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Happy holidays everybody!!!! finally after Christmas day, I went to look for fossils. I have to wait some hours (ice on the road), but it was worth It. The fossilfield was covered of sun light, so the rocks has covered with ice (¿Do you remember Jack Nicholson in The Shining? something like that), so I took carefully the specimens to home. Not too much time looking for, but at least I found some interesting plants. I hope you like it

Hello all! Love hunting Carboniferous fossils since there is so much of it in my area. I got the chance to go hunting right after Thanksgiving to a local mine spoil piles and it didn't disappoint! Right off the bat the first spoil pile I encountered contained slabs of bivalves and gastropods. Never seen both on the same slab, the Gastropods were a first for Carboniferous fossils? One person I know pointed out they were Ammonites??? Found huge slabs of shale containing fern fossils...I was like a kid in a candy store amongst those piles of rocks! I was able to bring a few slabs of those home...at least the ones I could carry and place into my vehicle. It was a great day, my vehicle was so full of fossils I could no longer place any other in it and hope to visit the same location in the future? Found these three in a spoil pile...too large to carry out so a picture had to do. The leaf scars on the Lepidodendron are the largest I have ever seen measuring at least 2.5" in length. Stigmaria and what appears a Sigillaria trunk impression. Lyginopteris ferns with some Mariopteris ferns mixed in. These are the largest slabs I could take home! Really nice detailed bivalves. Gastropods. Lepidodendron branch. Sigillaria bark impression. Fern Rachis mixed in with bivalves and gastropods. Lyginopteris and Mariopteris fern frond with branch, notice the briars protruding from the branch. This looks like Stigmaria nodes but could be another version of Sigillaria?

Me and my boyfriend went for a walk in the nearby Aristide and Silverdale area of outstanding natural beauty a few weeks ago. We are both at uni in Lancaster so have been enjoying walks in the Lake District and nearby. I wanted to visit Jack Scout as a dissertation topic I was thinking about was related to the local geology of the area. I was not expecting to find loose fossils, and was paying close attention to the limestone rocks and pavement for fossils in situ until my boyfriend came up with a ‘funny rock’ to check with me and lo and behold, an impromptu fossil hunt began. Nothing is of great quality and I have found it very hard to find much literature on the area so nothing is really identified. But it is a truly beautiful area and a fun walk. I believe these fossils are from the Park Limestone formation of Jack Scout, there is lots of Carboniferous limestone deposited around 325-360 MYA.

Hello everyone As a quick Christmas present to myself (mainly driven by being unable to get out in the field) I bought a cheap job lot of mazon creek fossils. The lot was entitled fossil wood and was advertised as partials and repaired specimens which I was happy with at that price. However this wee oddity was included as well. It appears to be something soft bodied? I'd love some more info from any mazon creek knowledgeable folk out there if possible. Thanks in advance. Approximate size of feature is 35mm Hollie

This nice brachiopod came from my first trip to the Lake Jacksboro site about four months ago. When I first found it, the only parts of the shell that were actually visible were the posterior hinges. I purchased a Dremel engraver not too long after to help me with some echinoids from Central Texas, and after working on them for a couple of days finally took the time to sit down and start prepping this guy. As far as I know, a brachiopod of this size (and species - I believe it's a Neospirifer or something similar) are not exactly common finds for the area, so I wanted to be as cautious as possible. After several hours worth of engraving, I managed to get most of the brachiopod revealed, but one or two attempts at getting the matrix off of the actual shell itself resulted in chips that exposed the shinier layers underneath. I'm still not sure if I should keep the brachiopod in the matrix as is for display purposes (once I get the matrix clinging to the shell off of course) or if I should remove it entirely. Let me know what you think. Here's some pictures of what it looks like now after I went after it with the engraver: The Jacksboro site is in the Graham formation and contains a lot of shale, but I believe that this particular piece is the limestone that is supposed to also be present in the locality. Does that mean vinegar would be a good choice to remove the matrix from the brachiopod without damaging it? As the title of this post suggests, I need advice for how to continue - I'm still just a newbie prepper after all! I think I've been spoiled this year by the quantity of large surface finds I've picked up here in Houston at the Brazos River and up north at the North Sulphur.

