Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Carboniferous'.
-
Couple of recent trips, Carboniferous plants and Cretaceous teeth
RandyB posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
I have been slacking in my posts the past couple of trips, so I figured I would catch up. First up are carboniferous plant fossils from McIntyre Mountain, PA:
-
Were the cephalic spines of Xenacanthid sharks venomous
Petalodus12 posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Hi all, I have seen and heard from multiple different sources that the cephalic spines of Xenacanthid sharks are considered to have been venomous. This is usually supported by the serrated nature of these spines and a canal that runs down the middle of them. Has any research been done to prove or disprove this hypothesis. I know that we can never know for sure but I am curious if there is any scientific support to these claims. Thanks in advance, Zach -
Hey all, last week I was visiting my grandma in Arizona, and of course I had to stop at a local fossil spot! I’m just now cleaning up everything we collected (I’ll hopefully post a trip report tonight !!!) and I revealed this little thing from the mud. I believe the brachiopods on the flip side are Derbyia crassa. If you could help me with my little mystery, I’d really appreciate it! From the Pennsylvanian Naco Formation of Arizona.
-
I had a few duds pop open yesterday but saw one had a tiny speck of something on it, no more than a millimeter long. I had my digital microscope out for other microfossiling activities and decided to take a look. Nothing super interesting, just a tiny plant fragment. But it did get me curious if anyone has done micropaleontology work on Mazon Creek material? I would think there would be quite a bit to explore, but that said I've never really seen the topic mentioned. The only microfossil I've seen discussed from Mazon Creek is a species of ostracod, but usually the only specimens you see are nodules containing hundreds of ostracods as they are readily apparent to the naked eye in that case.
- 9 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- carboniferous
- mazon creek
- (and 1 more)
-
Managed to stop in for a little Mazon Creek style Easter egg hunt when I was up in Chicago last June. Brought back maybe a gallon or so of concretions and I've been cycling them in my freezer (when I remember). I like to give them a bit of a (gentle) tap around the edges from time to time. This often helps the concretion to shed an outer layer or to coax a split that is nearly there and just begging to pop. As expected, I've had a number (the majority) of concretions open up to reveal a complete lack of anything at all within. The only thing that revealed itself to be of interest was this little concretion that measures 3.5 x 4.0 cm. I pulled out my copy of The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna book and you think with that information at my fingertips that I'd be able to make a coherent guess as to the identity of this fossil but I am at a loss to match it up convincingly to any of the taxa described there. Hoping some of the members here with more experience can chime in. @Nimravis @RCFossils @stats @Mark Kmiecik
- 14 replies
-
- 9
-
-
- carboniferous
- concretion
- (and 3 more)
-
Conditions in Western PA have been unusually warm recently, with highs in the 40s and 50s. I decided to take advantage of this warm spell by getting a little bit of fossil hunting in. I decided to do a hunt focused on plants as I’ve been hunting for vertebrates for the better part of the last year and a half and, although I could never get tired of vertebrates I thought some variety was well overdue. So I headed to one of my favorite plant localities in the area. It is located in the Connellsville Sandstone of the Casselman Formation, which is in turn the upper half of the Conemaugh Group. The sandstone is around 305 million years old. The Casselman Formation holds the record of the tail end of one of the largest plant extinctions in our earths history. The prolonged wetness that had existed for much of the Pennsylvanian gave way to dryer conditions, and, as a result, the lycopsid forests fragmented. Many of these lycopsids went extinct during this event, which is known as the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse. Conifers took advantage of these newly opened ecological niches. Their fossils have been found in this area, although I have never personally found them. Anyway, on to the fossils. Today I mostly found partial Pecopteris fronds, Neuropteris pinnules and Annularia leaflets. I’m going to include some of my better finds from other trips as well, as this trip was rather unproductive. Pictured below is the best Annularia I found today. Or Asterophyllites. I’m not sure. We’ll just go with Calamites leaves for now.
- 31 replies
-
- 9
-
-
- annularia
- asterophyllites
- (and 11 more)
-
This piece of limestone looked like sea shells (clams or brachiopods) at first glance. However it’s one bumpy continuous surface. Any idea? The rock would be around 305 million years old. The rock broke easily along this surface which made it easy to see. Shells typically show white preserved Agagonite on them as well. No such preservation on this surface. Rock from Western Pennsylvania, United States. The surface is wet. Ruler is in inches.
