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My Keokuk Limestone finds from this fall have now been cleaned and identified. I am struggling with a few and am reaching out for any suggestions to identification. Thanks!! 1. First up is a blastoid that can't be matched well with the three species to occur in the Keokuk. It is probably a weathered sample that makes identification tough for me. 2. A crinoid cup that I do not recognize. It is very round and smooth. Maybe it isn't a crinoid cup! 3. A second crinoid cup I can't identify. 4. A large gastropod that spirals backwards to most gastropods. Reminds me of Maclurites if this was Ordovician. Straparolus looks similar but spirals normally. 5. And finally a specimen I thought was a fenstrate bryozoan until I looked closely and saw it lacked the netted appearance. Maybe a dendroid graptolite?

I had a left over 5 pound piece of matrix sitting outside from last summer's trip to the Burlington, Iowa area. Finally this summer, I broke up the Mississippian age rock a bit, soaked it in acid for a few weeks, and then extracted these teeth from the softened matrix.

I tried my darndest to ID these fish teeth from the Burlington/Keokuk Fish Beds of SE Iowa. Unfortunately, these beds have been known since the1800s but no scientific literature has been printed since then UNTIL 2017 when our own Fossil forum Member, @Elasmohunter presented a paper for his thesis. So not much info out there. Here are my finds. I am not sure of the IDs on most of these. Each picture has a red number to respond to. Thanks Mike Also what am I doing wrong having extraneous pictures always added at the end of my posts ( as in the ones below). I delete them and close but they reappear!

Sometimes, when you go on a fossil hunt, you find more than just fossils. Some friends and I traveled to southeastern Iowa in Spring '18 to scour the Mississippian for fossils, but while there, we noticed that many of the homes that we drove by sported geodes in their front yards. Intrigued, we decided to investigate for ourselves. As it turns out, the area is well-known for its geodes (Iowa's state rock is the geode), so we promptly decided that we had to collect some for ourselves. We eventually found a privately owned piece of property where we could fill a bucket with geodes for about $20, descended upon a stream cutting into the bedrock, and filled a bucket in short order. Then, on a return trip to Iowa a month later, we found another outcrop of geodes along the Mississippi River. Once again, we collected handfuls. Then, once we got back, we split them with a geode cracker. They varied in quality; some were stunningly beautiful, and others were less so. They were filled with all manner of minerals: some had chalcedony fillings; others had quartz crystals, and still others had minerals that I didn't recognize. The colors varied, too: pink, white, light blue, red, and brown. As it turns out, we were a little overzealous in our efforts; we collected about 50 pounds of rocks. We've given them away to as many friends would like them and have only just now run out of them a year later. Pictured below is a fraction of the haul. If you happen to find yourself in this neck of the woods, then remember: the Osagean of Iowa and Illinois has more than just crinoids. If you would like more information on them, where you can hunt for them, or even the annual Geode Fest, then check out this link. http://keokukiowatourism.org/geodes/index.php

Last fall I was out near Keokuk Iowa collecting geodes during Geodefest 2016. On a day hunt I was collecting really close to Keokuk, Iowa and Hamilton, IL and we were at a site in the Fox River. While collecting geodes I usually will find pieces of fossil corals and throw them in the bucket. I recently had a geode cracking party with a buddy last weekend finally cracking the geodes I collected and found this in a bucket from the trip. I know it was collected in the Fox River and I think the river is actually right over the Missouri border. Looks like a coral to me but wanted to see if I can get a confirmation on that or any more info. Thanks!

Last fall a buddy and I attended the annual Geodefest in Hamilton Illinois. Its a 3 day festival to collect and crack open the famous Keokuk geodes. The organizers hold half day hunts at various private and public locations to collect geodes. I have gone for 3 years now and its always a great time. And I always come home with buckets of geodes, big and small. My buddy and I had been talking about setting up a time to go through and crack our geodes but never found the time. Well last weekend I pulled out my soil pipe cutter and rigged it for a night of cracking! I loaded my truck with my buckets of rocks and my cutter and met over at my buddy's house. We spent 5 hours cracking over 4 five gallon buckets of geodes. His daughter also joined in the fun of the cracking! You never know what you are going to find in these rocks which is the fun. Here's highlights of the night. Enjoy!