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Fossil Forum members were well represented at the Illinois Canal Corridor Association's Mazon Creek collecting event this weekend. My wife and I were able to make the 11 hour drive out Friday to join them and we enjoyed a productive afternoon in the creek Saturday gathering several buckets of concretions to take our first crack at freeze thaw. We also found a number of already opened specimens to wet our whistle while we do our best to be patient. Here are some of our better finds even if some are a little water worn. New to us, so the trip is already a success regardless of what the unopened concretions may be hiding. A few close ups: No clue about these last 2, the 2nd may just be worn and isn't the center plane so I will probably try to freeze/thaw it. It was nice being able to get out and chat with others while collecting and learning about a new to me location. Special thanks to @connorp for putting up with all our questions.
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Here are two interesting Mazon Creek flora nodules that popped yesterday. I believe they are both assigned to Rhacophyllum. If so, I am excited, I have not come across this "genus" before. Rhacophyllum cornutum Rhacophyllum fucoideum I am pretty confident on the IDs but confirmation is always great. I am quite interested however in the second specimen. It appears that there is a root-like structure emanating from the central base. I cannot find many images of R. fucoideum online so I am not sure if this is significant or not. As usual, any thoughts are appreciated.
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Mystery Piece Found Along With Edestus Teeth Illinois Coal Mine Carboniferous
Kurufossils posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hi all, this strange piece came with a batch of edestus fossils that were found in a coal mine in Illinois. Have no idea what it could be, the front seems to be coated in black coal mostly while the back has what appears to be ridges. All I know about the location is it was found in a coal mine along with some edestus teeth that is Carboniferous in age. Hoping with some help to get to the bottom of this mystery.
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I am somewhat hopeful that this is an example of Amynilyspes (a pill millipede), but would like to get another opinion. It was found open and is a bit worn. @Nimravis @bigred97 @flipper559 A close up of the "tergites"
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Hey everyone, scrabbling around Santa Fe and found a nice spot with tons of shells and some crinoid stem parts, when I came across a round piece I thought at first a vertebra. The next time I went out with a friend she found some points and we found more smaller pieces and thought some kind of snail, but not an obvious twist. now I'm leaning toward a mineral formation? Any help would be awesome. Last picture is a shell to give an idea of the surroundings...
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Hey all, Iv been a fossil fan since childhood and recently started searching out local spots, hoping to lean all I can from you all.
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Hi all, Recently going through some of my Stark Shale material and prepping some of it and this little specimen has me wondering if it’s a tooth. It’s probably pareidolia but the lip at the bottom appears to have a sort of smoothness to it unlike the two protrusions. I'm not sure if the honeycombed structure is bone or cartilage but I’m trying to decide if I should prep it any further and any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated. @Petalodus12 @connorp 1. 2. 3. Thanks!
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- carboniferous
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A few weeks ago @Jeffrey P and I met up in Eastern Pennsylvania to collect plant material in the Late Pennsylvanian Llewellyn Formation. We started our day at Centralia and then made our way to another site. I have visited Centralia a few times now but Jeff had never been there before. Our hope was to find Jeff a nice Trigonocarpus seed but unfortunately our efforts did not come up with anything. The pickings at Centralia were rather slim. However, we did see in-situ a large segment of Stigmaria ficoides root with rootlets. I ended up only keeping a few finds. The first is this Sphenopteris sp. I also kept this plate with several Lepidodendron branches After about an hour we made our way to the second site and spent the rest of the day there. I love to visit this site because I seem to keep finding something new on every visit. This time around I decided to break down a huge block and ended up with a lot of exciting finds. Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatum Cross section of a Calamites cistii trunk showing the cell structure Asterophyllites longifolius Asterophyllites sp. Terminal Shoots Asterophyllites sp. (including this really big Calamites branch) Sphenophyllum emarginatum Cyclopteris fimbriata(?) Cyclopteris sp. I have found other seed ferns at the site before, but Laveineopteris rarinervis is definitely the most common fern. It also seems to be the only fern of which you will find blades. While splitting the large block down, I ended up breaking on a plane that exposed multiple Laveineopteris rarinervis blades. Unfortunately the largest blade was cut off by the end of the rock. Perhaps against my better judgment I decided to carry the huge plate out. Even after cutting off the excess rock at home it is still very heavy. And just because it would not be a hunt in the Llewellyn Formation without me finding something that I totally don't know what it is, here is a mystery plant.
