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Hello. I was lucky to find a few samples of the Carboniferous period; I found them interesting. The first photo is probably a Lepidostrobus. I ask you to confirm or refute this guess, as well as help with the determination of the rest of the samples. Thank you! Have a nice evening

First off good to see everyone again. Been a good yr so far with fossils this year with new ones to add to collection. Time periods its hard to say except the horse tooth from 9-15000 yrs ago. Don't mind the mod podge on the connected spinal columns (I think) because the petrified black worms or seeds creeped me out. The coolest I think the petrified grass or leaf, but other finds especially the bones are up there too. Well enjoy and good to be back and if ideas on time frames give it a whirl. PS: Ill post more pics tomorrow with sizes to show how small some of this stuff is and etc...

I found this in Kansas City area. It was close to some Carboniferous fossils. I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking at here, are these broken shell fragments? Plants?

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210319 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210319 Abstract: The Carboniferous Pennsylvanian-aged (309–307 Ma) Mazon Creek Lagerstätte produces some of the earliest fossils of major Palaeozoic tetrapod lineages. Recently, several new tetrapod specimens collected from Mazon Creek have come to light, including the earliest fossorially adapted recumbirostrans. Here, we describe a new long-bodied recumbirostran, Joermungandr bolti gen. et sp. nov., known from a single part and counterpart concretion bearing a virtually complete skeleton. Uniquely, Joermungandr preserves a full suite of dorsal, flank and ventral dermal scales, together with a series of thinned and reduced gastralia. Investigation of these scales using scanning electron microscopy reveals ultrastructural ridge and pit morphologies, revealing complexities comparable to the scale ultrastructure of extant snakes and fossorial reptiles, which have scales modified for body-based propulsion and shedding substrate. Our new taxon also represents an important early record of an elongate recumbirostran bauplan, wherein several features linked to fossoriality, including a characteristic recumbent snout, are present. We used parsimony phylogenetic methods to conduct phylogenetic analysis using the most recent recumbirostran-focused matrix. The analysis recovers Joermungandr within Recumbirostra with likely affinities to the sister clades Molgophidae and Brachystelechidae. Finally, we review integumentary patterns in Recumbirostra, noting reductions and losses of gastralia and osteoderms associated with body elongation and, thus, probably also associated with increased fossoriality.

Found this piece near a bunch of Carboniferous fossils in limestone, any ideas? It seems to look like fusulinids ? They are supposed to be common, Found in Kansas City near Carboniferous fossils.

I found this piece outside Kansas City, it was nearby some sea fossils. I’m not sure if this is anything. Any ideas would be helpful!

I've been finding fossils in limestone, sometimes I find fossils in rock that also appears to have these irregular lines interspersed. They are all shapes and sizes, I’ve attached some pictures. I am just curious as to what these are. Carbonized plant material? Or just inclusions in the rock?

Central PA USA Found just as you see it lying in the reworked rubble of coal strip mine

I found this fossil in Kansas City on the Missouri River. Lots of Carboniferous fossils in the area, anyone have an idea on what it is? It’s about 4-5 inches lengthwise.

I found this piece on the Missouri River outside of Kansas City. There were Carboniferous fossils in the same area. It looks like a crinoid stem, except it’s smooth? Also, the broken ends don’t show any sort of star pattern. I was curious, any ideas?

I found this fossil with a bunch of Carboniferous fossils in on the Missouri River near Kansas City. I’m curious to see what it is? Looks like a plant, but I’m not sure, any ideas? The whole thing is 2.5-3 inches long.

The day began with a Calamites trunk But two steps from this fossil where not usual finds Granatwerfer ('Priest Mortar') Granate 1914-1918 The Gr.W.16s proved to be popular and very effective weapons for the Germans. They had a high rate of fire, useful range, and reasonable effective detonation. They could be used in either direct or indirect fire applications – direct fire was used to fire at things like sentry posts, gun loopholes, and the like. When fired this way, the grenade fragments would fill an area roughly 5m wide and 50m long, while a round fired in a high angle trajectory would have a bursting radius of about 30 meters. Minimum high-angle range was 50 meters, to avoid endangering the firing crew.

Need help identifying these. Found all of them in or directly around the same shale pile in a creek bank in Logan ,WV. Only About 2.5 hours of looking and there’s still plenty I haven’t gotten to yet! I’d definitely love to know if I have any rare finds so far!

I found this interesting shell (I think) embedded in limestone with a bunch of other Carboniferous fossils. This was found in the Kansas City, MO area. There are these really interesting swirls on the shell I haven’t really seen that before, I’m going to try to remove the fossil from its matrix. Any ideas?

I found this piece near Kansas City on the Missouri River. It was in an area with Carboniferous fossils. It’s an interesting shape so I’m posting it to get ideas. It might be just a weirdly shaped brachiopod?

I found this little piece In a gravel bed on the Kansas River outside Kansas City. Does anyone have any ideas? Could just be a weird shaped rock or coral?

