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Hello, I would like to ask, if somebody has seen such rudist traverse sections somewhere else (first und second post). Compared to the other four, abundant species (third post, for comparison), these three types are rare in the St. Bartholomä-formation and these are all that I have. Both apical and adapical views of this rare ones are shown, if possible. Some of them I have already posted on TFF, but here they are all together. They are all from the Campian St. Bartholomä-formation in Styria, Austria (Gosau-group, Eastern Alps). The specimens labeled Vaccinites cf. sulcatus come very close to them I have seen in the literature. The "names" Hippurites cf. nabresinensis and Hippurites cf. colliciatus are not much more than tags, I have not seen something similar in the literature yet. Many thanks for your help and oppinions! Franz Bernhard
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Coral (5) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello, here I am again with a recently (10/14/2018) found coral colony from the Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation in Styria, Austria (Gosau-group). Its very poorly preserved and I have only very little hopes that it is possible to assign a genus to it. I don´t think its an Actinastrea, it seems more like a Barysmilia (according to Baron-Szabo, 2014), but I am really clueless. First pic is a polished part of the specimen. Preservation is very poor. Second pic is the "upper" surface, its strongly worn, only the position of the corallites can be seen, with some occasional septa. The polished area is located at the bottom. Third pic is an oblique side view. The specimen measures about 10 cm in its longest dimension. Worn-down corallites can be found all around the specimen. Thank you very much for your patience, help and opinions! Franz Bernhard
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Rudist hunting (3) in St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria - 10/23/2018
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello, another surface rudist hunt in St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation, Gosau-group). This time not in a creek, just wandering in the forest. Two larger rudists were found, lying on the surface. One for me, with partialy preserved upper valve:
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Half a year of polished rudists from St. Bartholomä
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Member Collections
Hello, just to show off some polished rudists from the Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation, Styria, Austria, collected from March 2018 to September 2018. https://franzbernhard.lima-city.de/Radiolitidae_04bis09_2018.html https://franzbernhard.lima-city.de/Hippurites_04bis09_2018.html https://franzbernhard.lima-city.de/Vaccinites_04bis09_2018.html Enjoy! Ah, and if someone is interested in "Punkt 25" : http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/blogs/entry/341-introduction-to-point-25/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/blogs/entry/342-point-25-what´s-behind-the-red-x/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/blogs/entry/343-point-25-surprise-at-home/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/blogs/entry/344-point-25-summing-up/ Franz Bernhard -
Hi everyone! It would be amazing if any of you could help with identifying some marine microfossils I sieved. The origin is campanian (might be santonian) marine sediments. The location has yielded mosasaurs, fish, and sharks in abundance. But I have a few bone fragments that I have absolutely no clue what they are... Here are some of the mysteries:
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"Point 25" - Summing up
FranzBernhard posted a blog entry in Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
Here are the numbers I promised : From 07/16/2017 to 09/13/2018, about 140 hippuridit rudist specimens were found in the scree slope of "Point 25", the sweetest of all spots in St. Bartholomä. The species distribution is (approximate numbers, with examples): Hippurites colliciatus: 80 (with 140 individuals – many pseudocolonies!) - F, G, H, J Hippurites nabresinensis: 10 - I and possibly K Vaccinites vesiculosus: 25 - A, B Vaccinites alpinus: 10 - C Vaccinites cf. sulcatus: 5 - D, E Vaccinites sp.: 10 (no pillars visible, but to nice to be cut, or partial specimens) Polished traverse sections of hippuritid rudists found at "Point 25" from 01/20/2018 to 03/23/2018: Only hippuritids in this spot? No, during the same period, about 200 radiolitid rudists were also found, giving a total of about 340 rudist specimens from this spot. Thats about 70% of all rudists found in the St. Bartholomä-formation during my hunting and digging trips from 05/07/2017 to 09/13/2018. Ah, and about 10 coral colonies ware also found at "Point 25"... It is difficult to estimate how many rudists are still waiting in the scree there. Judging from - the amount of material already removed and dumped (about 3-4 m3), - the distribution of fossiliferous limestone and other rocks in the scree slope (about 1:2, but highly variable), and - considering the amount of „Knödelbrekzie“ that seems to be missing in the outcrop (and now lying in the scree), I will try to make an estimate of 200 to 500 rudists that are still there to be found. Now I am stopping! Thanks for your patience! Franz Bernhard -
"Point 25" - Surprise at home!
