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Showing results for tags 'fern'.
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I received this relatively large fossil about 4 years ago as a Christmas present from a friend. All the information I have about this specimen is that "it comes from the Carboniferous", it was bought from a peddler at the local Christmas market without asking for the provenance. Now I am trying to definitively identify it. I compared it to all my fossil ferns and to many pics online, and some photos of Pecopteris polymorpha are particularly similar in shape. ^This is one of the images I found online. There is a surprising similarity even with the surrounding matrix, could my fossil come from the same formation? My specimen measures about 180 x 140 mm.
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Can someone help me with an ID for this? Thank you!
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This is my first post since I introduced myself a week or so ago. All of this (the forum as well as the fossils) are extremely new to me. So, I hope I'm doing everything alright. I've tried to read up a bit before posting. I'm honestly wanting to know if what I've stumbled on is a place as special as it seems to me. I guess, that's what matters anyhow. Nonetheless, I wanted to show you a few pictures of the types of things I find. None of these have to be looked for. They are in a creek that is sometimes full and running with water, and sometimes dry as a bone. But these are everywhere. Actually, the form the bed of the creek even. The "chunks" I pick up feel like clay and can be split when they are still somewhat wet. If they dry, they get brittle. If I soak them in water to wet them again, the completely fall apart. The only way I know to open them to find the little treasures inside is within 15-30 minutes after I get a bag full and get back home. Any info on them is great. I want to share and hopefully learn. Thanks, Frank
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I found this piece last Saturday and it's quite strange. I've never seen a fossil like this. This may sound like a dumb theory, but could this be white rot fungi just starting to form? 99% of the holes are on the woody areas of the fern. The axis is fully covered with holes. I figure if it was normal weathering of the rock/fossil the holes would be everywhere, or at least on the leaves more. Has anyone seen this before? This is from the late carboniferous period. Mazon Creek, Francis Creek shale.
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From the album: Scottish Lower Carboniferous (Visean) plants
Sphenopteris biffida. Burdiehouse Limestone, Visean Central Belt of Scotland 333.5 myo -
From the album: Scottish Lower Carboniferous (Visean) plants
Unidentified fern Burdiehouse Limestone, Visean Central Belt of Scotland 333.5 myo -
From the album: Scottish Lower Carboniferous (Visean) plants
Sphenopteris affinis. Burdiehouse Limestone, Visean Central Belt of Scotland 333.5 myo -
Fossil Seed Ferns (Alethopteris Sp.) From St. Clair, Pa
z10silver posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Fossil seed ferns (Alethopteris sp.). 300 m.y.o. St. Clair, PA. 185mm. One of the coolest fossil hunting experiences I’ve had. The amount of detail preserved in these fossils is incredible—some appear as if the leaves had just fallen! Exploring this area was like being transported back in time. Looking at a fossil like the one pictured here, it is not difficult to imagine the ancient carboniferous swamp coming back to life. For me, fossils are all about stress relief; a sobering—yet comforting—reminder of how briefly we are here, and where our priorities should lie. When I feel overwhelmed, it is relieving to recall how petty our day-to-day struggles are in the grand scheme of things. Life goes on. -Zach -
Im looking to restore a few of my very delicate Mazon Creek fossils and im looking for something that can be sculpted but will harden over time without baking. I'm trying to fill small cracks, tiny voids and sculpt very detailed missing parts. I'll post some pics a bit later of what pieces im talking about, so you can get some insight of what im trying to do. Thanks, Charlie
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Hello! I recently received a shipment of fossil ferns from St Clair PA. I have never dealt with these before and they seem fairly fragile and they came fairly raw, with some dirt on them and leaving a grey residue/dust behind everywhere they go. Whats the best way to clean these without damaging them and should I coat them with something to protect them? And if so, then what? They range in thickness from a quarter inch to an inch. These are from the Llewellyn Formation, Pennsylvanian Period. Some of the pieces have what appears to be some pyrite or graphite, a shiny silver metallic look. I included a picture of the items as reference:
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Friends: Can anyone help me identify what kind of fern this is? It's 4"long, by approximately 3" wide. I apologoize for the photo quality; the pic was taken from my cell phone as my camera was destroyed when once I was inadvertently caught in a terrible sandstorm. Thank you, Roadcut Hannah
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Parry's Lip Fern (Cheilanthes parryi) growing beside fossilized coral in Clark County, NV. This was one of my favorite photo-ops and one of the few cases where I had a specific subject in mind before actually finding it. I had seen lots of ferns and plenty of fossils at this spot, but I really wanted to show the juxtaposition of their patterns together—one living, the other as ancient remains. After a few visits, I finally found what I was looking for! -Zach
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This is a specimen of a type of "wood" that has been replaced by iron bearing waters, it is presumed. This looks alot like stigmaria, but it absolutely came from a late Cretaceous formation. If stigmaria, perhaps it was anciently reworked into the Cretaceous sediments? This unidentified specimen is astonishingly preserved! It almost looks as though it will start moving in your hand!!! The whole internal parts can be visually made out....even structures that appear to be veins! Strange....all i can figure is this specimen must be the product of a very violent environment, perhaps a hurricane of something...because it was torn from what it was attached to,in the process, one side of its "bark" was torn away also....revealing it's complex internal composition. Then, it seems, before decomposition could even begin...... !!!!! ...... it was deposited in the sediments that became its home. If that doesn't explain the remarkable preservation, then i am baffled as to what happened. Still, this paleobotanic needs a name. Any ideas?
