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Showing results for tags 'Spirifer'.
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I'm not a brachiopod specialist by any means but have gradually acquired quite a few Carboniferous ones, both found and bought, and I'd like to start a thread for some of the more interesting (IMO) specimens that have hooked me into trying to learn more. The IDs are often traditional so I'd welcome any input from more knowledgeable folk such as Adam @Tidgy's Dad. As usual, detailed information is scattered around many journals. I'll start with a pair of Spirifer striatus recently acquired from an old collection. It's notable for its size, these being typical. The second partial specimen shows a crystal covered brachidium, rather broken up before mineralisation. Mississippian, probably Asbian Stage, Derbyshire, England The species is an old but valid one, Martin (1793), and these are from the same area as his type specimens. (There's a similarly large US species, S.logani, that I've been shown from the Keokuk Limestone of Missouri. I couldn't find any on the forum though.) specimen 2, with brachidium
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Hello all, Looking for help with this. Grew up in Albany NY and trekked the Heldeberg's often as a kid. Came across a chunk of fossil rich material at one of my favorite hiking spots. I know it's a Spirifer but cannot pinpoint the species. Does not fit the local fossil ID material exactly. I know it's common because a have a chunk of rock full of them. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Rich
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From the album: Mahantango Formation
Mediospirifer with visible brachidium Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania- 3 comments
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Hello all, I noticed something unusual when cleaning this rather large brachiopod steinkern. Frankly I am stumped: what do you guys think? Found in Perry County, Pennsylvania. Mahantango formation. Middle Devonian.
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Fossil hunting trip to Hotton (Devonian of Belgium)
ziggycardon posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hi everyone! Last saturday we went on a fossil hunting trip with the BVP to Hotton in the Belgian Ardennes. https://www.paleontica.org/locations/fossil/667 There were 2 different locations planned for the day, the first was the "Carrière de Marenne" quarry in Hotton were we spent most of the day. It was my first time at this location, so I didn't have very high expectations but we were very pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the finds which made for a very productive and succesfull trip! Unfortunately like so often I forgot to make pictures inside the quarry... So it will mainly be a report of the finds rather than the excavation. The age of the layers date back to the Givetian stage of the middle Devonian which lasted from 388 million years ago to 383 million years ago. There were 3 spots inside the quarry were we searched for fossils. We started on the east side of the quarry where we found some weathered corals, a bivalve and some bryozoans. One of our friends was very lucky when they found a fragment of Placoderm bone.. the 2nd spot we searched was still on the east side of the Quarry but this time near the big rock outcrop which devides the quarry in two pieces. Here we all hit gold as this was a large area where it was full with weathered fossils in great condition ready to be picked up! No need for hammers here, just grabbing which was laying on the ground as it was littered with corals en brachiopods. We almost collected a bucket full from this area alone. The 3rd spot was the west side of the quarry which was divided in multiple levels. I mainly searched in a large rock pile with some others as it seems these were the remains of an ancient coral bank. We found many large corals here like Hexagonaria and Favosites as well as some nice mineral specimens to much delight of my girlfriend. Someone did do the find of the day here when he found 2 extremely large Stringocephalus brachiopods. I also went with Tom, our group leader to prospect the rest of the quarry but beside some corals I didn't find much more things of interest. At the end of the trip we were given some nice mineral specimens by Tom who found some on the lowest level of the quarry which we didn't visit ourselves. Here the only photo I made inside the quarry, were my girlfriend was building a rock fortress. (Everyone was on a one hour break due to the early summer heat) And here are our finds from inside the quarry: A large Hexagonaria sp. coral which we managed the haul home, one of the perks when you bring a wheelbarrow to a quarry! Another nice Hexagonaria sp. coral And our 3rd large piece of Hexagonaria sp. coral One of the Favosites sp. corals we brought home. Another Favosites coral An our chuncky Favosites coral A weathered Hexagonaria coral. A bivalve we found early at the beginning of the search.
