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Hi to all here , I have been a fossil & Indian artifact collector/hunter for 60 years in the Midwest USA and look forward to learning a lot more about identification from this site. Being retired gives me lots of time to crack rocks. Hope to make friends and maybe get some hunting buddies. Thanks for letting me join and blessings to all. Stenopolis

Hey everyone, I recently came back from a trip to England. Most of the time was spent in museums, especially London's Natural History Museum. Over there, I met the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology (Tim Ewin), who showed me around some parts of the Echinoderm Collections. Basically, the goal of this visit was to examine some of the echinoderms from the British Chalk, for some comparative research material for my MKFRP project. Some of the stuff in those collections is absolutely amazing - and the amount of material in there is really extensive. This thread will show some of the chalk echinoderm material that I saw over there. Hope you guys'll like this! 2 very well articulated Tylocidaris clavigera in a single nodule of chalk g on Drawer filled with "tylocidarine" regular echinoids. The pink colouring on some of the specimens is due to the fact that some of them needed to have the fine details rendered sharper (this was before the age of digital photography) Partial Tylocidaris clavigera associated with a disarticulated goniasterid (Asteroidea, Goniasteridae) starfish Very well preserved and nearly complete Nymphaster marginatus goniasterid Neat little example of the goniasterid Metopaster Calyx and partial arm of the free-floating crinoid Marsupites testudinarius (sorry for not very good photo quality ) Articulated columnals of an isocrinid crinoid (possibly Isocrinus); this is specifically relevant to my MKFRP project given the age of that fossil (Early Maastrichtian) To finish things off… It's not very "chalk-y", but it's definitely special - a Palaeocoma milleri ophiuroid from the Early Jurassic of Lyme Regis, collected by Mary Anning

I don't throw around the word "best" casually, but I think it's safe to say that my recent trip was one of the best in all my years collecting, if not the best. I spent the better part of five or six hours collecting at numerous different sites across western Maryland ranging in age from the lower Devonian to the lower Mississippian, so this is part one of my posts (for simplicity's sake I may include photos of most of my other finds from these sites even if I didn't collect them last go around). The trip started off okay. I visited a couple of my oldest sites that are some small roadside exposures of the Oriskany Sandstone and Mahantango Formation. These sites produced decent material in the past, but over the repeated years of collecting I seem to have worn them out as this time all I found were some brachiopods (including a decent Mucrospirifer sp. from the Mahantango site). I'll talk more about these finds later, but afterwards I found time to visit a new site in the Brallier Formation. By this point it had started to thunder, and while driving to the site the rain started to come in and fog filled up the valley. I thought it was the end of my trip, but as I got to the site it was pretty much dry. My best guess is that I was simply hearing a storm from way off in the distance. The site I visited, as I recently learned, might actually expose two different formations: the Brallier Formation and the Foreknobs Formation. The difficulty in discerning between the various upper Devonian formations in Maryland is multifold. First off, the MGS doesn't differentiate the Harrell, Brallier, and Scherr Formations, even on their most recent geologic maps. Second of all the literature around these deposits is scant and very dated. Most still use the (now) incorrect Woodmont and Chemung Formations, which further exacerbates problems as the Woodmont Formation consisted of the current Brallier and Scherr Formations, making it difficult for an amateur like me to really tell just which fossils occur in either formation. On top of this the contact between the Harrell, Brallier, Scherr, and Foreknobs is mostly gradational, so the differentiating layers lithologically is next to impossible as the beds gradually blend into one another. Generally speaking the Harrell is a dark shale with a fossiliferous limestone (the Tully Limestone) demarcating it's base, the Brallier is mostly dark, fissile shale with interbeds of siltstone, the Scherr is mostly lighter colored shale and siltstone with some sandstone beds, and the Foreknobs is a mixture of gray shales, red shales, conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone. A guide fossil for the Brallier is the brittle star trace fossil Pteridichnites biseriatus, which was the fossil I originally set out to collect and found in the darker shale. Generally speaking the brachiopod genus Cyrtospirifer sp. in particular C. disjunctus is a guide fossil for the Foreknobs, but I believe this genus also occurs in the Brallier Formation. I found both fossils at this site, the brittle star in the dark shale and the brachiopod in a reddish siltstone, and considering the transition in rock types (one end of the site was just dark, fissile shale and the other had significant amounts of conglomerate and siltstone with shell beds) I think it's likely that the upper end of the cut was in the basal Foreknobs Formation and the lower end was in the upper layers of the Brallier Formation. As such, all of my trace fossils are from the Brallier and almost all of my other fossils are from the Foreknobs. The Brallier Formation is a late Devonian turbidite unit that was deposited in fairly deep water as the Acadian Mountains eroded. It is mostly unfossiliferous, but does have the occasional pelycopod, gastropod, and trace fossil (these being the most common). Ammonoids are also reported from the Brallier. Like I said earlier I originally came trying to find the brittle star trace fossil Pteridichnites but I ended up finding some other very interesting trace fossils. I picked up two of them because I had seen images of similar looking things from the Pennsylvanian of Alabama which I believe @Rockin' Ric labeled as resting traces from horseshoe crabs. These are late Devonian, deep water marine in origin, not terrestrial/freshwater from the Pennsylvanian, so I don't really know what they could be. Perhaps from some other arthropod? Anyways I also found some brittle star traces, including a group of what look to be four or five Pteridichnites biseriatus oriented in life position as if it were an imprint of the brittle star body. Image 1: Pteridichnites biseriatus Image 2: A group of four poorly preserved P. biseriatus Image 3: Unknown arthropod (?) trace fossil Image 4: Unknown arthropod (?) trace fossil If any of you guys know what the last two fossils are, please feel free to let me know.

