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This is a cobbled together report of a couple of short excursions in July. Early in the month I took the kids to visit my mother at the old home in northern Pennsylvania. It was a nice escape from the heat and fun to introduce the kids to some of the areas I explored when I was their age. We spent a lot of time playing in the creek. Fresh, living biology was our main interest, but my daughter picked up a couple of nice fossils on the side. She secured a lovely plate, naturally oval shaped, less than 1 cm thick, full of cross-sectional crinoid segment impressions. She also found a nice plate of brachiopod casts. This area is Mississippian or Devonian. These are common fossils for the area, but it's pleasing to consider that these animals were fossilized for millions of years before the fauna we "normally" hunt evolved. Last weekend I got away for a few hours to hunt a local South Carolina waterway for Oligocene and newer material. The water level was ideal and the water was fairly clear, but the overcast conditions made for a bit less than ideal visibility. With the 90+ F air temperatures, being in the 80+ F water with mask and snorkel felt marvelous. I turned up a fair number of teeth of the typical broken-tipped and fragmented variety, mostly C. angustidens (I think) with a single very worn C. megalodon. There were a small handful of fairly nice smaller teeth mixed in. I picked up a couple of nice turtle plastron fragments with good surface detail. I also found an alligator osteoderm which I think is actually a modern piece. Sorry about the dark fossil photos--I never seem to have time to get good photos in daylight, but I'm going to work on it. G
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Hello! So I just got my hands on an old (34-year old) fossil guide for Pennsylvania. I found a couple nearby and somewhat promising fossil sites, but I don't know if their accessible nowadays. Does anybody know the status of these sites: -Blue Mountain roadcut on PA 641 in Roxbury, Franklin County -The Lesh Borrow Pit a mile southwest of Newport, Perry County I'm also curious if more fossil sites have popped up around sputh central PA since the 80's, so any info on that would be much appreciated. Thanks
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- fossil hunting
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This came from a Bloomsburg/Mifflintown formation - Silurian exposure. It was in piece of waste as I was trying, unsuccessfully to get a cephalapod out. I see parallel sets of circles on either side of a ridge. The fossil is about 1.5 centimeters long. Any ideas as to what this might be?
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Help planning large fossil trip in Pennsylvania
Fossil123 posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
(Note: this was originally posted under fossil trips) Hey there! I'm sorry its been so long since I've posted on here but suffice it to say I need your help. I'm planning a six to seven day fossil hunting trip in Pennsylvania (sometime in mid august) and I need your help verifying that the sites I've picked to visit from Robert Beards guide Rock Hounding Pennsylvania are still accessible to collecting as well as coverable given my time frame. The places I'm looking at hunting are sites 27. Beltzville State Park (Outcrops on shoreline), 28. Lehighton, Lehigh Canal (Former borrow pit and outcrop),30. Deer Lake (Borrow Pit), 33. Suedberg (Outcrop in former borrow pit), 35. Centralia (Former strip mine outcrop), 38. Rockville (Former quarry), 48. Walker Lake (Hillside and unpaved road), 51. PPL Montour Preserve (Hillside, Former borrow pit), 57. Uniontown (Former quarry). Any insights as to whether or not theses sites are still accessible to collecting, weather our not you believe covering all these sites within 6 to 7 days is possible, and any other tips and tidbits of information on the sites, and or planning a large trip like this etc, would be greatly appreciated! When I go I'm planning to take notes and pictures and then, when i get back, write a few essays illustrated with pics that I will post on here! Thank you in advance, and thank you to Fossil-Hound for directing me on were to properly post this! Glenn aka Fossil123 -
Hello! Was hoping someone could tell me what i found today. Pretty sure it is a tooth. Im on vacation in pennsylvania and my buddy had some stone put down on his driveway; i found the tooth with the new gravel. Any info would be appreciated. I live close to the indiana university but will not be back for a week and I am really excited and do not want to wait to find out.
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I find bones and fossils along the river all the time and am always curious to what they are/ belong to. This looks to be a dog or coyote... If anyone has a better idea of what this jaw bone could belong to, I would love your input! Thank you!