Hi all, Upon examining some of my finds from this hunt about a month ago, I realized that there was an anomaly on one of the Neuropteris ovata pinnules. Initially I brushed it off as nothing more than an anomaly, but last night while I was doing some reading I came upon an intriguing paper on insect galls from the Carboniferous. Some of the gall fossils included bore a striking resemblance to the gall on my frond, and so I figured I would make a post to see if any of you had an idea on what it could be. Here is the frond, in full view: Closer inspection of one of the pinnules reveals a small, oval-shaped bump: This bears a striking resemblance to some of the galls included in this paper (it is not paywalled). Specifically, it resembles #7 in the first figure. I hesitated to include the image directly in this topic so as to not violate any Forum rules (if it is not a violation I can include it here as a reply). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250613622_The_Seeds_on_Padgettia_readi_are_Insect_Galls_Reassignment_of_the_Plant_to_Odontopteris_the_Gall_to_Ovofoligallites_N_Gen_and_the_Evolutionary_Implications_Thereof Although it superficially resembles a gall, I am looking for other opinions as I have no experience in this field. Here are my thoughts on why it could, or could not be a gall: It could possibly be a gall for multiple reasons. First off, the morphological similarity is quite striking. Secondly, the paper states that ", occurs commonly on a variety of seed-fern foliage throughout the late Middle Pennsylvanian to Early Permian". This is from a late Pennsylvanian deposit (Connellsville Sandstone of the Conemaugh group) so it fits quite nicely into that time frame. Also, epibionts are quite common in this deposit, specifically Microconchus. They are preserved in a relatively similar fashion (mold-cast). There are a few reasons why it could also not be a gall. First of all, I have never heard of galls coming from deposits in the Appalachian basin, though this may simply be due to my own ignorance and/or a lack of literature. Also, this anomaly is isolated, which is a derivation seen from many of the galls included in the above paper. Finally, random nodules and concretions do occur sporadically throughout this deposit, so it could always be mineral growth. And finally, my simple lack of knowledge prevents me from making a confident ID either way. So, what do you all think? I'd love to hear some of your opinions as to what it could be! And on the off chance that it is a gall, should this specimen be donated?

I recently visited an exposure of what is likely the Brush Creek section of the Glenshaw Formation, Conemaugh Group (Late Pennsylvanian) in Western Pennsylvania. I brought home a large block of material that I subsequently broke down. I was excited to find in the block a nice Worthenia tabulata, several smaller gastropods and even a fragment of the nautioid Metacoceras. I also found this large bivalve. I tried to cross reference this fossil against lists of fauna from the Brush Creek and while it strikes me as similar to Edmondia sp., I am not that confident, especially given the size. When searching in the Brush Creek I have typically only ever found the common, small bivalve Astarella concentrica, so this much larger bivalve has me stumped. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi everybody Last day I found this tiny fossil (just 8mm...) In the coal measures. Probable it's a plant, but I wanted to make sure. Sorry about the quality. What dou you think? Thanks for your help and stay safe

With the semester having ended yesterday, I figured I would go hunting today at one of my favorite Carboniferous plant localities. It is located in Southwestern PA, and is in the Connellsville Sandstone member of the Casselman Formation, which is in turn part of the Conemaugh Group. It is late Stephanian in age. The Connellsville Sandstone itself represents a fluvial deposit made up of sediment from the then young Appalachian mountains. It is a very thick and massive layer; because of this it has been quarried for building stone for hundreds of years. The locality that I collect at is in a valley that was once heavily industrialized with a railroad, coal mines, oil wells, and sandstone quarries. These quarries were located in the Connellsville and their cliffs can still be seen today. The specific deposit I collect at in this valley most likely represents a slow moving area of the river, where deposition was rapid in times of high water. It preserves a classic post-Rainforest Collapse flora, with seed ferns, tree ferns, and Calamites being the most common fossils. Lepidodendron and other lycopods are rare to nonexistent. In the 1960s, W.C. Darrah, a paleobotanist, collected here and found one of the earliest examples of the conifer Walchia. Vertebrate remains can be found here, as shown in my most recent post. I assumed that today would be a mediocre trip, as rain was in the forecast and the ground is covered in leaves. However, the rain let up before I arrived at the site. Due to the lack of foliage, though, I was able to explore some areas that were once quarried for sandstone. I noticed an area made up of finer-grained sandstone, and thought that it might have fossils. Upon further inspection, though, it lacked fossils but was full of massive rip up clasts of soft shale. These showed that the river was eroding through a deposit of unconsolidated clay and then subsequently depositing these chunks down stream. I had never seen rip-up clasts in such large numbers and in such a large size, so it was great to get to see it. I then carried on to the plant locality. The plant locality was not at all covered in leaves, and due to the weather I had it all to myself. I concentrated my efforts on specific lenses of plant material that represented areas of quiet deposition, perfect for well preserved plants. I found some good stuff, as is shown below, but my favorite find was that of Cyclopteris fimbriata. It is a strange form genus of leaves that grew at the base of seed fern fronds. I had found Cyclopteris fossils before; however, this was the first time I had found one of the fimbriata species. The name says it all: their edges are marked by fimbriated projections of leaf tissue. It was certainly interesting to see some new material today. I also found my largest Neuropteris ovata frond thus far, and, although it wasn't perfect, it was a welcome discovery. All in all, it was a great hunt and it was nice to be out in nature!! Hope you guys all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! View of the old quarry: The rip-up clasts: The plant locality itself, as I said before it is a shaly layer of the Connellsville Sandstone, most probably representing a backwater of a river: Pith cast of a Calamites: Annularia stellata whorls Cordaites sp. A new species for me and the strangest looking find, Cyclopteris fimbriata: My largest find, as well as my largest plant fossil to date: Either Neuropteris or Laeveinopteris:

