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Showing results for tags 'Kansas'.
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So I was on a sandbar on the republican river today and found these, along with several others. I think they may be bison bones, possibly ice age, (this is in NE Kansas) but could you guys help out? Thanks. I will upload more pictures soon. PS each piece is about 3 inches on the long lost side and around 1 inch wide (the first one is about 3/4 inches thick), and I haven't cleaned them yet
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I was walking a Northeast Kansas sandbar today and found these with several other pieces. I think these might be from the ice age or more rencent, perhaps part of an old bison skeleton. I could use some help here, I'll upload more pictures. The specimen is about 3 inches long, 1 inch tall and 1 inch thick.
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I found this shark tooth yesterday in the first chalk bench of the Fort Hays Member of the Niobrara approximately one foot off the contact of the Carlile Shale (my first keeper from the Niobrara). I was able to prepare it as best I could this morning and realized it doesn't have a root. This was my first matrix prep of a fossil and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was hoping someone could help me identify it. I think the photos look at the lingual side of the tooth. Also - since it's imbedded in chalk, it is beginning to separate from the matrix. Does anyone have suggestions for helping affix it to the matrix? I would superglue it but don't want the glue to affect the overall appearance of the enamel. Thanks!
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Hey guys, I am Cole. I just made this account earlier today, and have already received some great feedback from multiple experienced collectors. I just started collecting fossils within the past year or two when I noticed a fossilized bivalve in a quarry near my house in NE Kansas. Ever since then, I have been fascinated by what remains of these organisms that ruled the Earth millions of years ago. Although I have very little knowledge on ancient organisms now, I seek your guys' advice and aspire to teach myself more. I also got a knack for Indian artifacts, although I have never searched for them exclusively...any neat places that you guys know of in Kansas would be appreciated; I am looking forward to building my new collection of fossils. Thanks!!!
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Hi all, I'm fairly new to this forum and fossil hunting in general. I need help identifying these, idk if they are coral, sponges, posibally bone or what. These were found in NE Kansas, in a rock deposit full of bryzoans, bivalves and other oceanic fossils. I do know the majority of these fossils here come from around the Cambrian through the Permian periods, however there have also been a few ice age fossils in the area, so that may help. Thanks a lot!
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Hi all, A few months ago I was hunting in a hill that had been split for construction and found an abundance of fossiliferous limestone. I could identify most species, which consisted of mostly bivalves and brachiopods. I was thinking these were a type of brachiopod, but I haven't been able to place my finger right on it. Help is appreciated, and thanks as always!
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I have not been very frequent on here lately, so I thought I'd post a little something to let the old timers on here know I'm still around. First let me say I'm no professional when it comes to prep. If I found something completely crazy cool and in need of a professional I would send it there. However cool something is to me, most of the time there are bunches of these in museums already so I don't think I am causing any dis-service to science by trying my hand a prepping these myself. That said, I do my best, and take lots of pictures along the way. I figure it is better prepped by myself (however poorly) than crumbling in one of my drawers of my shop. The following are a few pictures of a fish (Pentanogmius) my wife found two summers ago, and I finally got prepped this summer. A large section of a chalk pyramid had collapsed, and this fish was found in the debris pile. Much of it had already weathered away. We picked it up in pieces and brought it home. I prepared a box to mount it in, and set the bones in plaster.
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From the album: Vertebrates
Acanthodes bridgei Zidek 1976 Carboniferous Middle Pennsylvanian Hamilton quarry Kansas USA -
positive and negative. References: CHRISTOPHER R.CUNNINGHAM, HOWARD R. FELDMAN, EVAN K. FRANSEEN, ROBERT A. GASTALDO, GENE MAF’ES, CHRISTOPHER G. MAPLES AND HANS-PETER SCHULTZE (2007) The Upper Carboniferous Hamilton Fossil-Lagerstatte in Kansas: a valley-fill, tidally influenced deposit. Lethaia 26(3):225 - 236. Surficial Geology of the Hamilton Quarry Area, Greenwood County, Kansas
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@Ramo was kind enough to send me some Niobrara coprolites to study. I decided to prep out a bone inclusion that was visible on the surface. I'm not a fish expert, so I'm guessing a preopercular fragment? Thanks for looking!
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Going to be in Topeka for work in a couple weeks, looking for intel on road cuts, spillways, or other easily accessible fossil bearing strata. Any help would be much appreciated!!