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So excited when this echinoderm I bought online arrived today! It is Camptostroma roddyi specimen from a private property at Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, from the Kinzer Formation. I dont know much about this enigmatic Cambrian echinoderm nor the formation it came from but I cant wait to add this to my small collection of echinoderms.
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Hello, I am brand new to this forum and would like to start things off with a fossil I found yesterday in North Central Pa. It was found in a side cut along a highway amongst shale and siltstone. I have no idea what it is but am leaning towards some type or coral maybe?? Let me know your thoughts. And the fossil was found in the hole of the rock that I had split open. Thanks!
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Okay on my recent and probably last visit to Waynesboro, I found two more possible fossils. The first one I believe to be a burrow just like the last one. The second I think is either the same or just a sediment filled crack, as it seems another younger deposit is over it (it looks like a river from the conglomerate which has pebbles of this maroon shale in it). I think it's waynesboro formation chewsville member, Cambrian in age. The site is pretty unfossiliferous. If anyone wants to check it's by the McDonald's.
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Found today by a friend in PA. Someone suggested it might be a sponge but I can't find any images that resemble it. Thanks, and as always, much appreciated.
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So I found myself in waynesboro, Pennsylvania one fine evening, and along a side walk I saw some rock outcrops that had been cut for the road and I saw a rock that caught my eye. I decided to take a look, and the rock looked large strange, white, and bumpy. I didn't take it though because I thought I may look a little strange caring a large slab of rock, plus it was behind some construction stuff, so I left it be. But however, I did also see this red slab that appears to be shale with some other types of rock around it. I don't know if it is still Gettysburg shale up there, I couldn't find a geological map for franklin county. There were lots of rock types in the cut. Anyway, this rocks got two lines, of concave and one convex which look to be something, and I hope I have not found another burrow as they seem to haunt me at every turn. If this is a fossil, it will be the first one found in waynesboro that I could find refrence to. Tell me what you guys think. By the way the multitude of faint black diagonal lines are because of the window the light is shine through.
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This was published in my local paper. I visited this site when I was in third grade, almost 40 years ago. It's about a 30 minute drive from my home. I'll have to visit some time again and take my kids. Looks like fun! http://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/051017/page/1/story/fossil-pit-makes-impression
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Hello, These plates are from the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian) of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. I am not very familiar with Devonian fishes, so I have made my guesses based on abundant forms in the area / formation. I am hoping that some of the Devonian fish experts might be able to verify or otherwise identify them. The first composite photo are scales of what I am calling the lobe-fin Holoptychius sp. The second composite photo is armor of what I am tentatively calling Bothriolepis sp. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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This week we found ourselves headed for Carbon County, PA and looked up some places to go hunting. St. Clair was out, but there were some references to Carbondale here and there. As the name suggests, Carbondale was a coal mining town. There are active and inactive areas all over town, much of it fossiliferous. The most popular spot seems to be the one we went to, a tailings pile next to an apartment complex off of Westside Rd. The land status is unknown, but there were was nothing posted, so we ventured in as many have done before us. Our directions said to follow the gravel path between the third and fourth buildings on the right, then bear left and continue to the en of the ravel road, where you'd see a "mountain of tailings." When we parked, I looked from side to side for a pile I expected to be maybe the size of a van. From behind me, I hear my husband say, "Oh, that mountain of tailings." I looked from side to side. No, her told me, look straight ahead and up. Oh! It was indeed a mountain! The pile loomed above the rich grove. How did I miss that? (On a return trip a couple days later, I noticed it also loomed over the apartments!) A narrow trail leads through the woods to a meadow and a bare section of wall just asking to be explored. April was the perfect time to go as all the weeds were down from the winter snows and not yet regrowing much. The trees growing from the wall itself provided just enough footing for me to climb without sliding back down - until I wanted to. Whee! Once I reached the wall, it took me only seconds to spot my first bit of Calamities bark, and then another, and then a complete, 3D stalk section! After about an hour of searching I spotted a limb sticking put of the fine slate crumbs and pulled it out. It was a chunk of Calamites stalk as big as my outstretched hand. I spent a total of about 5 hours over two days scrabbling across a sheer wall of loose shale. Ferns! Leaves! Roots! Seeds! Bark of all different textures! Some of the ferns were incredibly detailed. One had all the miniscule veins outlined in red (pyrite?), while others were just extremely fine impressions in the grey rock. As it turns out, the gravel road itself runs across an overgrown tailings pile. Here and there you can find exposed rock, including bark plates bigger than dinner dishes! After spending what felt like an hour on day 2 (It turned out to be three hours!!!) I decided it was time for lunch and slid down the hill like a little kid. There at the base of the hill, was mu find for the week: a whole section of tree(?) trunk with bark all the way around the specimen. It was lying alone in the woods on some leaves, just waiting for someone to wander off the beaten path. I debated about bringing it home. It was so big! Hubby was snoozing on a nearby rock. Rocks are not his thing and bringing home piles of them doubly so, but he is so sweet that he picked that heavy thing up before I could blink and carried it to the car himself. He's a keeper! It will take quite some time to photograph all my treasures, but I will post in the comments here when I have an album together.