FranzBernhard posted a blog entry in Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
Fine, a very nice rudist - a Hippurites nabresinensis -, one of the longest I have found so far in St. Bartholomä (18 cm). But it came even better! At home, I recognized that I have already seen a quite similar traverse fracture before. Indeed, here it is, with the cleaned traverse fracture of the newly found rudist below. Maximum diameter is about 7.5 cm. The two parts fit together (considering that there are at least 100 years of weathering between them), resulting in the by far tallest rudist found by me in St. Bartholomä up to now, having a total length of about 27 cm. The shorter part was found at 05/20/2018, about 2 m downslope of the second, longer part, in a depth of about 10-20 cm. Note that the longer part has a kink at the upper end. The upper part is also the natural end of this rudist, as some parts of the upper valve are preserved (upper left). I could stop now, but I don´t. Some people may like numbers, so I will present some in the next entry: "Point 25" - Summing up -
"Point 25" - What´s behind the red x??
FranzBernhard posted a blog entry in Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
Now the sandstone slab behind the red x (last photo of the previous entry) has been removed. Can you spot it, just above the pocket knife? Photo taken 09/13/2018. Closer… Closest! There was a large rudist just behind the sandstone slab, lying in a depth of about 40 cm below the surface of the scree slope. Still in situ, only some roots and small stones removed for the photo. Pocket knife is 9 cm long, some tapering of the rudist is clearly visible. Such a nice surprise is very rare, normally the rudists are quite dirty there and you can only recognize a few rips or the typical conical or cylindrical outline. Rudist removed from the scree and photo taken of the uncleaned traverse fracture at the left end in the photo above. The apical view clearly shows two pillars (P1, P2) and a very thick shell, it´s a Hippurites nabresinensis. Photo taken 09/13/2018. Next entry: "Point 25" - Surprise at home! -
Introduction to "Point 25"
FranzBernhard posted a blog entry in Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
For some general information, including some maps, about the Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation in Styria, Austria see: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86433-rudist-hunting-in-st-bartholomä-styria-austria-13072018/ The rudist-bearing St. Bartholomä-formation covers an area of about 3km2. Within this area, there are a few sweet spots, where rudist can be found with some confidence: one of the creeks west of Kalchberg; a pile of rocks west of Kalchberg, collected during centuries from the nearby fields; a small, weathered outcrop along a narrow forest road, also west of Kalchberg; or simply an accumulation of fossiliferous limestone with some rudists in a steep forest east of Kalchberg. But the sweetest spots of all, supplying a continuous flow of rudists, is a scree slope in a small quarry east of Kalchberg - called "Point 25" in my own documentation. The scree slope is located below an outcrop of „Knödelbrekzie“, which is a grain-supported, coarse conglomerate to breccia, exclusive composed of fossiliferous limestone clasts with the occasional rudist, as can be seen in this photo, taken 07/16/2017. The rudist is the cracked, horizontal cylinder-like object in the middle of the photo: The next photo is a frontal view of a part of the quarry. It was operated about 100 years ago for hydraulic marl and is heavily overgrown, in other words, its very dark there and the photos are so-so (as usual). „K“ denotes the exposure of the „Knödelbrekzie“, which was shown in the photo above; below you can see beds of fine grained calcareous sandstone. The „U“ denotes the entry to the underground workings, the entry is largely filled with debris from above. Below the „U“ is the scree slope, consisting of clasts of fossiliferous limestone, sandstone and marl. At the bottom is the „deep hole“, scale bar is 1 m, the red x will appear again. Photo taken 09/13/2018. Lateral view of the quarry. Out of operation since 100 years? It doesn´t seem so. I visited this spot for the first time at 07/16/2017 and two rudists were found instantaneously in the scree (beside the one in the outcrop itself). In October 2017, I decided to examine the material of the scree slope systematically. I began with the nearly horizontal left side and progressed to the steeper right side. Fossiliferous limestone (center left) and marl, sandstone, soil, organic material etc. (at the left edge) were dumped separately. Part of the „deep hole“ is visible in the right corner (note the big sandstone slab in the lower right corner, this slab is also visible in the photo above). I collected and dug at this site from October 2017 until 09/13/2018 about 34 times, each time for about 2 hours. Photo taken 09/13/2018. The „deep hole“. At 09/13/2018, it was about 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.6 m large and something like a quarry in the quarry. Note the red x on the sandstone slab… Photo taken 09/13/2018, scale bar is 1 m. Next entry: "Point 25" - What´s behind the red x?? -