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Need Help With Woody Structures from Glenshaw Formation: Mahoning Shale of Western Pennsylvania
minnbuckeye posted a topic in Fossil ID
I had the opportunity to collect plant fossils in Western Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. Success was had IDing the fern leaves. But I am having difficulty identifying the woody pieces found that are not Calamites. These came from the Glenshaw Formation, Mahoning Shale which is Pennsylvanian. I realize that a decaying swamp is full of twigs that likely are unidentifiable, but there seems to be structure in at least some of these which could lead to some sort of identification. I am hoping those knowledgeable with the Pennsylvanian flora can chime in. 1. Here are some larger pieces of plant material. Probably unidentifiable. Is the orange all plant with the centers structure being the piths or is the orange area staining and the only "wood" is the "pith" area? 2. Some smaller "twigs": 3. This one has evenly spaced projections which hopefully aid in identification. 4. This piece has some unique pattern to the wood: 5. Many circular items were exposed by spitting the shale. Would these be seeds or seed pods? 6. I like how busy and colorful this piece is. Is there anything identifiable? 7. Different types of plant material. Ideas? 8. This stem exhibits a pattern to it that may help with identification Thanks for looking!! I will try and post a trip report after improving my IDs!!!
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This weekend I was able to spend a couple hours breaking rock at one of my favorite Pennsylvanian sites. This site exposes the lowest units of the Carbondale Formation, from the top down: Mecca Quarry Shale (MQS), Francis Creek Shale, Colchester No. 2 Coal, paleosol. At various times both the St. Peter Sandstone and Platteville Group (both Ordovician) have been exposed at the bottom of the pits (they were not visible this trip), representing a major unconformity in the area. The concretions from the Francis Creek Shale (i.e. Mazon Creek fossils) are not productive here - my area of focus was instead the MQS. As far as I can tell, the MQS is no longer exposed here. But at the base of the MQS in some locations are large limestone concretions which is what we find here. The limestone is very hard and when freshly exposed does not split easily, so collecting is best limited to limestone which has been weathering for some time. The most abundant fossils in the MQS here are bivalves, but occasionally brachiopods, cephalopods, gastropods, plant material, and fish bits show up. Here are some of my favorite finds. A partial Listracanthus hystrix shark denticle Dunbarella sp. Fish regurgitant (mainly palaeoniscoid bits) Desmoinesia muricatina with an attached spine Pyritized Dunbarella sp. Pseudorthoceras knoxense with several encrusting serpulid worm tubes Just one of many tiny isolated fish bones found Palaeoniscoid scale The base of a Petrodus shark denticle Possibly a bit of cartilage? This is perhaps my most interesting find, although I am not positive on the ID. I believe the spine is a fin spine from an acanthodian, and thus would assume the scales are acanthodian scales? Any thoughts are appreciated. @jdp
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From the album: Carboniferous from PA.
Laveineopteris rarinervis Gymnosperm Frond Upper Pennsylvanian Llewellyn Formation Locustdale, PA A gift from historianmichael. Thanks Mike.-
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On Saturday I took a trip to collect some Late Pennsylvanian plant material from the Llewellyn Formation of Pennsylvania. I am still working through my finds and identifying everything, but as an initial matter I had a question about two pieces. I have a guess on what they can be and was hoping someone might be able to confirm my suspicions. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you! First, I believe that this fossil preserves the cell structure of a Calamites stem Second, are these the terminal shoots of Asterophyllites? Unfortunately some of it broke in transport back to my house but I took a more complete photo of it in the field. I found a similar example on another piece
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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"?