I found a couple of small fossils on the Buffalo River in Arkansas. I was curious to see if anyone had any idea about them. I’ve posted a group picture and close up shots.

As a late Father's Day gift and early Birthday present (I turn 39 tomorrow ) I spent 4 hours Saturday morning in the Glen Dean Limestone. A Carboniferous (Mississippian) formation. As usual, I was channeling my inner mountain goat and scrambling around a Central Kentucky roadcut. As I pulled up to the road cut my heart sank. Grass had grown on the exposure. If memory serves, the last time I was here was in the middle of September of last year and the exposure was bare. Most finds are small so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find much. Luckily my fear and apprehension was unfounded. As a side note... I wasn't intending to use a screw driver for scale, but you will see the tip of one in multiple pictures. I was using it as a way to mark where the fossil was while digging my phone out of my pocket, but since it is there I will tell you that it is 5mm wide to give a little perspective. With the finds being on the small side, and surface collecting the norm, these were my weapons of choice. A collecting bag of some sort is preferred here over my usual plastic container. It's been my experience that the bag conforms to the slope better and tends to roll up on itself should it start to tumble down the hill side preventing its contents from spilling out. Below is a typical section of ground here. It is littered with bryozoan and crinoid stem fragments. I knew the day was going to be good when my first find was this very long example of Archimedes sp. I'd estimate it to be about 7 inches (nearly 18cm) long. In an exposure that is notorious for broken and flattened fossils, this was a real treat. Unfortunately it was in a rock that was too thick and wide to chisel it out of. I'm fairly certain my chisel and hammer would have worn out long before the rock did. Horn coral are always nice to find. Especially these, which are some of my favorite. Zaphretites spinulosum. Another favorite find from this exposure is crinoid cups. There are multiple species of crinoid here. Crinoid calyx cups are on the uncommon to rare side of finds, but I made out like a champ with crinoids on this trip. Stick around to see some of my rarer finds of the day. Echinoderms are probably my favorite type of fossil to find, and so crinoid cups are great, but my absolute favorite thing to find here is blastoids. Pentremites is the genus to be found. There are several species known from the Glen Dean. That is it for the field pictures. Next up are a few pictures of finds taken after I got home. Horn coral (Zaphretites spinulosum) Calyx cups from various species of crinoid. Blastoids! All are species of Pentremites. The ones on the left are massive for the formation, and rare. Although they are preserved in the typical fashion, crushed and deflated. The middle are more common and are typical size and preservation. The ones on the right are typical size, but are inflated. Pardon the fingers, but it was the best way I could find to get a clear picture of this particular blastoid. I wanted to show the preservation detail. Lovely. Extra long crinoid stems that I grabbed. An line up of brachiopods found here. The last three on the right are typical of the preservation. Just like anything else here they are deflated and crushed. The middle two are new to me species and were found at the transition layer from shale to limestone. The three on the left are preserved in a rare fashion being that they are inflated. Close ups to follow. Again, pardon the man hands. And finally these next few pictures are of the rarest of my finds from this formation to date. These are small gastropods. I still need to research an ID, but @Jeffrey P told me about these when we hunted the location last year and mentioned them as being very rare for the exposure. We only found a couple of broken fragments between the two of us after hunting for 6 hours or so. I found 5 complete ones this time around. Next up is a crinoid cup that has plates attached. I also found a grouping of crinoid arms. These do not go together and were found far apart. Not quite a complete calyx, but maybe next time. That concludes my report. It was a good turn around to a slow fossil year for me. I added many new and rare (for this exposure) things to the collection. I couldn't have asked for a better Father's Day/early Birthday present! Thanks for looking. Edit: I almost forgot the rarest of the rare! I have never read about trilobites being described from this formation and have never seen any other than this tiny pygidium. A small (4mm), but extremely rare (and possibly undescribed) find.

Central Pennsylvania (USA); Pottsville Formation, grey shale.... in situ boulder removed and split at home For starters, it does split but it also kinda breaks into hunks and crumbles a bit. Is that correctly described as "nodular shale"? There are a lot of slender black long things without a great deal of definition, and one piece has these round shapes. I think I'm looking at Stigmaria rootlets and where the rootlets attach to the main root. I'll try to add photos of presumed rootlets later. Would welcome any further enlightment. Thanks!

