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Showing results for tags 'Ferns'.
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I'm going to take a trip from Miami to Pennsylvania to see some family. I was also considering to fossil hunt myself for something to do. I've only hunted in the Peace River, however, and I don't have much experience of actual digging. I'm trying to find some good spots that I can almost definitely find something interesting like a well preserved trilobite or something. I'm also interested in places like Red Hill to find some teeth and bone, or places with diverse ferns and lycopods. I only have a day to do it, so I probably wouldn't be too intrusive. I'd probably be staying in Indiana or Dubois (which me and my mother could significantly raise the population) but I don't want to be too far east from there. I just want to know some good spots and some tips to find the best fossils. thank you!
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Hello, Finally signed up. I'm afraid this is the least interesting new member on record. We just hunt our local shale for ferns and grass without knowing a lot. Your forum is amazing to lurk, intimidating to join. Found one thing which has bugged us so thought it would be good to hand it to professionals. Not a ' find ', something under a large rock ( very large, as in boulder-sized, no treasure hunters here- just baffled ) not far from here. Anyway, hate to join without a lot to say except it's a terrific forum for we closet geeks out here. Will post a few photos in your ID forum. At least we know what a fern in shale looks like! Schuylkill County 101.
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Some more items from the Llwellyn formation at St. Clair that I'm trying to pin the ID down on. I have found oodles of these in some layers at St. Clair and the rounded shape makes me think they are Cordaicarpus seeds. However, there is not enough detail for me to be sure. Someone also suggested then could be fish scales but they have no blue tint (which is from the phosphates found in bones and scales) nor ornamentation. Thoughts?
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As I am going through my boxes of findings from the Llewellyn formation at St. Clair, PA, I came across some more interesting plates. Normally I would call this short, rounded foliage "Sphenopteris" but some research with the PA Geological Survey's book "Fossil Plants from the Anthracite Coal Fields of Eastern Pennsylvania", General Geology Report 72, 1982, John Oleksyshyn, I'm thinking these might be more accurately called Mariopteris cf. lobata. Here is Figure 14 from the book that illustrates (plates A,B) what I think is a close match to what I have. The book also states that the specimens that are used for the plates come from St. Clair so it is known to occur there. Thoughts?
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Today I figured that I would crack open a couple dozen concretions to see if there was anything of interest. Hitting them with a hammer is not the preferred practice, but I have so many that I could never freeze / thaw them in 2 lifetimes. The concretions that I opened today were collected from Pit 4, mostly flora and fresh water fauna are found at that location. Today I found the run of the mill ferns, leaves and a couple very pretty pieces of bark.
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I took to trip to the Poconos this weekend and stopped by Carbondale for a hunt (thanks Jeffrey P for the info on it)! I think I did well and had a really fun trip. It was a little tricky to get there but definitely worth it! I found several fossils ferns and other plants as well as fossil bark - I'm not 100% done going though them yet, but these are my favorites of the trip. On the last two, I would appreciate any info. on what they may be. Thanks! ..
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PA (Exton / Downingtown) Fossil hunting area this week (8/7/2016)
Calvin Jenkins posted a topic in Questions & Answers
Work has me in Exton, Downingtown this coming week. I was wondering if there are any accessible sites that I a FL boy could find something Older or Different than Shark's Teeth or Miocene era fossils. I'd love to find a bug or fern frond but if all you have is Shark teeth I'm happy to hunt for those too.... Thanks in advance, Kevin -
Hi All! My name is Kevin, and I moved to Pennsylvania in January for engineering. Now that things are thawing out I'd like to visit some fossil sites and get to pickin'. One of my coworkers in Geology mentioned that PA is a fantastic area for geologic formations and I've already seen some awesome faulting via road cuts while traversing the roads from Sayre (my base) to Mehoopany. I'm originally from Stamford, CT and have visited PA quite often but have never gone collecting. My grandfather was a geologist and I've got a ton of mineral/fossil specimens sitting around the house but would like to add a few of my own, although they will likely be less spectacular. I've been cruising the forums for a few days now collecting information but would still like to know who is in the area, and what other sites folks might recommend. I understand somebody has soured the St. Clair site (very distasteful action on the collectors part there) but would welcome advice on areas for ferns, Trilobites, or other fossils or minerals of interest. Pretty much anything within a two or three hour drive of Sayre is within reach for me. Any equipment recommendations are also welcome, my bud informed me of different sledges and picks and chisels, but as to the appropriate type for different digging I haven't had much elucidation. Looking forward to talking with everyone and glad to see a forum dedicated to such a cool hobby! Kevin
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Fruits of "me time" in road cuts in Russell and Wise counties in southwest Virginia 3/25/17.