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From the Atrasado Formation in San Diego Canyon, New Mexico. Took a couple of younger friends fossil hunting, and we found a good bed. This one's a real beauty. My photographic equipment is primitive and doesn't do it justice. Graptolites and something else. Not sure what the circular structures are; I don't have the equipment for proper microphotography. There is a very clear echinoderm plate elsewhere in the sample so I'm wondering if these are some kind of echinoderm. They're very clear under the loupe and obviously fossils, not sedimentary structures. Bryozoans. This particular bed was thick with the stem bryozoans in the second photograph, as well as scads of brachiopods and a few crinoid stems.
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Coral fossils? From a recent trip to the Payson area, Arizona. Possibly Naco Formation.
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Over the past year I've I found two tiny ammonoids from a site in the Carbondale Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian) of Illinois. Both measure approximately 5mm in diameter. The first specimen below showed no details of the exterior of the shell, which I believe are necessary in identifying these. This week I found a second specimen (maybe a different species) which does show the suture pattern. I'm hoping that this specimen is identifiable. Part Counterpart Does anyone recognize the species? Thanks!
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I found this little critter in some Pennsylvanian micro matrix I brought home. I am guessing it's an odd crinoid but it is also not like any I've come across. Any info will be appreciated! Size 1/4 inch
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Lysorophian donated to Field Museum
deutscheben posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
Last year @jdp was kind enough to identify the tiny and jumbled skeleton I found in a concretion in eastern Illinois http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/107472-mysterious-jumble-inside-pennsylvanian-concretion/ as a lysorophian tetrapod and direct me to the Field Museum in Chicago as a possible repository for it. This month I finally completed the donation and it has been added to their collection, a fantastic event for someone who has been visiting the museum for more than 30 years to gaze in wonder at their world-class collection. Thank you again to @jdp and The Fossil Forum for making this possible!- 15 replies
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So.....I was splitting my last piece of Pennsylvanian stark shale member, between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone from a 2x2' 2" thick piece, I found some cool conodonts, a lot of scolecodonts, and amassing a pile of split shale, when I came upon yet another listracanthus/fish spine, about 5-6cm in length and very slender (2-3mm in width). I have both positive and negative pieces (depicted here). I scan all of these to see the pattern, faint impressions of a wider segment (as seen in photo 6 ), and in this particular specimen noted the shiny black cracks and creases surrounding the fossil. I see this very commonly in shale (and my understanding is it reflects rapid cooling of heated material?). In addition however, I saw what simply appeared to be conglomerations of, for lack of a better term, "worms" (Circled in blue in photo 2 and red in photo 6). Now stay with me on this one! Under microscopic evaluation numerous ''nematode" shaped objects adjacent to the spine are present, measuring 0.3-0.8mm in length are noted. Most are broken but there are some mostly intact. Several demonstrate fine "annelid" rings, (denoted by arrows) but I don't think these are annelids? At first I thought the preservation was too good to be real, but I have denoted numerous impressions in the shapes of worms, even to the point of the "rings". In reviewing nematode and annelid taxa, I don't see any mouthparts to make these polychaetes, and found reference to "ringed" nematodes. I hope someone can confirm or tell me if these are something else. I have placed circles (blue and red) around the groups, and arrows on salient features of impressions and the worms themselves. Also labeled a couple more intact individuals with an "N", but most are broken. If this is a reasonable observation, then this is one of the coolest things I have ever found!!!!! Fingers crossed I am on the right track!!!....Worst case, it is a plant piece with adjacent plant nematodes, which are very common nowadays and worst worst case, I am totally off track . There are 13 photos, with some seemingly one image but if you look close, they are separate if that helps. as always, thanks all!!! Have fun with these and let me know!! Bone
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I found this a while back, but finally saw it as an Ammonoid. But which one I wonder. It is pretty thin. Unseen is the inner umbilical groove, but it’s likely not important for ID. Opposite side is unremarkable.