I graduated college back in May, and since my graduate program did not start until September, I was fortunate to have quite a bit of time this summer to explore further away from home. I've been slowly prepping and cataloging over the past couple months, and figured I would share some of my favorite finds that I haven't shared yet. First up is dump piles of Silica Shale (Middle Devonian) in Paulding, OH. My university was not far from here, so this is really where I started fossil hunting. I've been here quite a few times, so most of what I found I already had in my collection. A new find for me, and my favorite, is a nice chunk of Protitanichthys placoderm armor. I visited family near Indianapolis in August, and headed out a day early to visit some classic sites. This is the view from a roadcut in Sulphur, IN that exposes the Indian Springs Shale (Mississippian). My first blastoid and first shark tooth of the day. Can you spot them? A small portion of the haul. Lots of blastoids (the main attraction), horn corals, and some brachiopods, plus a crinoid I have yet to identify. Next up was the famous St. Leon roadcut (Upper Ordovician). This was my second visit to this site. You need to get on your hands and knees to spot the tiny Flexicalymene rollers.

Good afternoon, I have submitted photos of this fossil to multiple local groups in hopes of a possible identification to no avail, therefore I have turned to this forum and home to figure this out! I hope it to be a calamite cone fossil but I have been wrong before, so I am asking for a second opinion. Thank you very much! Important information: This fossil was pulled off a shale cliff that is abundant in calamite and fern fossils. The cliff is located near Carnegie, Pennsylvania (Western PA). The specific fossil has both calamite and ferns on the reverse side. Edit 1: The size is about 1.5 inches (3.81 cm). Information that is possibly helpful but may not be: The cliff has a few layers of coal and black colored shale, while the majority of the cliff is a grey colored shale. This rock was pulled off just above a black shale line.

Hello everyone! I'm very new, having started my hunting a couple months ago. I live in northern Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, USA) and have been searching for Pennsylvanian-period flora in shale in the Glenshaw Formation at Pine Creek. There is also an old quarry nearby that seems to have some sandstone specimens. I'm here to learn, connect and hopefully get some identifications. So far I think I've found: Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, Cordaites, Stigmaria, Calamites, Sphenophylum, Alloiopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris, Sphenopteris, Odonopteris and Spiropteris. However, still a little confused by a couple of finds, haha. Anyway, happy to have found this site.

Please help identify this fossil

Hi everyone! Today, a friend of mine from the Paleontology course at the University of Bristol and I went fossil hunting at the beach of Portishead, as we had heard it was an interesting and productive location. We were fairly confident that we would come home with at least some crinoid pieces, as these were meant to be rather abundant, but our real goal was to hopefully find some of the elusive eurypterid remains. It was about half an hour bus ride from the center of Bristol to Portishead, so it's relatively quick and easy for us to get there. It didn't take too long for us find our first few crinoid pieces in the rubble on the beach, and my friend managed to find a couple of decent spiriferid brachiopods by splitting some small rocks open. Unfortunately, it started to rain quite quickly, and after about an hour of searching the rain we decided to call it a day... so we didn't hunt for very long at all and hence didn't make any impressive finds. We didn't see any traces of fishes or eurypterids either which was a little disappointing, although also somewhat expected. Wishing to escape the rain, we found a little restaurant where we could sit inside and get a warm lunch, and afterwards we decided to just go back home as we were both tired, despite the very short hunt. So in terms of finds, we weren't very successful, but I did manage to snap some nice photos from the location. The geology of the place was really crazy and kind of all over the place, as you can see from the pictures here. Really interesting! We haven't yet covered this topic in my Geology course, but I suspect we will do that sometime soon, and then I will probably be more knowledgeable about what we're seeing actually means. But for now you'll still have to stick with my very amateur descriptions (stratigraphy can be a little complicated for a Pleistocene hunter as myself! ) This is the northern end of the location, Battery Point, where we are looking at several layers of the Portishead Formation. This is a Tournaisian-aged (Mississipian, early Carboniferous, approx 350 million years old) formation that is very rich in crinoids and corals. What's interesting to note is that the layers are not straight, but sit at approximately 30 degrees upwards. But that's pretty mild compared to the Devonian layers (as you will see a bit later). (Continued)

Hello all, I have been a long time lurker of the forum (simply reading has been helpful enough these years) but have finally decided to request identification help on some fossils. I spent the summer conducting research in Illinois and spent my spare time collecting fossils. I was fortunate enough to collect Mazon Creek fossils about 14 years ago on a trip so I was thrilled to finally return to the area and collect at the Mazonia Braidwood Fish and Wildlife Unit. I have Key to Identify Pennsylvanian Fossil Animals of The Mazon Creek Area as well as Jack Wittry's The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora and these have been very helpful in identifying specimens but this one has thrown me a bit. As for the fossil, it resembles an arthropod appendage (like a Eurypterid walking leg) but I might be blinded by my wishing it to be that. I appreciate any help and insight from people more experienced with Mazon Creek. I will likely post more unidentified material from Illinois and Missouri soon. Thanks for your time. -Tom

New hunt yesterday to find carboniferous fossils few sigillaria barks A lepidodendron bark A neuropteris plate

I have this fossil here which at first glance I perceived to be some kind of seed, however I’m not sure. These are both from the same individual, just the positive and negative sides. It is just shy of half an inch long. It was found in the North Attleboro section of the Rhode Island formation