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So I'm back again with more plant fossil questions, but this time I am hopefully a little less clueless. I got Jack Wittry's guide to Mazon Creek Flora and have been trying to learn as much as possible. I am interested in comparing what I have found so far to an earlier study by Roger Boneham (http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/ias/article/download/8143/8102) on the Pennsylvanian fossil flora and fauna of the Chieftain Mine site (now Fowler Park, Vigo County, IN) but I am running in to some nomenclature issues that make it difficult to decipher which fossils were found in the study. I am also having trouble differentiating some fern species with very similar venation (at least to my untrained eye). Jack was kind enough to clear up some of my questions about general identification and taxonomy in a previous post and he stated that based on what venation he could see and the form of the pinnules, the fern in question appeared to be Acitheca (Polymorphopteris) polymorpha. I have spent a good few hours since then going over numerous ferns with a magnifying glass and a bright light and have been able to see the veins on many of the specimens relatively clearly. Since I think my photographs obscure the venation even further, I have posted photos and sketches based on what I can see below: - 4.5 X 2.25cm (the nodule) Sketch - - 6 X 4.5cm (nodule) - 5.5 X 3.25cm - Sketch showing more clearly the transition in shape of the pinnules closer to the base - 8 X 4cm I have also found a negative of what appears to be the same type of fern that is ~11cm long and similar in form to the first picture. So I guess my question is, are all of these Polymorphopteris, are they something different, or are they a mix of species? So far, all of the ferns I have found with visible venation (~20) appear to be the same thing to me (similar venation, size, and form) so I suspect this has to be one of, if not, the most common species at this site. Boneham notes Asterotheca miltoni as "one of the most common species" and I suspect this is what I am finding. The only problem, is that it seems this species has been sunk (or at least reassigned) and in his book, Jack notes that both Polymorphopteris and Lobatopteris have been previously called Asterotheca/Pecopteris miltoni. For those interested, so far Cyperites preservations are the second most abundant fossil I've found with Macroneuropteris and Annularia stellata following next in line respectively. I apologize if I have asked too many questions at once or if my ignorance is showing in any all too obvious ways haha...I am still learning and it is a steep learning curve! I really appreciate all of the help you all have given me so far and I look forward to hearing your comments. -Andrew
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St. Clair Trip Nan and I took a trip to Deer Lake and we managed to squeeze in a couple of hours at the end of the day to visit the St. Clair fern site - which we consider to be our "home site." We always see animals there - a bear and cub were there last year, an 8 foot long black snake (it was really that long!) and this time we saw a dozen male and female turkeys. The site has been pretty well picked over by a season of fossil hunting so there aren't as many good finds lying scattered around on the ground but we don't normally scavenge these shards anyway - we either excavate the open pits left by previous fossil hunters, or we find promising looking pieces that have been discarded and crack them open with chisels. We also have gained a good sense of what kinds of fossils are located in various places on the site and we visualize in our mind's eye what this Carboniferous site must have looked like, 308 million years ago. This is Nan showing the width of a giant Calamites tree trunk that has been eroding slowly out of the ground substrate. The tree was squashed flat and people walking over it have begun to destroy and flake off what was previously a perfect large tree trunk embedded in the ground. I always say that cracking open fossil rocks is like opening a box of crackerjack. Here's a great example of a crackerjack fossil: Opening a Crackerjack Fossil This fossil looked very ordinary and not at all promising. However, it was thick and easy to crack open so I gave it a whack with my hammer and chisel. The results unfolded exactly as you see here - revealing a nice section of Cordaites (a very large leaf with close-together grooves, that looked like a corn leaf) and other fern leaves. We looked for a display piece for a colleague and Nan found this nice specimen: This will look nice in our friend's office, placed on a tilted rack we bought from Michael's craft store: We also found this sphenophyllum (a small plant that grew like a vine in the coal swamps):