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I was interested in driving up to Pottsville, PA to look for some fern fossils around St Clair. From reading: and then: It seems that the sites around St Clair are now owned by Reading Anthracite a coal company and that digging or collecting of the ground is strictly prohibited. I also found this: http://readinganthracite.com/access-permits/ That implies a $125 permit for going onto their property to do things such as ATV and bike. Nowhere on there do I see anything that mentions digging or collecting fossils but from the previous post I gather that such activities are prohibited. My question is two-fold: 1. There has to be somewhere close to St Clair that is full of fern fossils. Would someone mind sharing the location? I would be willing to mail this individual some of the finds and some of these finds would be going to a university. None of them would be for sale. 2. Would anyone be willing to make the trip with me? I could even pick you up and cover gas as I do have a Prius. My current location is Washington DC. Thanks everyone. I know there has to be some ferns still out there.
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This is my round 2, of things i found, and helping me properly name and catalog them. First picture, i think is some kind of coral? 2nd picture - Coral also maybe? kinda looks like little suction cup suckers? 3rd picture - Some kinda spiral shell? 4th picture - Another type of shell 5th picture - probally some type of clam shell, i was excited at first and thought it was a crab top shell. 6th picture - I find alot of these types, a shell of some kind? 7-8-9 - This one is weird, looks like some kind of shell, but then looks almost like it has teeth or little legs. Really want to know what this is? (Deer Lake, Pa.) 10th picture - I found this in a secret spot in St Clair, Pa., looks to me like a segment of a fossilized tree, its round, totally flat on top n bottom, and looks like striations lines in bark? if im right anyway knowing type of tree? Thanks in advance to anyone who helps out, i'll just list round one and two for now, till i get some answers, and if i get anywhere with answers i will post some more, thanks all. Paul.
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Im really a rock and mineral collector, but gone on fossil trips when i get a chance, and pick up some here n there i find. Im finally getting around to picturing my rocks and cataloging them, and fossils im less an expert. So i would like more information to properly name and catalog them. So any help would be greatful. All of these i have found myslelf. TRILOBITES The first 2 pictures im sure is a trilobite, i found it at Deer Lake, Pa. im thinking a Hollardops or Greenops type? Third picture a trilobite, but probally not enough to identify what type? 4th picture maybe a trilobite head of some kind? PLANTS First picture, i found this in Wilkes Barre, Pa. which is a very high coal producing area. I believe this is a Lepidodendron Tree Casting? 2nd picture some type of tree bark? (Deer Lake, Pa.). 3rd plant picture, maybe lepidodendron leaves? 4th picture, a fern, but what kind of fern is this? these fern leaves look really full and big, and alot i have seen are skinnier and not as full? Any help naming all would be appriciated, give it a shot for me, I will call this round one. Thanks Paul.
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Hi! I've been interested in fossils as long as I can remember, but have only been actively searching for them the last year or so. Looking forward to meeting people here and learning more about hunting, preservation, locations...whatever I can learn. Most of what I've found appears to be Ordovician, and nothing extraordinary yet, but I can dream!
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In Late December, Minnesota is a land impossible to hunt fossils in. So when I took a trip to Ohio this Christmas, I was hoping mother nature would be kind to me and allow me to peak under a few rocks. While visiting my sister in NW Ohio, I convinced her to run up to Paulding with me to check out the Lafarge Quarry. Have seen postings about trilobites from there. We left Lima with no signs of snow on the ground. Two miles from our destination, the ground turned white, and snow was about 4 inches deep. Now I remember why I hated lake effect snow growing up in Ohio!! As long as we drove this far, we decided to travel on just to see the place. Fortunately, there had been a brisk wind that night and the tops of the rock piles were blown fairly clean of snow. Good enough for me. My sister thought I was nuts and remained in the vehicle. Here are the results of my short venture. Would love to visit this place in better conditions. I know how darctooth felt when he posted about his winter, snow covered excursion last week.