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Found in a small creek that runs behind my house. Northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. My first thought was it looks like a crab leg. I was told it is just water wear. Move ahead 3 years and I show it to someone else. I'm told it could be an Eurypterid. Any help on ID'ing this? Thanks!
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Hi All! My name is Kevin, and I moved to Pennsylvania in January for engineering. Now that things are thawing out I'd like to visit some fossil sites and get to pickin'. One of my coworkers in Geology mentioned that PA is a fantastic area for geologic formations and I've already seen some awesome faulting via road cuts while traversing the roads from Sayre (my base) to Mehoopany. I'm originally from Stamford, CT and have visited PA quite often but have never gone collecting. My grandfather was a geologist and I've got a ton of mineral/fossil specimens sitting around the house but would like to add a few of my own, although they will likely be less spectacular. I've been cruising the forums for a few days now collecting information but would still like to know who is in the area, and what other sites folks might recommend. I understand somebody has soured the St. Clair site (very distasteful action on the collectors part there) but would welcome advice on areas for ferns, Trilobites, or other fossils or minerals of interest. Pretty much anything within a two or three hour drive of Sayre is within reach for me. Any equipment recommendations are also welcome, my bud informed me of different sledges and picks and chisels, but as to the appropriate type for different digging I haven't had much elucidation. Looking forward to talking with everyone and glad to see a forum dedicated to such a cool hobby! Kevin
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From the album: Carbondale, PA
I found a whole plate of these, but somehow only the one example made it home. 13mm long Carbondale, PA Lewellyn Formation Pennsylvanian period 299-323 myo -
From the album: Carbondale, PA
Unidentified species of petrified wood Carbondale, PA Lewellyn Formation Pennsylvanian period 299-323 myo -
From the album: Carbondale, PA
Syringodendron sp. (Sigillaria family) Carbondale, PA Lewellyn Formation Pennsylvanian period -
From the album: Carbondale, PA
Calamities sp., a tree-like plant with hollow, woody stem that grew more than 100 ft high (30m). Found in a tailings pile in Carbondale, PA. -
I spent the afternoon fossiling. I've always called these turnitella. Is this correct/are they even identifiable? They're from the Surilian - Wills Creek Formation. I did no prep except a quick rinse. I'm looking forward to working on these. I've also posted in the Pennsylvania section 3 different "forms" of Favosites that I found in the same formation.
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Tiny Trilobite Pygidium on Trepospira Gastropod
Jeffrey P posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Carboniferous from PA.
Ditomopyge decurtata (trilobite pygidium on Trepospira gastropod) Pennsylvanian Period Ames Limestone Mundys Corner, PA.- 1 comment
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Tiny Trilobite Pygidium from Pennsylavanian of Western PA.
Jeffrey P posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
I was cleaning up this small Trepospira gastropod I found in 2015 in an exposure of the Ames Limestone in Western Pennsylvania and discovered attached to it is this very, very tiny trilobite pygidium- my first trilobite find of the Pennsylvanian Age.
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