Mysterious fossils from Campanian St. Bartholomä-formation, Styria, Austria
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
I have polished a few slabs today and stumbled over a group of mysterious, tiny fossils. They are in a rudist-bearing limestone clast, width of specimen is 85 mm, they are located a little bit from the center of the specimen toward the lower left corner. Age is Campanian. In the slab 3 mm away from this one, there is nothing to see of them. I am counting 5 large ones and possibly 3-4 small ones, arranged in 2 or 3 rows. They consist of a thick-walled bubble with a very conspicious plug projecting towards the center of the bubble. One of them has a very conspicous stem and maybe one of the small bubbles has also a stem. The largest bubble has an outer diameter of about 3 mm. Bubbles and the steem appear to be segmented, each segment seems to consist of a single calcite crystal, somewhat resembling echnoid sceletal material. The more often I look at them, the more I think they are tiny crinoids??... But I am probably totally wrong. I tried to make a higher resolution scan and a photo with my scrapy camera at highest resoulution, but without great success. Sorry, better photos are not available. Suggestions - despite the poor photos - are highly appreciated. Thanks! Franz Bernhard
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I hadn't seen an echinoid with beekite before so I had to buy it. Micraster glyphus?, Campanian, Höver, Germany.
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Rudist hunting (2) in St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria - 09/09/2018
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Another rudist hunt in the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria. For some general information about the area see: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86433-rudist-hunting-in-st-bartholomä-styria-austria-13072018/ This time, the largest creek wihin the St. Bartholomä-formation was visited, which is the north-south trending one. Last year, only one rudist was found there. This year - the same result. - Part of the creek from above, its about 5-10 m deep. - Creek. - Steep part of the creek with quite a lot of water and dead wood, but, hey, there is a rudist, just to the left of the red x! - Rudist as found, pocket knife is 9 cm long. To be continued...
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I’ve been traveling out of state a bit lately and tending to some personal things. Meanwhile, back in Southerly-Centralish Texas, I managed a quick look at some Campanian exposures. Some finds were common, some rare, all cherished. I’ve attached a few pics, starting with common stuff.
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Not much has been published focusing on theropods from New Jersey. Nice to see a new paper that looks at the assemblage at the Ellisdale site of New Jersey. The distinctive theropod assemblage of the Ellisdale site of New Jersey and its implications for North American dinosaur ecology and evolution during the Cretaceous Chase D. Brownstein https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/distinctive-theropod-assemblage-of-the-ellisdale-site-of-new-jersey-and-its-implications-for-north-american-dinosaur-ecology-and-evolution-during-the-cretaceous/96A7436DCD5866236C472749729F88B6 cf Dryptosaurus Dromaeosaurid Indeterminate
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Coral (2) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello, here is the next (second) coral from the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria. Not much was visible at the outside (I did not even notice it as coral colony!), but on sectioning, the specimen reveald its beauty. Unfortunately, he contrast is rather low. The two polished sections are about 35 mm apart, the first seems to be near the surface of the colony (with a Lithophaga?). The closest match I can find in Baron-Szabo (2014) is Barysmilia irregularis (Reuss, 1854). Three polished surfaces from this work are attached, scale bars are 5.5, 9.5 and 11 mm, respectively. They are all from the upper Santonian of Neffgraben, Gosau, Austria. Thank you very much for looking and for your help! Franz Bernhard
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Rudist hunting in St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria - 13/07/2018
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Heavy rains in Styria, Austria, have overturned many creek beds. So this is a good time for fossil hunting, e.g. for rudists in St. Bartholomä: View of the hunting area from Pleschkogel mountain (1063 m) toward St. Bartholomä with Kreuzegg and Kalchberg, distance about 8 km. Note the conspicuous church of St. Bartholomä, just below Kreuzegg. View is nearly southward, in the far background the Pohorje mountains in Slovenia. Photo taken 07/07/2018.