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For identification see: Holmes, W.B.K. (2001) The Middle Triassic megafossil flora of the Basin Creek Formation, Nymboida Coal Measures, New South Wales, Australia. Part 2. Filicophyta. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 123, 39-87.
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Can someone help me with an ID for these? Thank you!
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Hello again to everyone on the forum and can't wait to learn from you. I just joined this week and this will be my first main post. I have always been very interested in fossils and geology and finally went on an official fossil Hunting trip this past week. I went with my family the first time and we scouted out the area. I did a lot of research beforehand and read that Pit 11 was one of the most popular concretion hunting spots at Mazon, but that also means they are harder to find. After more research, I decided we should check out an area to the south called the Mazonia South Unit. I read that this area had been less collected because there is much thicker vegetation. The vegetation was very thick. We hiked for a couple miles into the Forested area and we came to the bottom of a large hill. Me and my brother scaled the cliff and saw a way down the other side. The bottom of the other side of the cliff ended right into a river. After we made it to the bottom, my father found the first fossil, a small leaf, in an open concretion. We then saw concretions everywhere around us and started collecting. We only stayed for about an hour that day because the mosquitoes were relentless. I got home and saw I had some fossils and got so excited, I went back out there by myself the very next day. I scaled the cliffs up and down and got as many concretions as I could. Not satisfied, I just came back from another trip out to Mazon yesterday. I'm still refining my technique, but I spent most of the time going up and down the cliff sides looking and picking for concretions. I had a geologic pick, and a bag as my main tools. The first couple times, I picked everything I saw. After more research, I was more picky yesterday and did a lot of cracking in the field. I am not done processing all my concretions but I will post what I have found so far. Please let me know if you can help identify any of them and if the pictures are good for your viewing. Any general tips for fossil hunting and anything is also welcome I have more than I can post in this one post, but will follow up post with rest of my current photos.
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Hi, I would like to show you some plants that I found in the (middle probably) Bathonian of the soutwestern France, near the edge of the "Massif Central". So, I will describe the context of the find quicly : We can find some vegetals in micritic layers intercalated in sublitographic-limestone layers, very often they're fragments of lignitized wood (sometimes with a wonderful conservation and visible tracheids) but it can be reddish wood not lignitized or fragments of leaves. The first mention that I found is Monteil (1977) who indicates the discovery in a neighboring township of two leaf imprints of Otozamites sp. But this source isn't necessarily the most reliable because there are many inaccuracies or errors, but this is the only mention found this period and this area. So, for my own samples, this would be a flora from "wetlands", unusual for the french Jurassic (I believe that only one was found but a little younger, from the upper Oxfordian) and, more interesting, one (at least) of them was supposed to be Sagenopteris sp., a species of Caytoniales ("seed ferns"), never found in France. So here are the leaf imprints (or leaves) of some samples (normally the scales are correct but it is possible that I made a mistake). If someone has an identification idea or a suggestion I would be very grateful to him. 1a : Fern ? 1b 2 Fern with sporangia 3 ? 4 Fern with sporangia 5 Fern with sporangia 6 7 8 9 Fern with sporangia ? 10 Fern with sporangium 11 12 13 14 Fern ? 15
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Fern impressions, leaves, calamites, I found hundreds of nice peices today in North Attleboro, Ma!