Hi Everybody, I found these crinoids on a large chunk of shale on Sunday when I was out with the New York Paleontological Society. I don't know the formation, but the site was a small private quarry in Madison County, N.Y. and based on other species present I'm guessing it is Middle Devonian Hamilton Group. A number of crinoid stems are present plus tiny calyxes with arms and possibly bases. I believe one (or all) of the crinoids (based on the presence of feather-shaped arms) is Gennaeocrinnus. All of this came from one rock. The rock broke up into pieces. At least three have significant crinoid specimens on them. The largest one is 10-11 inches by 8-9 inches. My questions are how do I consolidate this thin and very fragile piece of shale and how do I expose the specimens better? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I've wanted one of these Moroccan crinoid blocks for ages, so I couldn't turn this one down when I was able to get it for £10 ($13 US). All I had to go on were some poor quality images and I had no idea how big it was. (it's 10 inches across at the widest point). However, because I've never handled one of these before, or seen one in the flesh, I don't really know what to look for in terms of fakery, compositing or restoring. It does have a really horrible surface, making it look like plastic - I'm hoping this is just some sort of thick, ugly substance that has been applied to consolidate the surface, since it doesn't appear to be a cast. I'd be grateful for any opinions, or suggestions of what to look for. Sorry the photos aren't ideal - I tried it outdoors in natural light, and indoors with flash, but the horrible surface made it difficult to photograph well.

I'm new to this forum from Jasper in Southern Indiana. I have been finding geodized fossils by the bucket fulls in the creek by my house for a few years. I was told it would be strange to find them this far south without a nearby rock formation. From all the rain a bank washed out and I m finding things I am not sure of original. Hopefully this forum can help. Here are a few I found a couple days ago. My name is Jackie. Thanks ahead of time for any help and glad to be a part of this forum

Last week I drove out to Kentucky to spend a week with my family. Of course I also hit the fossil beds. The first day I visited the two Mississippian sites- Wax and Leitchfield that I visited last year. Here are some of the highlight finds of that day. First- Wax: Blastoids and bryozoans:

I found this a couple of years ago and have periodically taken it out to examine it as I've found the accumulation of fauna adhering to it's surface as very interesting. For awhile I affectionately referred to it as an accretion (as opposed to a concretion), envisioning a clump of mud rolling around in the wave action of a shoreline picking up bits of dead fauna. But now, with the fairly recent posts that have come up about crustacean burrows, I'm second guessing. On the exterior of this piece are brachiopod shell bits and molds, possible pectinid shell molds, crinoid columnals, and tiny gastropod steinkerns and exterior molds with decoration. The dark clumps appear to be pyrite. There are two depression areas, one on the large end, and a smaller one that is offset of the smaller end. These I speculate to be the exposed chamber, should this be a burrow. Notably within these depressions are oval shaped pellets and an interesting fibrous texture. So, I now defer to your opinions! Thank you for looking!