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I prepped another Niobrara coprolite and found an interesting inclusion. With my limited knowledge of fish anatomy, My best guess is some kind of connecting bone where the vertebrae meet the skull? The coprolite contains both large and small fish vertebrae in addition to this bone. Thanks in advance for your help!
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In this second entry I would like to show well-preserved specimens of two ostracodes: the very long-ranging taxon Amphissites centronotus (Ulrich and Bassler, 1906), and the Permian taxon Cornigella parva Kellett, 1933. The former belongs in the family Amphissitidae, while the latter is placed in the family Drepanellidae. This specimen is a relatively late instar, but not fully mature, as final instar specimens average about 50% larger. The species is very easy to recognize, the very large and prominent central node being quite distinctive. Additionally, there are two strong ventral flanges, the inner flange curving upward to the anterior cardinal angle. There is a fairly strong dorsal ridge, the ends curving abruptly downward to form anterior and posterior ridges, the former being the longer of the two. The flanges and ridges are considerably weaker on early instars, but the prominent central node is still unmistakable. So far as I am aware, this taxon occurs throughout the Pennsylvanian (and perhaps earlier), and disappears by mid-Permian time, a range in excess of 100 Ma. It has been assumed that this species was a free-swimming benthic form, as the prominent flanges would not be well-suited to an infaunal mode of life. Betty Kellett described two species of the genus Cornigella from the Fort Riley Limestone of the Chase Group, higher in the Permian section of Kansas: Cornigella parva Kellett 1933, and Cornigella binoda Kellett 1933. They differed in the number of lateral nodes, the former species having a larger number of nodes, while in the latter species only the two prominent dorsal nodes were present. However, Kellett noted that her specimens showed considerable variation, which she attributed to poor preservation and diagenetic crushing. She went so far as to suggest that the two described taxa might actually be the same. Looking at Florena specimens, which are well-preserved complete carapaces, I would agree with her suggestion. The lateral nodes exhibit varying degrees of development; although the two dorsal nodes are always strongly developed, the ventral and anterior nodes may be considerably weaker. The specimen shown here is very well-preserved, and the full (?) complement of lateral nodes is clearly represented. (Note that, since we are looking at a complete carapace, the posterior dorsal node of the right valve is also obvious, as is a hint of the anterior dorsal node.) This specimen is also of interest, in that it shows a lot of the surface sculpturing, not too obvious on other specimens. I have chosen the name C. parva for this taxon, as Kellett's description appears first on the page, and should thus have priority. I have not seen the description or illustrations of the generotype Cornigella minuta Warthin, 1930, which was described as having eight "prominent spines", one projecting well above the hinge line. Type specimens were from the Pennsylvanian Wetumka Formation of Oklahoma. I would follow Kellett's judgement in deciding that the Permian taxon was not conspecific with that of Warthin. I had hoped to illustrate a perfect carapace of Ectodemites pinguis (Ulrich and Bassler, 1906) from the Florena, which I had temporarily stored in a small black plastic tray (the lid of a micromount box) on my desktop. Unfortunately, when I went to retrieve it for photography, it had simply disappeared -- even though I thought it to be well covered! Now it's fodder for the vacuum cleaner, one of the hazards of microfossil collecting................!
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In 1958, Louis S. Kornicker and John Imbrie wrote a brief paper on the holothurian sclerites of the Florena Shale in which they described four species. I have found 3 specimens of one of these, Microantyx permiana Kornicker and Imbrie, 1958. Two of these specimens were badly broken, but one is in fair condition. The sclerites are wheel-shaped with short spokes, and the openings between the spokes are roughly triangular. In this dorsal view we can see a distinctive trait of this taxon: the central area has four deep depressions. (The upper one in this view is largely filled with matrix, unfortunately.) The dorsal surface is virtually flat. Individual specimens are typically very close to circular, but this one seems to have a marginal chip that disturbs the symmetry. The ventral surface is slightly cup-shaped, the marginal rim being raised above the level of the spokes. The central area is more strongly raised, producing a central, conical hub. The diameter of Kornicker and Imbrie's specimens ranged from 0.17 - 0.27 mm., the average being 0.23 mm. This specimen is thus somewhat larger than any of theirs. Kornicker, Louis S., and John Imbrie, 1958, "Holothurian Sclerites from the Florena Shale (Permian) of Kansas," Micropaleontology, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 93-96, pl. 1.