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Need ID on some ferns. #1
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Hi all, The specimen below comes from the Asturian (Westphalian D) of the Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück, Germany. It has been in my collection for some years already, but I never managed to ID it further than "something with Sphenopteris-like pinnules". Recently, I bought some new literature and now I think I have some sort of ID, but am definitely stuck on the species level (and hence also not quite sure yet about the generic level.) The specimen from the Piesberg shows a strong resemblance to Oligocarpia gutbierii Göppert 1841 as figured by Kidston (1923), Plate LXX figs. 1-3. Both the presence and the specific appearance of the aphlebia on my specimen (encircled in light blue) also correspond well with Kidston's description text, as well as the aforementioned figures. By contrast, the Oligocarpia gutbierii specimens figured by Kidston (1923) on Plate LXXV, figs 1-2 do not look like my specimen at all (this may be related to them coming from another position in the larger frond - not clear to me.) The specimens figured by Kidston (1923) under Oligocarpia brongniartii Stur 1883 (Plate LXIX, figs 2-3) show less resemblance to the Piesberg specimen. However, in literature dealing with the Piesberg locality, only this species is mentioned to occur (e.g. Josten, 1991). Comparing my specimen to Oligocarpia gutbierii and Oligocarpia brongniartii as figured by Brousmiche (1983), i.e. Plates 57-61 and Plates 62-64, respectively, neither seems to be a very good match. Unfortunately, my French is not good enough to recognise the subtle differences that may be described in the accompanying text volume. Moreover, my specimen is a sterile frond, rendering the most clearly defined differences between Oligocarpia gutbierii and Oligocarpia brongiartii unusable. The venation is difficult to photograph and see, due to gümbelite mineralisation (orange colour), but visible when the specimen is held at an angle to a light source. Under these constraints, what would be the best way to discriminate between these two (and perhaps other) species? Or am I dealing with something else completely? Thanks, Tim
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- Carboniferous
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Hey all, I returned to Cory's Lane last weekend havind had some time to do a little beach combing with the low tide. I was the only one out other than a man gathering crabs for bait. There used to be a spot closer to the cliffs wedged between the breakers but it seems to have vanished over the course of the winter -- perhaps they piled up more rock breakers over it? I did find an interesting whole fern specimen that I think is good quality for the area. This location does not get the type of contrast like St. Claire and the shale has a much greesier quality but here are some photos. If you can help with IDs etc. I'd appreciate all the knowledge members can offer. Best, Agos1221
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I and other members will be heading to Fossil Rock campground to hunt pit 2 on Sunday October 19th 2014. Hopefully the weather will corporate and we can get our buckets filled! Come and join us. It doesn't matter if you've never done it before, i will be happy to teach you what to look for and how to be successful in your 300mya scavenger hunt. We will meet at the Shell gas station in Coal City @ 8-8:30am. It's just west of rt.55 on 113. Hopefully this link will help http://goo.gl/maps/z6m7q Supplies you need and may want. -shovel, pickaxe, rockhammer (basically a good and sturdy digging device). We will be digging through hard shale. -a pair of gloves to keep from collecting blisters -a pair of extra clothes and boots/shoes definitely helps on the ride home. -a bucket, backpack, rock bag (anything that will handle about 5lbs-50lbs worth of rocks) -water is a must, water, water, water -snacks and food is up to you -hiking boots, old pair of shoes, etc. They will get dirty. -i would say bug spray, but being so late in the year hopefully they won't be too crazy. -also it's $5 a person to dig at the campground. This pit is great for very well preserved plants, wood, insects and horseshoe crabs. I have found some awesomely preserved stuff there. These are some of the hardest nodules you will collect anywhere in the Mazon Creek area, and sometimes they take over 30+ freeze/thaw cycles to pop. As i stated above, we WILL be digging, so eat your Wheaties. You can hike around and try and surface collect, but since the spoil piles aren't that tall it may be a waste of time. Here's a live weather link to check the weather for that day. http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/coal-city-il/60416/weather-forecast/332818 Hope to see you there!
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Hey All, I just wanted to give a brief overview of my fossil trip to Cory's Lane, RI. The driving directions were very easy and straightforward. I drove right down to the where folks put there boats into the ocean and began walking southward along the shoreline. I didn't see much for shale but eventually recognized the bedrock below the added granite rock ocean breakers. Once there I saw plenty of signs of recent fossil hunting and even picked up a fern fossil left by someone before me. Looking through their spoil heap I finished what they started and found a few more small ferns. Heading further South about 4/10th of a mile the shale bedrock became higher, about 5 meters, and there I found larger better ferns and calamities. Best, MRA
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Dear all, Since it is simply impossible for an individual collector to collect everywhere, trading offers a great method to diversify. Several TFF Members are actively collecting plant fossils and together we cover an almost worldwide range of different localities. Even if you are specializing in a particular area, fossils of equivalent age from elsewhere could prove interesting material for comparison purposes (for example, there are some interesting parallels and differences between the European and North American Pennsylvanian floras). My question is, therefore: is anyone interested in trading plant fossil material? Anyone who had any plant material to offer for trade, or is looking for particular specimens to trade, please chime in! Cheers, Tim
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