-
My first hunt of 2020 was to the pit spoil in the Derbyshire UK coal measures that is local to me. If you have ever seen the film "Holes" that is me ! I am digging lots of holes in a big spoil heap looking for my gold (fossils) . Most of the time the holes draw a blank with just a glimpse of what i'm looking for and I dig till I feel the twinges in my back ( my back is older now ) these are the bits from my first hunt of the year. and this small find that has a jagged calcite look but shows segments ( all nodules whacked on site ) I used a black light for the last photo. The black light seems to show up the segments (this black light is something that is new and i'm trying out) . Happy New Year John
- 8 replies
-
- 7
-
-
- carboniferous
- fauna
- (and 1 more)
-
I found this fossil last year in the Mecca Quarry Shale (Pennsylvanian) of Illinois. I posted it previously but no definitive answer. I got a new digital microscope recently and decided to snap a few photos of this specimen up close. Hopefully they might help, though I still have no idea what it is. Thoughts?
-
This fossil is present on a block containing what seem to be Elonichthys scales. I found it in the coal measures of Fife (Scotland). Am I correct to think this is a fish jaw? Thanks, Daniel
- 10 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- carboniferous
- fish
- (and 1 more)
-
I recently obtained this plant fossil in a trade. It comes from the Kent coal measures (UK), upper Carboniferous. I suspect it is Alethopteris sp, though the pinnules are smaller than any species of Alethopteris I can find. Any ideas what it may be? Thanks, Daniel
- 22 replies
-
- 2
-
-
- alethopteris
- carboniferous
- (and 1 more)
-
I am lucky enough to have permission to collect fossils at an old coal mining tip in West Yorkshire, UK. The site is now a woods, but pieces of shale can be found, containing upper Carboniferous fish fossils including sharks and Rhizodonts. At this time of year, collecting is difficult due to the leafs which cover the shale. The vast majority of the shale comes from a mussel band, which as the name suggests, contains abundant bivalves, but generally the fish remains are very small. The exceptions to this are blocks of the mussel band which contain orange coloured bivalves. These blocks seem to contain larger fish remains. However, there is generally no one rock type which is better than the others at this site. To ensure I don't cause any disturbance to wildlife, I don't do any hammering at the site. Instead, I collect promising shale samples and split them at home in search of fossils. When choosing which shale samples to collect, I look for shale samples with a relatively high grain size. I have not split the shale samples yet, but the following posts will contain photos of the site, and two fossils I found at the site today. If I find any good fossils in the samples, I will post pictures on here.
- 24 replies
-
- 4
-
-
- carboniferous
- coal
- (and 1 more)
-
I found this in West Yorkshire (UK) in the Pennine Lower Coal Measures formation (upper Carboniferous). I suspect it is plant, but it also looks like some arthropod fragments I have seen. What do you think? Thanks, Daniel
-
I think this is Odontopteris. The flat leaf tips are what have me thinking that. I have lots of local shale that I can pull these from readily, but maybe once or twice over an hour I can pull one this size out. Any fern experts here able to validate? Attaching a couple fossil plates that I use to identify local ferns.
-
This was my second time visiting this well-known Late Carboniferous, Kasimovian stage (305-7mya) spot on the NW edge of the Illinois basin. Here are some things I found. Some large brachiopods. After splitting some rocks, came across this nice tooth. I kept both halves for careful extraction/reassembly at home, which took at least a few hours. I don't know much about shark teeth and after researching, and from what I can glean from what scarce information is available, I think it's a Holocephalia subclass, Chimaera tooth. Possibly Cochliodus sp...? It measures 2cm. Correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't know much about teeth. Another cool thing I noticed is that it fluoresces a eerie green under ultraviolet light, however my cell phone camera interprets the UV light differently than my eye. I probably have to mess around with exposure settings or something. Whatever the case, it helps bring out details. Also,, found this genal spine of Ameura sp. with a tooth fragment(dark spot, lower right). I was crossing my fingers that at least the entire cephalon would be there ,but no dice... however, it also fluoresces glow-in-the-dark green which makes it stand out from the matrix easier to photograph. Ahh, to find a complete Ameura that fluoresces.. Thanks for reading.
- 14 replies
-
- 8
-
-
- bond formation
- brachiopods
- (and 5 more)
-
I just received this nice Aviculopecten bivalve from Mazon Creek today. What catches my eye is the thing extending from the top of the shell. It almost looks like it could be the siphon protruding outwards. I haven't seen a similar specimen before. Any thoughts?
- 8 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- bivalve
- carboniferous
- (and 2 more)
-
This isn't a recent find but one that i labelled two Cyclus but going back to it i don't think the other fossil is one. The nodule came from a Derbyshire , UK opencast that has now been reclaimed . It was a very productive site with a good spread of flora and fauna. Thank-you for looking John
- 5 replies
-
- 2
-
-
- carboniferous
- cyclus
- (and 1 more)
-
Any thoughts on these small fragments? Carbondale formation, mecca shales. All are pretty small and measure 1-2mm, except the fourth pic is 2cm .Some look like wings and others look fishy to me. Any help appreciated!