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The thread http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/84678-adams-silurian/ was getting rather enormous, so I have decided to leave that one to deal with the Llandovery and Wenlock and put my specimens from the Late / Upper Silurian here, though I don't have a great deal of material from the Ludlow and Pridoli yet. However, I do still have some jolly nice specimens to show off here. Here are my other collection threads for the Cambrian and Ordovician ; http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/78887-adams-cambrian/&tab=comments#comment-832018 and : http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/78974-adams-ordovician/&tab=comments#comment-832912 In the mid 1980's, on the way home from one of my annual visits to the Hay-on-Wye second-hand bookshops, I managed to persuade my girlfriend at the time to take a bit of a detour and stop off at a roadcuttting just outside Aymestrey,, Herefordshire in the Welsh Borderlands. The rock here is the Aymestry (sic) Limestone Formation, part of the Upper Bringewood Beds and is Gorstian, Lower Ludlow in age, so about 426 mya and a little younger than the Much Wenlock Shale Formation. Many species of coral, trilobites and brachiopods found in the formation are the same as those found at Dudley, but the bed is noted for its massive numbers of the brachiopod Kirkidium knighti (was K. knightii),a lovely, large pentamerid. In fact, during my hour or so searching, I found almost nothing but this species, the only exception being a couple of Atrypa reticularis. The problem was that this limestone is thick and seriously hard, even the broken bits are generally huge, but I managed to obtain half a dozen reasonable specimens and about the same number of fragments. Over the years I have traded, given away or sold them, so that now I only have the best one left. Here is Kirkidium knighti : It's a shame the tip of the beak is broken off : I make index cards for all my fossils, this is the one I made for the specimens at the time, back in the mid 1980's : And today's version : There was a minor extinction between the Wenlock and the Ludlow, known as the Mulde event and it is often said to have primarily effected graptolites and conodonts, but it seems to me it had a massive impact on the bryozoan faunas of the time too. Gone are the varied stony stick and mound trepostomes that made up such an integral part of many faunas from the Middle Ordovician through to the Middle Silurian and even cystoporid groups such as the Constellariidae became extinct at this time. Trepostomes and cystoporids did survive until the end of the Triassic, but were never as important again, the bryozoan faunas would start to become dominated by fenestrids in the Devonian, though they reached their peak of diversity and distribution in the Carboniferous. I will look closely at my limited number of rocks, but I don't think I have a single Late Silurian bryozoan. I know our friend @Mainefossils studies the Late Silurian Leighton Formation in microscopic detail, but I can't recall him posting any bryozoans. Are there any, Asher, old chap? Interesting.
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Have some Mid Devonian brachiopod or bivalve shells that I am not sure about, tried to do some research on my own on what I found. Hoping to get some ID confirmation or help here. Greatly appreciate the help. 7 pictures below: 1. Bivalve Shell? Moscow Formation I believe 2. Brachiopod Shell, never found another like this one? Windom Shale from Livingston Co. Wondering the difference between these two spirifers: 3. 4. 5. Rhipidomella? 6. or is this Rhipidomella? 7. Bonus, cephalopod? gastropod?
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11 Sep 2021: Mississippian brachiopods at Crystal Lake, MT
kehaz posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
The weather was promising, the husband wanted a good place to hike, and the dog had cabin fever. So I loaded them, along with my gear, into the truck and drove down to Crystal Lake to hunt around in the Madison limestone while the husband and the dog went for a romp in the Big Snowy Mountains. On the dirt road to the area, we drove past a mama black bear and her cub, hanging out only about 30 feet from the road. To avoid aggravating either, we didn't slow down to take pictures, but my husband was pretty "bear"-anoid about running into them again Well, the mountains weren't snowy and the lake wasn't much of a lake, but the weather was great and the shoreline looked promising, so I set off to start combing through the countless dead snail shells to find myself some brachiopods. Most of the shoreline was water-worn limestone chunks, but the outcrops of layered stone jutting from the shore harbored some wonderful fossils. My first find of the day! Can you spot it? After my first little brach, I started seeing a lot of crinoid and coral hash plates. This plate was several feet across and still half-buried. I had been finding some nice little brachiopods that I suspected were some sort of spirifer, and decided to start splitting some limestone to see what else I might be able to find. After a few hours, the husband and dog came back and started smothering me with their boredom. So, in an attempt to appease them, and perhaps scout out another good spot or two, we started off on the trail that circled the lake. There wasn't much in the way of good exposures, but the dog ran most of her energy out on the little trail. We picked along the opposite shore on the way back to the truck, finding a few more small brachs and crinoid bits, but I didn't want to go home yet. I talked my husband into letting me stop at a few roadcuts on the way back to the highway, and he agreed as long as he could nap in the truck while I hunted. Perfect: now I don't have to entertain him. The dog was pretty pooped out too, so it was a nice stress-free hunt-and-peck down Crystal Lake Road. Until my angry bowels could not hold out any longer. We swung over to Cascade Falls Trailhead to use the outhouse, and there was a tiny little exposure near the parking area of the trailhead. I couldn't help it. I had to check it out. A whitetail doe hanging out on the right side of the hill played peek-a-boo with me as I scoured the well-split limestone. My last find of the day is probably my most favorite. After researching these a bit more, I believe these are a type of Cyrtospirifer, lower Mississippian and common in this area. I believe that there are at least two different species present in this plate and need to do some more research to find the species of each. I believe I found the impression of a Schizophoria on this piece. Bryozoa? I have a fair bit of homework to do, and as always, I am extremely happy with my finds. Thanks for stopping by; have a great day!