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Coral (3) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello, and here is the next (third) coral from the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria. First photo: Its the largest specimen I have found so fas. The colony is about 20 cm high and is weighing ca. 4.2 kg. Not much to see, photo just for reference. The grey x indicates the location of the second photo. Second photo: On some parts of the colony, individual corallites are clearly visible. Natural surface, nothing done to it. I have also cut off a piece to make a polished slab. Just about 13 mm below the surface of the colony, the coralites are mostly recrystallized (thats a usual case) Third photo: So I have slightly ground and polished the surface of the cut-off piece, with a somewhat better result, showing a few nice corallites. But I am at a loss with this one, I am recognizing the prominent and thick costae, which let me to the consclusion that it could be belong to Nefocoenia/Neocoenia/Placocoenia/Neocoeniopsis (according to the papers of Baron-Szabo (2003, 2014)). But I can not go any further... Any help is gratefully acknowledged! Thank you! Franz Bernhard
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Coral (4) from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
...and the fourth (and hopefully last for some time) coral question from the Campanian of St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria. In this thread I present two different specimens, which I think belong to the same genus: Cycloria or Orbignygyra (according to the papers of Baron-Szabo, 2003, 2014). They are maeandroid, colonial corals. In this first post, two polished slabs of the same specimen are presented. They are about 2 mm apart. The corallites are not very well preserved, but in some spots, some detail is discernible. The "better", less recrystallized side is intergrown with the usual fossiliferous limestone (which contains another small coral colony...).
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Coral from the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, Styria, Austria (Gosau group, Eastern Alps)
FranzBernhard posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello, some of you may have noticed my rudist posts from the Gosau basin of Kainach - St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria. Beside rudists, there are also other fossils, but they are much rarer. During my hunting trips in the Campanian St. Bartholomä formation, I have found ca. 300 rudist specimens (hippuritidae and radiolitidae), but only 12 coral colonies, including two imprints, and no individual coral. I would like to show you one of these coral colonies and would like to ask you for your opinion. I will start with the simplest one. In the literature, only one coral species is described and two others are mentioned (without description) from St. Bartholomä. No pictures are published of any of these three coral species. Here is the only existing description of a coral from this formation (Schmidt, 1908): „Ein halbkugeliger Knollen von 5 cm Durchmesser aus der oberen Hippuritenbank von Kalchberg. Auf einem Anschliff sieht man in der Mitte ein Feld, wo die Kelche senkrecht stehen, am Rand sind sie dem Schliff parallel. … Die Kelche haben einen Durchmesser von 1-1.2 mm. An den Septen sind zwei Zyklen zu je acht Stück vorhanden. Das Säulchen ist punktförmig. Sehr schön ist das Cönenchym, aus unregelmäßig angeordneten Kalzifikationszentren bestehen, ausgebildet." "Half-spherical colonie with 5 cm diameter. ... The corallites have a diameter of 1-1.2 mm. There are 2 septal cycles with 8 septa each. The columella is point-like." He identified this coral as : Astrocoenia orbignyana Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848 According to Baron-Szabo (2014), this is today: Actinastrea orbignyi (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1848) The first two pictures are this species, figured in Baron-Szabo (2014). First scale bar is 10 mm, second one 3 mm. Specimen is from Gosau-Rusbach, Austria. The third picture is my specimen from St. Bartholomä. Its very rough at the outside, but not so bad preserved inside. Sorry, I can not make a better picture. I think it comes close to the description and pictures of Actinastrea orbignyi. What do you think? Thank you very much for your opinion! Franz Bernhard Literature: Baron-Szabo, R. Ch. (2014): Scleractinian Corals from the Cretaceous of the Alps and Northern Dinarides with remarks on related taxa. Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, 68, 1-296. Schmidt, W. (1908): Die Kreidebildungen der Kainach. Jahrbuch der k.k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 58, 223-246.
