own HTML.
The Paleontology Section does fossils and we do them in lots of ways. We meet once a month where we do a show and tell, plan the next trip, and have a program on some aspect of fossils.
We are one of the sections in the Houston Gem and Mineral Society and that provides us with access to diamond saws and grinders and torches and furnaces where we sometimes turn our finds into jewelry or bookends. After you have collected a carload of petrified wood, you HAVE to do something with it. We teach how to prepare fossils in our shops. We have a dedicated air tools room with micro jackhammers and micro sandblasters.
Fossils need to be identified and the section has written identification guides for Texas Eocene Stone City Formation, Texas Cretaceous Ammonites, Bivalves, Urchins, Gastropods and Texas Pennsylvanian Brachiopods which you may order. We also have described the Petrified Wood in the Herbert Zuhl Collection on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Click here for our various publications.
The paleontology section meets once a month on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7:30 PM at the clubhouse. Typically the session begins with a show and tell of things that people have found and that frequently leads into "stump the paleontologist" sessions where people seek help in identifications. This is followed by a talk on some paleo topic or a session where we learn new techniques like "coal ball peels" and thin sectioning fusulinids.
We do outreach to the community in several areas. Talks at schools, libraries, scouts merit badge programs, manning the tables at our show, docenting at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, doing field trips for Earth Science Week, downtown building stones tours and talks for sister rock clubs. The Paleontology section offers a $1000 scholarship each year to a student focusing on paleontology. For details on the scholarship please click here.
Exhibits by Section members at the HGMS annual show, the South Central Federation (SCFMS) annual show, the national (AFMS) show, and at other regional club shows bring trophies and awards to the individuals who exhibit and bring recognition to the HGMS. These exhibits and awards encourage other interested persons to join our club and to show what they have collected. These exhibits are both competitive and noncompetitive.
Current officers for the section are Neal Immega PhD(president), Mike Dawkins(field trip leader) and Chris Peek(treasurer).
HGMS Paleontology Section
Large Ammonite from Lake Texoma
Petrified tree from Arizona
Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton
Home About Us Meetings Sections Annual Show Publications Education Activities Paleontology Meetings Field Trips Library Publications Gallery Links