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I've never seen anything similar to this in my hunts over a number of years. I expect someone here can tell me pretty quickly, though. Wabaunsee Group, Late Pennsylvanian, Kansas.
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Had this about a year probably will never know the species but figured I would post it and see. My girlfriend was the one to find this and had to clean the chalk off of it to even recognize it as a tail. Anyone know? Cretaceous fish from the inland sea of western kansas. Thanks
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Found this on the Arkansas river in kansas its thin and does not float in water. Was thinking some find of fossil all antler piece? I know mammoth parts have been found in the river and also cretaceous fossils as well any help would me great
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In this entry I would like to show two of the commonest Foraminifera from my sample of the Florena Shale. The most common forams by far are the fusulinids, but as these are not identifiable without thin sections, they will have to wait until I'm equipped to deal with them. Excepting the fusulinids, the commonest foram is Globivalvulina bulloides (Brady, 1876): This taxon has an enrolled biserial structure, and in spiral view it typically exhibits one large and two smaller chambers, the sutures between them forming a rough T-shape. In the umbilical view the triangular projection into the umbilical area is characteristic. The many specimens show several different growth stages, but all are easily identifiable. The second most common non-fusulinid is Tetrataxis corona Cushman and Waters, 1928: This taxon is looks much like a Chinese straw hat: a very low cone, with a concave umbilical area. Chambers are added marginally, typically four per whorl, hence the generic name. Specimens vary greatly in size, representing various growth stages. The larger ones very frequently exhibit chipped or broken edges, probably due to postmortem damage.
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I recently received some samples of washed residues from various shales and marls noted for their microfossil content. One of the best of these is from southern Kansas, of Permian (Wolfcampian) age, from the Council Grove Group, Beattie Limestone Formation, Florena Shale Member. The sample is amazingly rich, and I have recovered numerous species of Foraminifera and Ostracoda, as well as many nice bryozoan fragments. In this blog entry I would like to show one of the more interesting microfossils that the Florena Shale is particularly noted for: the oogonia of charophytes, members of the algal family Characeae, commonly known as Stoneworts. These large green algae live in relatively shallow, fresh to brackish waters -- although the tiny oogonia can easily wash down streams to the sea, where they will settle to the bottom in quiet, shallow areas. (An excellent example is provided by The Fleet, a brackish lagoon on the southern coast of Dorset, England, where charophyte oogonia are abundant in bottom samples.) Charophytes have been around for a long time, the earliest known oogonia coming from Devonian shales. This is a relatively large specimen from the Florena Shale, very typical in appearance. The plants are called Stoneworts because they slowly secrete calcium carbonate, which eventually coats the leaves and stems, and particularly the reproductive products, the oogonia. These are quite small, roughly egg-shaped, with a prominent spiral structure due to the shape of strip-like cells which grow to encase the delicate reproductive cells. These strip-like cells vary in number, a valuable taxonomic trait. This taxon, Catillochara moreyi (Peck, 1934), like all late Paleozoic forms, has five spirals. (To count them, one needs to look at the specimen in end view, where the strip-like cells converge to a point, or small pit -- depending on which end one looks at. On this specimen the point is to the right.) Whole specimens like this one are typically white, because we are looking at a relatively thick outer coating of calcium carbonate. Interestingly, the spiral-forming strips are coal black, and are usually well-preserved inside the outer coating. This smaller specimen is broken, and the black spiral "egg case" beneath is readily apparent. Holocene specimens from The Fleet look exactly the same when broken, or when the outer coating has yet to develop. In further entries to this blog I will show off a few of the more interesting ostracodes and forams.
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We went hunting by a cliffside here in Manhattan, KS and picked up this chunk of Permian hash that had washed out and was partly covered in mud. The matrix looks similar to an earlier find from that location. I cleaned it up a bit, but I'm not sure what this wedge-shaped thing in the second photo is. Scale in first photo is in inches.
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While driving from Topeka to Manhattan on the I-70 this week, we stopped at exit 316 (Deep Creek Rd) to look at exposed cliffs on the roadside north of I-70 there (Mineral Springs Rd). Immediately off the westbound exit ramp, we discovered a large parking lot surrounded by several enormous piles of rock. There were a huge variety of different fossil-bearing shales and limestones in them and the nearby cliffs, including some small but extremely rich pieces. One of them has a lot of crinoid bits and some kind of long, thin pieces, along with a major inclusion I can't identify. You can see it on the bottom left in the first photo. It's triangular and rounded and appears to be symmetrical, with a faint pattern on the surface of the central part. There appear to be two triangular indentations or openings on both sides of the central part. One small slit is visible on the exposed right side, it doesn't run all the way down. The general shape reminds me of a trilobite head but it doesn't have eye bumps and seems to be all one piece. I haven't been able to find anything that looks like this. Also, what are the long, thin fragments?