-
Here are two Pennsylvanian bivalves I have not been able to ID. I've seen some similar looking ones but in all honesty, I find that most bivalves look the same to me. The first is from the LaSalle Limestone Member of the Bond Formation, Oglesby, IL.
-
Is there a way to identify this plant? Looks like plant leaves, but I am unsure of the species. Does anyone know?
-
This nodule split a while ago. At first I thought it was just a neat looking dud, but after looking closer there appear to be faint radiating lines on the specimen which makes me think it might be plant material, although I have no idea what exactly. Any ideas?
-
Deep in the heart of Pennsylvania's coal country runs the Carboniferous Lewellyn Formation. Once a vast tract of swampland, the area was home to 100 ft. tall Calamites (an extinct relative of modern herbaceous horsetails), giant tree ferns and other enormous plants, plus proportionally large insects. The conditions during the intervening millennia were just right for the plants to break down into iron-based minerals, including pyrophyllite and kaolinite, leaving a coating of white powder over the impressions in the rock. In rare spots, the iron minerals come in yellow, orange or red, too. All this makes the fossils stand out in sharp contrast to the dark, gray shale matrix. This is not a place for the timid. The shale is on a steep, slick slope covered in loose scree. The trees that look like good hand-holds are dead and rotten. Below the surface, fires burn in the coal veins, creating a sinkhole hazard all over the ghost town and on to the neighboring towns. However, the place I was hunting is definitely a beaten path these days, so there is probably a low risk of invisible disaster. I always say that no rock is worth your life, but that doesn't stop me from living a little dangerously. I went there for the first time last month. It was a short stop close to dusk. The fog was thick and the rocks were wet. The white powder was hard to make out in the gloom. Today, the light was good, the rocks were dry and the hunting was good!
- 30 replies
-
- 17
-
-
- calamites
- carboniferous
- (and 4 more)
-
I found this partial coal measures fish in Scotland a couple of years ago. I don’t have enough experience to prepare this, so I was wondering if anyone would like to prepare it for me in return for one or more fossils? I have various fossil types available. Thanks, Daniel
-
IMG_0211.HEIC IMG_0212.HEIC Positive and negative imprint of a fossil found in the shale at Cory's Lane. Vaguely appears to be a pinecone but not sure. What does everyone thinks?
-
Hello dear members, In this post I want to show you my Mazon Creek Fauna collection. I have only 6 specimens, that I’ve acquired over a long period of time in shows and online. Mazon Creek is definetely my favourite fossil assemblage and I dream, one day, to be able to collect fossils there myself! My specimens are not museum-quality, I’m aware of that, but still can help to give an idea of what a 309 million-year-old soft-bodied biota looked like! Let’s start with the most abundant species of the Essex assemblage: the jellyfish “Essexella asherae”. Known from thousands of concretions, in mine the preservation is fairly good: you can distinguish the bell and the membranous skirt that encloses the tentacles, except their end. Moving on to arthropods, another abundant species is the cycloid “Cyclus americanus”. It is carachterized by a round body, long straight antennae and, at the posterior, two short processes. In my specimen, one antenna and one process can be easily-distinguished. In the echinodermata phylum, there’s only one species described so far: the holoturian (or sea cucumber) “Achistrum sp.”. It has a cylindrical, sack-like body: during preservation it dries, leaving dessication cracks that are replaced whit calcite and are very evident in my specimen. Also clear is the mouth, bearing 15 calcareous plate. The acorn worms (class Enteropneutsa) are hemicordate organisms and their closest relative are echinoderms. These animals have a body that is made up of three main parts: an acorn-shaped proboscis, a short fleshy collar that lies behind it, and a long, worm-like trunk. Mazon Creek’s species “Mazoglossus ramsdelli” is extemely similar to extant species. Finally, I posses two species of bristle worms (Class Polychaeta). The first one is “Astreptoscolex anasillosus”: I’m not 100% sure that the ID is correct, so if you have any suggestion, they are welcome! Anyway, it is a stout worm with the body tapering towards the tail. An eversible proboscis is usually preserved and I think that my specimen features it. The other worm is “Esconites zelus”: it has a long, narrow outline with prominent bristles on its segments. The head has projecting antennae and the jaw apparatus shows wing-like mandibles. In my specimes they are partially preserved, even though not visible in the picture. All right, this is my collection! I know it nothing special, but I hope that it can be appreciated by both Mazon Creek collectors and people who like soft-bodied fossils!
- 10 replies
-
- 7
-
-
- carboniferous
- collection
- (and 1 more)
.thumb.JPG.10b2a43ac4676929bbc34e83812fc84c.JPG)
