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Showing results for tags 'pennsylvanian'.
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From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
CONCAVE HALF OF SIDERITE CONCRETION, FOUND AS-IS. SPECIMEN 24mm X 14mm (15/16" x 9/16"). -
Maybe 6-7 years ago, I was at a local gem/mineral show. There was really just one dealer with a variety of fossils. it was a mix of what was left of a family collection that he had bought plus other stuff he picked up. He had lowered the price on whatever hadn't sold at the previous show. He had several Mazon Creek specimens - mostly small "ferns" in nodules plus a weird arthropod-looking thing. I had hardly any Mazon Creek stuff other than what I think is a Paleoxyris so I asked him what he would take for the group. It was super-cheap so I bought the pile. I thought it was cool that I got both halves as it makes it a more interesting display piece. The nodule is about 2 1/2 inches (58mm) long It was labelled simply as "Will County, IL cone" so I was left to assume it's a Mazon Creek piece just out of what it looks like. is it a cone? If so, what plant?. If not, what is it? I have an older reference for the plants of the deposit, "Guide to Pennsylvanian Fossil Plants of Illinois" by james R. Jennings but it's buried in a box somewhere and may be outdated. I'll still try to dig that out just to see what it says. I request the opinions of the "Mazon Creek regulars," the names I see pop up when the subject of the fauna and flora comes up, plus anyone else with an interest. @RCFossils @Nimravis, @deutscheben, @connorp Thanks, Jess
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E0016 Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri basal pinnule
Mark Kmiecik posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SPLIT BY HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 15mm X 15mm (5/8" x 5/8"). BASAL PINNULE. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
CONVEX HALF SIDERITE CONCRETION, FOUND AS IS. APPARENTLY HAMMERED AND DISCARDED BY SOMEONE. SPECIMEN 44mm. X 12mm (1-3/4" x 1/2"). -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SPLIT BY HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 18mm X 9mm (11/16" x 3/8"). CONVEX HALF LOOSE IN MATRIX. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
CONCAVE HALF OF SIDERITE CONCRETION, FOUND AS-IS.SPECIMEN 23mm X 15mm (7/8" x 5/8"). -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SPLIT BY HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 50mm X 18mm (2" x 11/16"). ACETIC ACID BATH APPLIED. -
Last Sunday I took the day to scout some former coal-mined land in western Indiana as well as revisit some sites I hadn’t been to in a few years. The mines at these sites were working the Springfield, Hymera, and Danville coals at various points in the mid-late 20th century. The land has been reclaimed to varying degrees, but I hoped that typical Mazon Creek-like fossil-bearing concretions could still be found, despite almost no information in the literature. Temperatures were a little chilly with the wind blowing as I arrived at the first site. There to greet me was a herd of cattle grazing on the property, including this friendly? individual. I looked at the ground as I walked along the road to the property and quickly saw some promising concretion-shaped rocks. In a very good sign, I also found a faint but distinctive fern that had already split. The finds weren’t frequent, but consistent enough to keep me searching. In addition to the cows, I was completely surprised to find my myself joined by a veritable army of black and yellow flat-backed millipedes that were marching along the ground everywhere I turned. I have never seen anything like it! Here are two of them making their way somewhere. Out in the pasture I came across this sizable cable, which I can only imagine is a remnant of the former mining activity. I ended up with about a gallon of concretions and I’m excited to see what they may hide within. I did find one additional already split fern as well. I then made a short drive to the second site I had in mind. This one also presented me with immediate encouragement, with this tiny Neuropteris pinnule showing up only a few feet from where I parked my car. Walking up and down a dirt/gravel road under construction, I found many potential concretions, including this faint Annularia and an interesting one with a productid brachiopod poking out. I collected a nice little pile of concretions from this site and made my way to the final location, where I had collected previously a few years back. Here I found at least a gallon of nice-shaped concretions, and also came across an already-split Macroneuropteris, my first mostly-complete one from here. It was a beautiful day to be outside and as a bonus I now have many concretions to start freeze-thawing- hopefully these promising shapes will pay off and I will have some new sites to start visiting regularly.