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Greetings! I went on a quick (~60 minute) hunt today on the Iowa River in Iowa City, Iowa. The rocks there are from the Coralville Group of the Cedar Valley Formation (Devonian), mostly limestone and dolomite. I hope to post a brief summary in the Trips forum soon. I didn't find much, but one thing I did get is a large spirifer of some sort. I'm excited about it because it contains both valves, with pretty good preservation of the entire ventral valve and good preservation of one "wing" of the dorsal valve. It measures about 10 cm from tip to tip (sounds better than from cardinal extremity to cardinal extremity). Any ideas on the species? Ventral valve: Beak: Dorsal valve (the right side isn't as well preserved as the rest of the specimen): Thanks for your help!, Tom
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This is a little prospaction day that we have done a month ago. The original thought was to go to Barveaux in the Ardennes, a site renowned for its spirifers and prospect other locations. The first stop was the area of Barveaux itself, but everything was overgrown and hard to access, so we didn't find anything here. We then hit the road to the south and prospected a few outcrops without a lot of success. After a while we passed Marche en Famenne,. Nearby was a industrial area where in the past I've found lots of spiriferids on construction sites, so we decided to give it a go. When we got there no new construction projects were going on, but a large area was leveled for future building projects. Although a little overgrown, the whole area was accessible and slate was all over the area. It didn't take long before we found the first spirifers. Apparently this site hasn't been prospected in a while, the whole area proved to be littered with spiriferids, although most of the time weathered. After an hour or two we had filled a bucket with them. After this we were heading home, meanwhile keeping an eye out to outcrops or building sites. We did find another small piece of land ready for construction and full of slate. Not a lot was to be found here except an odd round shaped nodule that got my attention. I got it out of the ground and after cleaning it up there were septa visible at the back. The nodule turned out to be a fragment of a large cephalopod, a great way to end the day of prospection. the Cephalopod fragment:
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Spiriferid brachiopod from the Kalkberg Formation
Nautiloid posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Lower Devonian Helderberg Group in Eastern NY
Howellella cycloptera Lower Devonian Helderberg Gr. Kalkberg Fm. Rickard Hill Roadcut Schoharie, New York Collected 5/31/20 -
The Pinal Geology Museum (pinalgeologymuseum.org) in Coolidge Arizona has a fossil collection that it would like to donate to a college, university, or museum. There are over 1000 specimens, they are all cataloged and each one has an index card. Most of the samples are small just a few inches in size with a few larger ones. There are mainly brachiopods and corals, but I have not looked carefully at the collection which is in storage. This collection was mader by a collector over a 70 year time period and it was donated to our museum by his family when he passed away. The whole collection would not need to be kept by the recipient, but it is hoped most could be with the collectors name attached to it in recognition of his efforts to put it together.
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From the album: Arkona
Typical spirifer litter from the Arkona Fm. They tend to be very fragile, so it is more common to find them in this state. -
Hey everyone, Here is one of my first fossils. My grandparents bought it for me quite a few years ago. The only info I have is this: Spirifer (no species?), found in the Holte de Bison (Belgium). I never heard of that location, and there are no results whatsoever about that location on Google... Do you know what species it is? And maybe you have an idea of where it could have been found (+ age)? Best regards, Max
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From the album: Some Highlights from the PD weekend
Mostly Mediosprifier with maybe the odd Mucrospirifer. Largest ones I've encountered compared to Arkona. -
The park has trails, outcrops and loose material. These from an outcrop under the power lines. ID's on a "looks like" basis. Gordon Grammysioidea alveata These G. alveata rather common but specimens are worn or don't remain intact. Paracyclas rugosa Mucrospirifer mucronatus Spinocyrtia granulosa
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From the album: Carboniferous Fossils from Lawrence County, Missouri
Burlington-Keokuk Formation Osagean Series, Lower Viséan (presumed) Lawrence County near Greene County border, Missouri, USA -
From the album: Carboniferous Fossils from Lawrence County, Missouri
Burlington-Keokuk Formation Osagean Series, Lower Viséan (presumed) Lawrence County near Greene County border, Missouri, USA -
From the album: Carboniferous Fossils from Lawrence County, Missouri
Burlington-Keokuk Formation Osagean Series, Lower Viséan (presumed) Lawrence County near Greene County border, Missouri, USA -
December field trip to the Ardennes (Belgian Devonian deposits)
Manticocerasman posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
