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Spent Sunday with two Forum friends on a dig at the south pit of Arkona. My focus was on the Hungry Hollow Member. We didn't come away with any showstoppers, but it was a nice, sunny day and not too hot. We saw a deer and her fawn, dragonflies with either a bright blue or green metallic sheen, biting deer flies, and wild raspberry plants ripe for picking. Spent this morning doing some preliminary cleanup abrasion of my finds. Fresh HH stuff from the layer tends to be pretty mucky, and it takes careful examination not to miss something good as it is really hard to make out detail. And then, when you take it home, that muck has dried and you wonder "why did I take this chunk of dirty rock home again?" A selection of some of the stuff now that I've done some abrasion:

As usual I had the urge to go fossil hunting this weekend so I decided to take a trip to Arkona and have a relaxing day of surface collecting. It was calling for rain all week but turned out to be a nice day (aside from the brutal heat and swarming deer flies). Things were looking a little different this year. Spring hit this roadway to one of the pits pretty hard. Critters everywhere so you have to watch your step. There were loads of tiny toads that must have just grown up and left the water. Also found this poor strawberry plant struggling on top of a hill in poor soil but somehow managed to fruit And now for the fossils... I didn't have any luck finding the blastoid or crinoid I was after but I did take a few things home. Some corals Aulocystis ramosa, Platyaxum frondosum Favosites sp. A brach species I didnt have yet and a large Callipleura Nucleospira concinna, Callipleura nobilis An interesting bryozoan and a cluster of tube worms unknown bryozoan, Spirorbis sp. Gastropods Platyceras bucculentum, Naticonema lineata Possible arthropod trackway? And a new trilo species for me. Beaten up but I'll take it. The cephalon+partial thorax look like Basidechenella Pseudodechenella arkonensis. The pygidium looks like Crassiproetus crassimarginatus (top one was found last year).

Found the teeth today at Hungry Hollow. In decades of fossil hunting in the area, I have never seen evidence of sharks. The teeth seem modern and could have been left there. The stratum is Devonian based upon my simple understanding. Did sharks coexist with the coral, brachiopods, crinoids and occasional trilobite that are commonly found here?

Hello everyone! Viola and I spent about 2.5 hours in Hungry Hollow's South Pit (mid-Devonian in age) yesterday afternoon. The weather was actually the most pleasant it has ever been for us at this location, but it was so mucky from recent heavy rains that we couldn't explore the whole pit for fear of getting stuck. We did, however, come away with some nice finds. Most notably, it was my best day for finding the small pyritized goniatite Tornoceras - I collected 9, which is more than the sum total of what I've found in all of my visits prior to yesterday!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures Monica Two photos of the pit: Two photos of Viola collecting/playing in the mud: More to follow...

[WARNING: As is my custom, this trip report is exceedingly long, verbosely worded, and copiously illustrated with photos.] (It may be a good idea to find a comfy chair and grab a drink and some popcorn.) Since Tammy's retirement earlier this year, we've been busier than ever. We finally made it to Iceland this summer and saw dozens (if not literally hundreds) of waterfalls in that geologically interesting country. While talking about waterfalls ("fossar" in Icelandic), Tammy had realized that I had somehow not yet seen Niagara Falls. Tammy did not do a lot of vacation traveling when she was younger but had visited Niagara several times in her youth. She decided it was high time I experienced the power of Niagara. It could have been a simple trip--a flight up to Buffalo, a day out on a boat getting drenched at the base of the falls, and home again with little more than a long weekend invested. Somehow though, I have a remarkable knack for constructing enormously detailed travel itineraries--and this trip was no exception. Our anniversary month is October and so with the prospect of some multi-chromatic autumn foliar displays we decided that we'd plan a roadtrip that included Niagara Falls as its underlying motivation. It didn't take me long to realize that there are a lot of great TFF members up in the New York and Ontario area. Additionally, some members from the Virginia/Maryland area suggested meeting up during our last roadtrip through the Carolinas but that trip was already lengthy and involved. Perhaps, I could combine visits with a number of TFF members along the way and do a roadtrip down the Eastern Seaboard? As I started contacting prospective members to get the idea kickstarted, the starting point of our trip changed and we tacked on several extra days to the start of our trip. My brother and his wife had just bought a new house in the north side of Chicago. He decided that since all of the family holidays (Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas) were already claimed by other family members that he would start the tradition of Oktoberfest at their house--first Saturday of October. The itinerary for our trip was still in its early stages so we were easily able to incorporate a trip up to Chicago and link it to the start of our roadtrip. We considered flying from Chicago to Buffalo and picking the rental car there but the cheaper airfares were (not surprisingly) at rather inconvenient times (who wants to check into a hotel in the wee hours of the morning?) but an alternative soon presented itself. Since one of the places we'd hoped to visit along the way was the Devonian Hungry Hollow site in Arkona, ON, we'd have to backtrack west if we started in Buffalo but it would be conveniently along the route if we simply picked up the rental car in Chicago and started the roadtrip from there. This also allowed us the opportunity of visiting the small town of La Porte, Indiana where Tammy lived at one time. Things were falling into place. Of course, that is not to imply that my roadtrips are in any way quickly improvised--I think I spend as much time planning them as I do driving them. Starting the trip in Chicago allowed us both to visit family and work our way through all of our favorite food groups (authentic Chinese, Indian, Middle-eastern, and deep-dish pizza ) before gorging ourselves on lots of tasty German food and Oktoberfest-themed adult beverages at my brother's new place. Finally, we were ready to start rolling some miles (and kilometers) onto our trip odometer and we picked up the rental car and got underway. We planned on making London, ON for our first night and since it turns out it is only a mere 6 or so hours driving from Chicago, we had a bit of time to drive through La Port. It had been nearly 40 years since Tammy lived there and (as expected) much of the area was barely recognizable and not much as she'd remembered it. There were a few landmarks still in place and it didn't take us long to find the house her parents owned in town. The main floor was the Chinese restaurant they owned and the second floor above is where they lived. It's always interesting indulging some nostalgia and visiting places from the past. After a bit of driving around town we picked up the highway and in time crossed the border into Canada at Port Huron. We got to bed late that night but we had one of the longer driving days behind us already. On the road again--and a stop at a childhood home in La Porte.