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Lower Campanian of southern Poland.
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Minute fossils (fingers in the background as a scale) from the Campanian of southern Poland. The major element looks similar to bourgueticrinid columnals I know from the site, so maybe a semi-articulated crinoid?
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Apical view of a polished cross section of the right (lower) valve of Hippurites nabresinensis from the St. Bartholomä-Formation of the Gosau basin of Kainach - St. Bartholomä in western Styria, Austria. This species has no L-pillar, the P1-pillar is at ca. 3:00, the P2-pillar at ca. 5:00. The hump at ca. 8:00 is a growth anomaly. At ca. 11:00 and 1:00, the position of both teeth sockets is visible (a hypothetical L-pillar would be between them, see the specimen of H. colliciatus), at ca. 2:00 the position of the posterior muscle. At the upper left, it is intergrown with the fragment of another individual of the same (?) species. For specimens like this, the name H. heritschi was also in use. The specimen is from a large mound of stones, which were removed from the fields during many, many decades. This mound located in the southwerstern part of Kalchberg, southwest of St. Bartholomä (Point 36 in my own documentation).
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Apical view of a polished cross section of a pseudocolonie of three indivuals of Hippurites colliciatus from the St. Bartholomä-Formation of the Gosau basin of Kainach - St. Bartholomä in western Styria, Austria. The pillars (L, P1, P2) are indicated, the L-Piller of this species is only a small hump. Left and right of L, the position of both teeth sockets is visible, left of P1 also the position of the posterior muscle. For specimens like this, the name H. exaratus was also in use. The specimen is from a small scree in a small, abandoned marl quarry, located in the eastern part of Kalchberg, southwest of St. Bartholomä (Point 25 in my own documentation).
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Apical view of a polished cross section of the right (lower) valve of Vaccinites alpinus from the St. Bartholomä Formation of the Gosau basin of Kainach - St. Bartholomä in western Styria, Austria. Typical are the subparallel pillars, all situated in a small area of the rudist. The shell around the L-piller (left one) is missing in this specimen. For specimens like this, the name Hippurites/Vaccinites cornuvaccinum was in use. Study of specimens with preserved upper valve showed that V. cornuvaccinum is restricted to the Coniacian and V. alpinus to the upper Santonian and Campanian (Steuber & Schlüter, 2012). They can not be distinguished with the lower valve alone, but have different upper valves. Hence, identification is (also) based on stratigraphic information (Steuber, 2001: „This species [V. ultimus] was also figured by Kaumanns (1962) from Kainach (Styria) and erroneously assigned to various species of the group of V. cornuvaccinum.“). By the way, V. ultimus is a junior synonym of V. alpinus... (Steuber, 2003). The specimen is from a small scree in a small, abandoned marl quarry, located in the eastern part of Kalchberg, southwest of St. Bartholomä (Point 25 in my own documentation).
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Apical view of a polished cross section of the right (lower) valve of Vaccinites vesiculosus from the St. Bartholomä-Formation of the Gosau basin of Kainach - St. Bartholomä in western Styria, Austria. Typical are the slender L-pillar (at ca. 12:00), the round P1-pillar with a very slender stem (at ca. 2:00) and the spatula-shaped P2-piller, also with very slender steem (at ca. 3:00). For specimens like this, names like Hippurites styriacus und Hippurites carinthiacus were also in use. The specimen is from a small scree in a small, abandoned marl quarry, located in the eastern part of Kalchberg, southwest of St. Bartholomä (Point 25 in my own documentation).