New fieldtrip to the late and mid Devonian in the Ardennes from Belgium. This weekend I went with my friend Anthonie to a last minute field trip. The weather forecast were promising for that Sunday: gray but dry and decent temperatures so this was a possibility to make a last fieldtrip for this year. So Sunday morning I woke up early to leave for the fieldtrip… of course when I looked outside it was pouring. Still, hoping it could only get better I took the highway to Brussels, picked up my friend and we went to the direction of Marche en Famene for our first stop. It took us a one and a half hour drive in the rain to get there. Luckily the sky got a little less gray and the rain ended. We got to our first stop, a large construction site for a new industrial site. I went there before with my daughter with great success and I wanted to inspect the spot more closely. The huge construction pits exposed late Devonian schists (Frasnian), those deposits are well known to amateur collectors and can deliver a large quantity of spiriferid brachiopods, sometimes of very large dimensions. We spent almost 2 hours on the site, the bulldozers had done a great job clearing everything and we just had to pick up the brachiopods laying around everywhere. It was easy to fill up our bags and we only prospected a small part of the site. Apart from the huge amount of Spirifers, from which a few of them where around 3” we also found solitary corals, and a pair of gastropods. (probably Euomphalus sp.) We then took a quick lunch and headed to a new location a few miles further to a Quarry with mid. Devonian deposits (Givetian) This was the first time we prospected this site, so it took us a while before we could find a few decent fossils. The first ones we found were multiple large colonial corals and stromatolites, giving us a clue about this ancient reef and lagoon system. Most of those where too large to carry around, so we took a few pictures and we continued the prospection. In most parts of the quarry we found other large corals, but when we got to a scree we found multiple small solitary and colonial corals. We inspected this more closely an discovered lots of nice small fossils including a variety of very beautifully preserved brachiopods. After further prospection we went back to the car, making sure to pass by the first spot with the large corals. Where we each took a large specimen back to the car. We had still a little time on our hands and went to a 3rd location, an old quarry. When we got to this spot we were surprised to see that they started to fill up the location with debris. On the positive side the debris where mostly schists from a construction site. And again delivered a few nice spiriferid brachiopods, although very few in numbers. I think another group of collectors must have been screening those debris before us, a large amount of footprints where all around the place. We went to the back of the quarry to take a few extra pictures before heading back home. here I heard small pebbles falling from the cliff at the end of the quarry. We then saw quite a spectacular sight: a fox went down the cliff at an incredible speed, I thought he was stuck and would fell off, but halfway the cliff he went into a hole in the wall. Probably his den. We went closer to get a better sight but we made a new but gruesome discovery. A large dog lay dead at the bottom of the quarry. he probably fell of the cliff and it was not far of the den, so maybe this happened due to the dog chasing the fox. We took a picture of the collar, It had a cellphone number on it. We later contacted the owner to let him know what had happened to his dog. He was sad to hear the news, the dog was missing for two weeks after a hunting party, so this only confirmed our suspicions with the fox. After this incident we got back to the car and headed back home ( again raining during the whole trip) Although the day ended on a sad tone for the dog we did get a lot of great looking fossils. Il post updates of the finds after their first cleanup. Enjoy the pictures: Kevin 1st location: Late Devonian schists Looks like Santa came early this year: 2nd location: Mid Devonian reef deposits: 3rd location: note the piles of schists dumped in the quarry: Thanks to PaleoTony for the pictures. -
From the album: Mississippian Fossils from Northwest Arkansas
Spirifer Brachiopod Mississippian Bentonville, Arkansas© ssx
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From the album: Mississippian Fossils from Northwest Arkansas
Spirifer Brachiopod Mississippian Bentonville, Arkansas© ssx
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From the album: Mississippian Fossils from Northwest Arkansas
Spirifer Brachiopod Mississippian Bentonville, Arkansas© ssx
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From the album: Mississippian Fossils from Northwest Arkansas
Spirifer Brachiopod Mississippian Bentonville, Arkansas© ssx
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A few years ago I went collecting at my favorite fossil site here in NY. When I got to the main outcrop I soon noticed that there was a large pile of shale the fell away from the cliff. At first glance there were no fossils to be seen until I started splitting the larger pieces of shale. The only fossils I found were well preserved Eldredgeops and nothing else. In fact I found eight complete trilobites in this pile and it took me all day to process everything. After that I tried to repeat my first run at this layer but always come up with very meager results (partial Eldredgeops). Occasionally I would find a pyritized cephalopod but I'm not even sure that I'm collecting in the same horizon I found the trilobites in. Last week I went back to this locality after a gully washer cleaned the stream and exposed fresh shale. I was able to get at a large piece of shale from the trilobite layer. Splitting and splitting came up with nothing until I found a large pyrite cluster. Inside the pyrite were two large (3" x 2") spirifers that I thought were Mediospirifer. I told a friend about my find because it was the first time I have ever found brachiopods in this barren part of the Windom shale. He told me that they might be something else other then Mediospirifer like Spirifer marcyi. The Delthyrium is wider then Mediospirifer but I'm not a brachiopod expert so I would like to know what you think. Mikey
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