Blair County Pennsylvania (USA) (Private property) ..... Recently I explored some heaps of old mine talus which I think is the whitish sandstone from the Pottsville Formation. These rocks commonly have imprints in various degree of detail, especially cordaites and lycopods. The pics below show one large boulder with what I think is a very large imprint of sigillaria. The tape shows 8 feet. I'll readily admit that I'm a noob and susceptible to seeing what I want to see. From my pics someone who knows 'way more than I will ever learn opined the "ridges" are really geochemical in nature. I think they were implying that being mineralogically different they were more resistant to erosion. I'd like to learn more about what to do to followup, and try to verify one interpretation or the other? FWIW, I can't help but think of how I've never seen similar ridging in this formation, assuming I correctly identified the source as Pottsville formation sandstone. There's a lot of this material in Blair/Cambria old mine areas. The leaf scars, if they're there, don't show up in great detail. But then again, I have much smaller samples where you can see leaf scars clearly on one part of the rock and they fade out in another. The pics below are either from early morn and noon, so sun is at different angles. The way I read this rock, the cast is more or less lying in the bedding plane, and there is a calamites along one side. Short of microscopic or chemical analysis in the lab, is there anything more I can do in the field to help firm up an ID one way or the other? Very consistent Some exfoliation allowing a peek at a cross section A Calamites (sp) next to the maybe-Sigillaria Exposed back and back-right corner of boulder, trying to get an idea of bedding planes (This series of three starts at the back side and moves around to the left as we face the rock Is there something else I could do or look for when I return, to help verify its either a Sigillaria imprint, or a (boo hoo hoo) another "Foss-iLarm"?

Hello. It is not possible to define this "scar". Length - 8 cm. Fragment of Carboniferous wood. I would be glad for any help. Thanks. Have a nice evening

Hello. I want to show you some examples from my collection. This is a Carboniferous wood. The preservation is not the best, but for me these samples are interesting for the presence of crystals of smoky and ordinary quartz on them. A sliver that has broken off from a larger fragment. There is more quartz than wood Perhaps a stem or stump - it is almost round in cross section. And thickly overgrown with crystals. Large flattened fragment; perhaps the first sliver was from it.

Hi all, I visited Aust Cliff in South Gloucestershire, UK for a couple of hours last week. I wasn't expecting much as I know how heavily collected it is, but got a few bits of interest which I was happy with under the circumstances. I'd be interested in educated takes on a couple of bits of bone bed I found there at least, especially this first piece that contains what I believe to be multiple bone fragments as well as coprolite pieces and lots of small black fragments - not sure if scales, teeth or what. Here's a view showing what I imagine is one end of a reptile limb bone - could this be Pachystropheus? And on the other side are a couple of embedded chunks that have the honeycomb texture of bone but without the outer coating (not sure of the technical terms here!) No chance of identifying such things I presume, beyond 'yes it's bone'?

I spent Memorial Day morning fossil hunting the Carboniferous in the Salem Limestone (Formation) of Central Kentucky. Hunting the Salem at this particular road cut is a bit of a gamble. There are things to be found here, but good weather, timing, and a bit of luck are needed to have a chance at coming across anything worth writing home about. I have found almost complete Conulariids here, but also watched them crumble in my hands. I didn't bring home bucket loads of fossils this time out, but still, it was a good day. The sun on my face, flowers to smell, and plenty of rocks to break. The bottom half of the Salem Limestone isn't limestone at all, but friable shale that is grey in color. It can be interbedded with layers of a limestone, or a densely packed detritus layer. The Shale is full of fossils, but alas it weathers poorly. If it is exposed for more than a week it crumbles in your hands and turns into the rubble that litters the bottom of the cut. Forget about trying to split any of it when wet as it also tends to break apart. The key to hunting the stuff is to wait for a hard rain that breaks fresh slabs off the face of the exposure, hope for a couple of days of sunny weather to dry it out, then split it shortly after. Wait much longer and the whole boulder will start to fall apart. This is made worse during the colder months with freeze thaw cycles. The detritus layer is just that. A dense layer composed mainly of fossil bits and pieces. It's still worth a look as I found some crinoid cups and trilobite fragments here. The upper part of the formation is limestone. Two different varieties, one coarse and one fine grained. Both are more sparse with fossils than the shale layer, with the coarse grain being the more fossiliferous of the two. You can find brachiopods, coral, and occasionally trilobites here. Here is a picture of the tallest part of the exposure. With 3 distinct level cut into the hills side. I channeled my inner mountain goat and climbed, scrambled, and hiked my way up, down, and around every level. Each level is 12-15 feet (4-5 meters) high. Some pictures from the field: And here are a few of the things I brought home with me. Chondrites? I'm unsure of this one, it may be nothing. Possible ichnofossil? Feeding trail perhaps? Smaller ones (Helminthopsis) can be found here. I picked this up because of the large brachiopod and the tiny gastropod. A sampling of coral. Syringopora maybe? A very weathered trilobite pygidium. It is only about 1cm long. Here is a heartbreaker from a previous trip. I learned the hard way that the friable shale here is better split when dry. A conulariid that split nicely, but the wet rock caused it to fall apart. You can see bits and pieces left as well as the lingering impression. It would have been a nice one had it held together. I picked up a few other things as well, but failed to take pictures. Some of the small horn coral and bryozoan similar to what was shown in the field pictures. I may not have come home with my backpack overflowing, but I still had a good time splitting shale and climbing up and down the road cut. Just getting out and about was enough for me. Oh... I mentioned smelling flowers. I'll leave you with a sampling of the local flora that added to my scenery.