Hello guys and gals, I greatly appreciate this forum and thanks for welcoming me. I have a set of 4 teeth that I only know that are from Florida. I’m thinking Carcharias but I’m a noob so I’m not confident. As far as the crinoids, I got them as a “gift” after purchasing a tooth from a dealer. All he knew is they were crinoids from Dakhla, Morocco. I’m guessing Pennsylvanian? Any information would be awesome. Thanks guys/gals

The Indiana State Museum has an impressive collection of Hoosier fossils, a lot of crinoids as one would expect, and it is worth your time if you are in Indianapolis. The museum is downtown and very pleasant, with other museums and restaurants nearby. I wrote a blog entry about it that includes photos: http://www.americangeode.com/blog/fossil-collection-indiana-state-museum/

Dear Forum Members, I will gladly exchange Solnhofen fossils (there are several floating crinoids plates of different sizes, coprolites, aptychi of ammonites) and Polish Oxfordian ammonites (from Ogrodzieniec quarry) for Ordovician cystoids or Jurassic crinoids. If you need more detailed pictures, please send me a private message Regards, Kasia

I've posted for about a month but haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Nick and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I started collecting Petoskey stones (Hexagonaria percarinata) as a kid when we vacationed on Lake Huron in the summer. I had some other odds and ends I couldn't identify. But I caught the bug this summer when I visited a couple of beaches on Lakes Michigan and Huron with tons of crinoid fossils, columnals, gutter casts, horn coral and lots of fascinating hash. Next week, I'm going back to beaches I visited this summer to further explore.

My name is Makayla, and I am an aspiring Paleontologist I have been collecting fossils since I was 7, and have just started researching about buying my own fossils. I saw the Forum for the first time while reading about fake mosasaur jaws and identifying fake fossils. The articles I found were VERY helpful and interesting, and I cannot wait to learn more. So glad to have found the Forum!

Arizona, Redwall limestone, Mooney member. I've found several examples of what look like plants but because they are around crinoids I'm thinking possibly crinoid arms. Anyone know what these are? Thanks

My beautiful wife scheduled a three night stay at a cabin in a Thousand Trails campground near Lake Texoma. We were to arrive on Sunday and check out on Wednesday. So, I figured that, since I hadn't been fossil hunting in months, I would schedule a trip to central Texas to follow the Texoma trip. I set up a rendezvous point in Fairfield, Texas to meet my dad on that Wednesday, and head off toward Brownwood and Cisco, Texas. I figured that the fossil hunt would begin then. But that's not quite how things played out... My two oldest daughters and I met my wife and youngest daughter in Salado, Texas on Saturday, October 14th. They had left the previous morning to spend a day with my mother-in-law in Waco and Salado. We spent Saturday night in Salado and then parted ways with my mother-in-law on Sunday morning and headed toward Lake Texoma. As we drove through Waco, my wife asked if we wanted to take a detour. She had never been to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas, and she thought the girls would enjoy seeing the dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy River. I got really excited. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, and at that time, the river was high and the tracks were not visible. So we adjusted our GPS to take us to Glen Rose. We pulled in and stopped off to get a map of the park. We then drove straight to the spot where Roland T. Bird made his first discovery. It was amazing. The water was low and gave us a clear view of the trackways in the river. Above you can see both the sauropod and theropod tracks, They are a little obscured by mud, but they are still very visible. We left the R.T. Bird site and went to another place called the Ballroom Track Site, where so many tracks go in so many directions, it was like the theropods were dancing. It was in slightly deeper water, but it was still beautiful! The rippling water was crystal clear and the girls couldn't help but get into the water, even as a cool front brought chilly winds down the river valley. My wife loved it. She told me that Dinosaur Valley State Park was our next camping destination. Before we left, we stopped off by the iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex and Apatosaurus models built for the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York. They were permanently installed at Dinosaur Valley in 1970 at the park's dedication. We left Dinosaur Valley and drove the rest of the way to our cabin at Lake Texoma, arriving just after dark. We settled in and tried to decide what we wanted to do the next day. It was Monday, and we figured there had to be something for the girls to do nearby. We quickly discovered that our options were limited. It had turned too cold for the pool at the campgrounds. The putt-putt at the campground was okay, but the girls quickly tired of it. And most of the other recreational equipment was not well kept, or available. So, we decided to leave the campground to find something for the girls to do. I had mentioned that I would like to check out the Permian site at Waurika, Oklahoma. It was only two hours away, and this was the closest I had ever been to the site. My wife was a bit miffed by the lack of things for the girls to do, so she said "Let's go." I jumped at the chance. I had done no research on the site, other than what I had read about it on TFF. I wish I had consulted the TFF experts before we left, because I had no idea of the best places to look. We focused mainly on the sandy floor and reddish rocks, and found nothing. When we returned to the cabin, I asked where we should have looked. Jesuslover340 informed me that the gray colored exposures were the places to find the best material. So, we came away empty handed, with only one major discovery. My wife wouldn't let me take it home, though... Continued in next post...

This is probably a rookie question, so I ask for your indulgence. I have several thousand fossils collected over 50 years. I have a couple of hundred that I keep in plastic storage boxes in the house (crinoid stems and segments, bivalves, some horn coral and other corals, the one trilobite that I purchased that is probably a fake). But the rest are outside in a rock garden in the backyard. We're talking about a lot of fossils. The first question is: When you have so many fossils, what do you do with them all? And secondly, I have many fossils found in clay (see images). Will the elements have any negative effect on them? I live in Michigan, so we get lots of rain, snow and freezing temperatures.