Hi all! While I was looking through some of my fossils, I came across the specimen below, and I think it's a new little coral for me! Does anyone have an idea as to its identity? It appears to be a tabulate coral, but if anyone could let me know its genus and species then I'd be much obliged! It's from Hungry Hollow near Arkona, Ontario, Canada (mid-Devonian in age). Thanks in advance for your help! Monica

Hello everyone! This past Saturday, July 28, 2018, Victoria @VTinNorthAB and I met up with our families in Arkona, Ontario in order to do a little fossil-hunting together. It was a wonderful day - it was warm with a mix of sun and clouds and we all came away with some great finds! Please enjoy the photos below! Viola (my 7-year-old daughter) and Aviva (Victoria's 7-year-old daughter) in front of the falls at Rock Glen Viola and Aviva climbing a wall of Hungry Hollow's South Pit, searching for button corals and other goodies Adina (Victoria's 4-year-old daughter - it was her birthday!) and Aviva climbing the same wall - Adina was a trooper! Adina and Aviva posing for a picture post-climb Victoria fossil-hunting high up in the South Pit More to come...

Hello there! I was able to visit Hungry Hollow's South Pit (near Arkona, Ontario, Canada - age is mid-Devonian) yesterday - boy was it hot!!! Viola and I spent three hours surface-collecting before we decided to call it quits and head to our air-conditioned car. We found our usual stuff, but I'd like your input on the following two items: Item #1 front and back: a type of Favosites coral - perhaps placenta? It's a lot flatter than my other Favosites finds, and you can even see what I think are some crinoid holdfasts on top, and an echinoderm plate (perhaps from a crinoid calyx?) on the back!!! Item #2 front and back: I have NO idea whatsoever!!! It's smooth, and I can't see evidence of holes/pores, but it is kind of hilly - what do you think? Thanks in advance for your help!!! Monica

Found in Arkona Ontario a couple weeks ago Devonian age Widder formation 38mm/1.5" across

First off, I apologize for the poor image quality... The pictures were taken quickly with my phone camera through a microscope. If anyone is interested I'll get out a proper camera later and try again. I found this while searching some Widder formation matrix collected in Arkona ontario. It is roughly 1 mm across. I am fairly certain the tooth belonged to a Xenacanth. Has anyone found these in the area before or did it migrate from somewhere else? Note: the tooth is smooth. The serrated look is caused by pixels in #2

Found in Arkona, Ontario Age: Devonian Size: about 18 mm/0.75 inches Any ideas?

All specimens come from the Devonian aged Arkona formation. 1. Echinoderm, possibly a blastoid Tried taking another pic...still not quite sharp 2. Unknown, possibly bryozoans (remainds me a bit of Evactinopora) 3. Unknown, probably the inner structure of ostracods With these being the outer shell: 4. I posted these about a month ago but I don't think we figured it out. Now I am pretty sure they are scaphopods.

While spending too much time and money at Princess Auto (Canadian version of Harbor Freight), I had picked up a rotary tool to remove some tool marks from a few prepped pieces, as air abrasion seems to take a bit longer. Before I set about doing that in earnest, I thought I may as well do another probing exploration of a shale slab from the Widder Formation from Arkona that has been quite kind to me. This was a piece I had entered in last October's FOTM, but I may as well show the slab's history... The first is how I found it during a trip to Arkona back in October with @Malcolmt, @Shamalama (who got the real winning find of the day with his Eldredgeops iowensis southworthi roller!) and @crinus

So My missus drove me out to Arkona for one last stab at Arkona for 2017. It was cold, but I had to get out and play for one last time. This pic shows the south pit in the morning. A lot was under ice. As I was walking to an already existing bench, this was by my foot. One of many orphaned coral "pies."