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Western PA Specimen Collection - Fossils of Parks Township
cngodles posted a topic in Member Collections
Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here posting a link. I spent my weekend finally putting my catalog into a proper database, and creating a user interface for it. I used to use Google Sheets, which is pretty great. If I wanted to, I could use them as the source of data, but I decided to create a proper MYSQL database so I can keep relationships across tables, such as the stratigraphy of particular find locations. I have many more improvements coming for it, but it is at least functional right now. Everything from CG-0001 to CG-0161 is from the Glenshaw Formation, Conemaugh Group. https://fossil.15656.com/catalog/ I also maintain a thread with individual photos here, just not everything: https://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/94495-pennsylvanian-fossils-from-the-glenshaw-formation/- 6 replies
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Paleontologic Data Fossilized on IBM 8” Floppies Posted April 13, 2020 by Ben Muddiman, Ivo Duijnstee and Cindy Looy University of Chicago Museum of Paleontology Yours, Paul
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This was found in the Pennsylvanian LaSalle Limestone of Illinois. My best guess is that the "top" specimen is a fragment of a conulariid, and that the "bottom" specimen is a fragment of an inarticulate brachiopod. But as I have never found any trace of a conulariid at this site, I was hoping to get a second opinion. It measures about 0.75cm at the widest dimension. Inarticulate brachiopod? Close ups of the "conulariid"
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Crania Crania modesta is a rare calcium carbonate Pennsylvanian inarticulate brachiopod. The shell is very thin and the ornamentation of the shell below shows through. You can see the interior of a near circular 4.6 by 4.8 mm pedicle valve that attached itself to aLinoproductus prattenianus (photo #1). A bryozoan also covers the front and back of the Linoproductus (photos #2 & #4). Photo #2 is a different photo of the same Crania as in photo #1. The Crania has a thickened rim and a sub central knob. Rowell (1965, p. 289) lists Crania as the only Pennsylvanian genus with a calcified pedicle valve as stated by Sutherland (1973, p. 16). The presence of a large bryozoan colony on the backside of the Linoproductus valve (photo #4) suggests why only the pedicle valve of the Crania was preserved. The entire Linoproductus shell with the Crania and small bryozoan colony on top (photo #2) was flipped over allowing the bryozoan to grow on the other side. The brachial valve dissolved away or was broken off from exposure before it was buried. The brachial valve was probable very thin like the pedicle valve. Taxonomy from GBIF. Photo 3 from plate 11, figure 17 from Mudge 1962. Mudge, M. R., Yochelson, E. L., Douglas, R. C. et al. 1962. Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Uppermost Pennsylvanian and Lowermost Permian Rocks in Kansas. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 323:1-213. https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0323/report.pdf Rowell, A. J. 1965. Inarticulata. In: R.C. Moore (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part H. Brachiopoda, H260–H296. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Boulder. Sutherland, P. K. and F. H. Harlow. 1973. Pennsylvanian brachiopods and biostratigraphy in southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico. Memoirs of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources 27:1–171. Free download: https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/memoirs/27/ First description in: White, C. A. and St. John, O. H. 1867. Descriptions of new sub-Carboniferous and Coal Mesures fossils collected upon the geological survey of Iowa, together with a notice of new generic characters observed in two species of brachiopods. Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1:115-127.
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- arizona
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Some more fossils that I acquired from fellow members of the local rockhound club, a couple who spend their Winters down there (except this past Covid year). I've got the location info but not the accurate stratigraphic info nor IDs. These are from two different locations in the Payson area. According to the maps in Gem Trails of Arizona (which the couple used to find the sites), the horn corals are from a spot along a road on the way to 'Agate Mountain', and the colonial types are from Houston Mesa, "right at the top of the hill". I don't know if the two locations are the same formation, or...? (I guess they are all Naco Fm/Group(?) but more specific info is harder to find and I can see myself spending several more hours tracking it down.) Agate Mtn: Houston Mesa:
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