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From the album: Fowler Park - Vigo County, IN
Form Genus - Pecopteris Shelburn Formation - Middle Pennsylvanian Chieftain Mine (Fowler Park) - Vigo County, IN Length: 54mm© Andrew Hoffman
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2013 02 17 00.56.59 - Dinosaur Park Laurel MD
Fossil-Hound posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Dinosaur_Park Laurel MD
Fossilized (carbon) fern that has metamorphed into coal. -
2013 02 17 00.56.40 - Dinosaur Park Laurel MD
Fossil-Hound posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Dinosaur_Park Laurel MD
This is actually a piece of iron that cast itself over a fern twig. -
2013 02 17 00.55.57 - Dinosaur Park Laurel MD
Fossil-Hound posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Dinosaur_Park Laurel MD
Fossilized fern embedded in outcrop. -
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/200/dscn5356n.jpg Hi friends. I have a problem with this fern. Do you know what species is it? Regards Juan
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From the album: Kentucky Fossils
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From the album: Carboniferous Fossil Plant
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This is the 5th in a series of fossil ID questions - this one relates to two stick shaped fossils collected on our Sept. 16 trip to the 380 million year old Devonian site in Juniata County, PA. Devonian plants and trees are hard to find in Pennsylvania because so much was underwater however there were sticks and twigs and stems that did sink into the mud and get preserved. The question is, did we find two of those during our Juniata trip? Are these stick shaped fossils from plants or trees, or something else? Opinions, please... This stick shaped sample has a long thin piece extending at the bottom which appears to be part of the main fossil, which may (or may not) offer a clue: Here is another fossil from the same site/trip which has a similar form factor - it is in green shale - this bulges out a bit at the base:
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After my original post I learned that the feathery fossils are probably leaves of a scale tree - maybe emergent leaves. They are often described as "similar to conifers" and are feathery as you can see. Are they Lepidodendron leaves or Siggilaria or Calamites? There are also listings in the literature of "LONG" grass-like leaf appendages coming straight out from the above ground (or above water) trunks of the Lepidodendron tree. How do we tell if the side appendages are long leaves or rootlets? One type of leaf appendage is often described as coming straight out from the trunk, looking more like grass, and this is confusing. In the fossils we have found, there appear to be rootlets coming out from the underground (or underwater) trunk stems, but in some fossils it looks like the long appendages are coming out from the above-water trunk because they are long and leaf shaped and do not look like rootlets. Interested in references clarifying the leaf types. The images of small feathery leaves came from cracking open already-thin shale pieces from the St. Clair fossil pits (Llewellyn Formation, Carboniferous/Pennsylvanian, St. Clair, 300-308 mya). The images of the core trunk stems with appendages were excavated from the shale floor of the fossil pit. An example of the larger specimens showing the appendages coming out from the sides is included - some people believe these are rootlets but they may also be leaves coming out from the trunk....ideas? These files are listed as Lepidodendron but actually if it's a root it is called Stigmaria (which includes roots of Lepidodendron and Siggilaria - if the shoots coming out the sides are LEAVES then they are designated Lepidophylloides).
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I've been pondering this fossil from St. Clair and it looks like a "cupule" that encloses a seed or spore and I'm thinking that it might be cupules at the end of a node - maybe archaeopteris. Is anyone familiar with these fossil plant cupules who might shed some light on this? One of the very surprising things we're learning about fossil plants (Pennsylvanian) is that many of the ferns and horsetails had different shaped leaves or leaf configurations on the same plant, such as the microphylls on the trunk, cupules that enclosed seeds, and young round leaves versus older elongated leaves (neuropteris for example). Still learning about paleobotany at St. Clair where we've been collecting - fascinating.
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