I have three fossils I collected last week in Kentucky during a family visit. The first I know is a partial crinoid head, missing most of the calyx, but what genus/species? It was found near Leitchfield, KY in the Leitchfield Limestone, the Jimmy Dean member. The second, I don't know what it is. It was found in a layer that was rich in crinoid stem pieces. The locality is just north of Elizabethtown , KY. I don't know the formation, but it is certainly Mississippian. The last object I'm not sure is even a fossil though the thing on the bottom is a crinoid stem piece. I don't know if it is attached to the object in question. It was found at the same locality as the second fossil. I would like to thank TFF member Herb for leading me to these two localities. I welcome and all input. Thank you.

When our Plan A was killed we had to go to Plan B. Plan A was to visit a couple of old mines and sample the mine dumps for pyrite crystals and to try my hand at gold panning some of the tailings a little. This couldn't happen as there was some sort of bike race going up and down the canyon the mines were at the top of. Not wanting to waste the drive over there, we decided to visit the nearby limestone outcrops and viola! Pentacrinus crinoids! More pics

Hey there! I'm sorry its been so long since I've posted on here but suffice it to say I need your help. I'm planning a six to seven day fossil hunting trip in Pennsylvania (sometime in mid august) and I need your help verifying that the sites I've picked to visit from Robert Beards guide Rock Hounding Pennsylvania are still accessible to collecting as well as coverable given my time frame. The places I'm looking at hunting are sites 27. Beltzville State Park (Outcrops on shoreline), 28. Lehighton, Lehigh Canal (Former borrow pit and outcrop),30. Deer Lake (Borrow Pit), 33. Suedberg (Outcrop in former borrow pit), 35. Centralia (Former strip mine outcrop), 38. Rockville (Former quarry), 48. Walker Lake (Hillside and unpaved road), 51. PPL Montour Preserve (Hillside, Former borrow pit), 57. Uniontown (Former quarry). Any insights as to whether or not theses sites are still accessible to collecting, weather our not you believe covering all these sites within 6 to 7 days is possible, and any other tips and tidbits of information on the sites, and or planning a large trip like this etc, would be greatly appreciated! When I go I'm planning to take notes and pictures and then, when i get back, write a few essays illustrated with pics that I will post on here! Thank you in advance, Glenn aka Fossil123

(Note: this was originally posted under fossil trips) Hey there! I'm sorry its been so long since I've posted on here but suffice it to say I need your help. I'm planning a six to seven day fossil hunting trip in Pennsylvania (sometime in mid august) and I need your help verifying that the sites I've picked to visit from Robert Beards guide Rock Hounding Pennsylvania are still accessible to collecting as well as coverable given my time frame. The places I'm looking at hunting are sites 27. Beltzville State Park (Outcrops on shoreline), 28. Lehighton, Lehigh Canal (Former borrow pit and outcrop),30. Deer Lake (Borrow Pit), 33. Suedberg (Outcrop in former borrow pit), 35. Centralia (Former strip mine outcrop), 38. Rockville (Former quarry), 48. Walker Lake (Hillside and unpaved road), 51. PPL Montour Preserve (Hillside, Former borrow pit), 57. Uniontown (Former quarry). Any insights as to whether or not theses sites are still accessible to collecting, weather our not you believe covering all these sites within 6 to 7 days is possible, and any other tips and tidbits of information on the sites, and or planning a large trip like this etc, would be greatly appreciated! When I go I'm planning to take notes and pictures and then, when i get back, write a few essays illustrated with pics that I will post on here! Thank you in advance, and thank you to Fossil-Hound for directing me on were to properly post this! Glenn aka Fossil123

The weekend of June 24th and 25th I participated in an outing with the New York Paleontological Society led by my friend, Ray McKinney to Brechin, Ontario. TFF Member Malcolm led our group into the James Dick quarry where both Bobycaygeon and Verulam Formations are exposed. These are Middle Ordovician from the Trenton Group and contain a wide variety of invertebrate fossil fauna. Also met other TFF members Kevin (Northern Sharks) and Joe (crinus). Most of the quarry is the Bobycaygeon and the very top is the Verulam- only accessible near the entrance, but I got some excellent well preserved matrix plates from there. I spent the second day combing the spoil piles. This first picture is Lake Simco by Beaverton where we stayed. Malcolm in the middle, explaining the quarry geology to NY Paleontological Society members.