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We moved to Manhattan, Kansas two years ago but I never tried looking for fossils in the area until last week. This is in the Flint Hills area so lots of Permian shale and limestone everywhere. We visited a 20-foot cliff behind the Manhattan Aquarium Co building at the southeast edge of town, and picked up a lot of loose sheets and blocks of bearing lots of fusinilids and brachiopods. We found an interesting chunk resting halfway up the cliff with large curved pieces which I was pretty excited about since it looks like bone at a glance, but they might be bryozoan colonies since they're too evenly covered in tiny pores (we did find clam shells that had similar colonies on their surface but it was patchier). There's a small object (shown first by the quarter) in the same matrix almost completely exposed. It looks symmetrical along a center axis but has a strange indentation in the middle, with the sides actually folded in and what appear to be seams. It seems too complex to be a brachiopod shell. A nice find from lower down was an extremely rich matrix with a lot of shells, fusilinids, and crinoid bits. There's a dark object near the corner that looks like part of a trilobite? There's another object in this I can't identify, shown in the last two photos above the Y-shaped bryozoan piece. It consists of a straight stick with regularly spaced branches or openings on both sides. It could be a cross section of a spiral but I would expect the sides to be offset from each other more. I'm not sure if it's attached to the flat piece at one end.
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TFF, Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to find (what I consider) a tremendous tooth specimen in Gove County, KS. Unfortunately, plant roots got to the tip of it before I could and because I was a space case and didn't bring superglue, the tip and about 10 other pieces connecting the body to the tip fell away when I excavated it. It's relatively long and straight over its length and it appeared to be separated from the rest of the remains. I tried navigating the Oceans of Kansas site for researching what it belonged to. My first guess is Tylosaurus but I could be completely wrong. Forgive me for not being more educated in Mosasaurs. Does anybody have suggestions for the ID? I just finished trying to reconstruct it myself but my star bond bottle decided it wouldn't seal and now my hands are covered in superglue. I've decided to come to the forum to see if there are any experts out there willing to do a clean and repair job on my tooth. No, it's probably not valuable, but it holds significant sentimental value since this is my first tooth find. I think i gathered all the major pieces to do the job but I feel under-equipped and do not feel like I have the experience to be able to put it back together. Before successfully gluing myself, I was able to put some much-needed glue down on the broken surfaces of the tooth and the tip of the tooth. Now, I think it's stable enough to be shipped if necessary. It'll come with 10 coin envelopes for the connecting pieces. Any help or or suggestions for who may be the best person to contact would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
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Anyone know of any area's near Kansas University ??
Twinlukers posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello I'm heading to Kansas for a father son weekend at his campus. (Jayhawks) Lawrence Kansas. i was curious if anyone has any areas of interest for trilobites? I'm doing some research but not much luck so I'm hoping someone here knows if some areas? We are going to hunt lake texoma on our way back and maybe NSR.. But if we can find some areas near 35 on our way back it would be great.. thanks everyone.. -
TFF, After about 10 months, I am finally scheduling myself to make another trip to western Kansas next week - 8/27-8/30. I am conducting field work for my master's thesis which focuses on outcrop modeling and interpretation of Niobrara fracture systems using a drone. I feel fortunate that one of my field areas is famous for its abundance of preserved Cretaceous fauna. While I'm out there, I figured I would try to make an effort to visit some well-known fossil localities that have public access or find private landowners that are also enthusiastic about fossils. Previously, I was lucky enough to find a near-complete Cimolichthyes jaw and some other large fish vertebrae. I know I can re-visit that same site in an effort to find other fossils but I thought I would reach out to Kansas veterans to see if anyone else has suggestions of locations to visit. From reading some of the other threads, it sounds like Castle Rock is a fairly popular destination for public hunting, but I have a feeling after all these decades that there might be other spots that have been less picked-over. I'm looking to find anything and everything but would especially like to find a few teeth. I have relatively little diversity in my current fossil collection. Thanks in advance for your help and guidance!