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While on my way to a family reunion in Michigan, I detoured a little south of Chicago to avoid traffic, take a break from driving, and explore a road cut in Oglesby, Illinois. Poison ivy is more than present at this location and I found plenty of it. I am still itching 2 weeks after visiting this site. But my finds make up for it. I was disappointed that no teeth were discovered this trip. Do they occur in a particular level of the Bond Formation???? Anyways, here are some of my finds. Brachiopods are the predominant fossil in the La Salle. So much that a piece of matrix often contains multiple specimens. Now my identification ability of Pennsylvanian fossils is marginal. So take the guesses I made with a grain of salt. Please point out any corrections needed!!!!!!! Thanks. I was tickled when my hammer popped open this large Linoproductus, revealing the inner surface of both the pedal and brachial valve. Other Linoproductus: And another large specimen: On to other species: Up next is Parajuresania nebrascensis. They look similar to Linoproductus but with definite differences. Parajuresania is smaller, has stronger growth lines, and many more spines than Linoproductus. Finally, my favorite to photograph. As can be seen, Composita vary greatly in size. There are two species mentioned in the Bond Formation, but I found only the wider and rounder C. argentina. My final group of pictures involve a piece of matrix that I split open, revealing a few goodies. First off, My hammer cut off the top of this brachiopod in the matrix, revealing a crystal filled interior!! Very beautiful in person!! But something else was showing on the other side. It took quite a bit of work with my Dremel to reveal what it was. Thats cool enough, but there is more. An inarticulate brachiopod, Orbiculoidea missouriensis was attached to the Conularia. To make it even better, on the other side of the specimen was another Orbiculoiea attached!! What a surprising rock!! I have been typing too long. I need to go scratch instead. So I hope my trip to the Bond /La Salle/Pennsylvanian was interesting. Mike
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Calling on the usual members, again, to either confirm or refute my attempt at ID on these five Mazon Creek specimens. Thanks in advance. @bigred97 @connorp @deutscheben @fiddlehead @flipper559 @Nimravis @Plantguy @RCFossils @Runner64 @stats @TheRocksWillShoutHisGlory Oops, just realized I did not include any size info. These are all close to the same size -- about 1.5 inches (4.25 cm) in the greatest dimension.
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- carboniferous
- francis creek shale
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What did Petrodus sharks look like? (Are they known only from denticles?)
Gramps posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
All, I have been finding a few dermal denticles in Northeast Oklahoma Pennsylvanian shales. Based on published reports and images from our area, I believe these are Petrodus. I’ve attached an image of two denticles I found yesterday. I’ve been looking for images of the entire shark because I’m curious about the animal’s overall appearance; however, I’m only finding images of the denticles. Do scientists know what these sharks looked like, and if so, does anyone know of resources containing overall images? Best wishes.
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- dermal denticle
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From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SEPARATED BY FREEZE/THAW METHOD & LIGHT HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 40mm X 4mm (1-9/16" x 3/16"). EXHIBITS UNUSUAL STRIATIONS. MILD SULFURIC ACID BATH. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SEPARATED BY FREEZE/THAW METHOD & LIGHT HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 18mm X 10mm (11/16" x 3/8"). MILD SULFURIC ACID BATH. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SEPARATED BY FREEZE/THAW METHOD & LIGHT HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 22mm X 14mm (7/8" x 9/16"). SINGLE WHORL. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SEPARATED BY FREEZE/THAW METHOD & LIGHT HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 27mm X 25mm (1-1/16" x 1"). SINGLE WHORL WITH INTERESTING PROXIMAL FEATURE. -
From the album: Mark's Mazon Creek Fossils
BOTH HALVES SIDERITE CONCRETION, SPLIT BY HAMMER BLOW. SPECIMEN 21mm X 18mm (13/16" x 11/16"). CONVEX HALF BROKEN IN HALF, GLUED. -
I had this Mazon Creek arthropod open recently. It was collected from the Braidwood fauna (freshwater/terrestrial), so initially I thought this was just a tiny syncarid shrimp as they are the most common arthropod to find here. However looking at it closer, I'm not so sure and was hoping for a second opinion. In particular, the legs are short and spiny and do not look like shrimp legs to me, although I may be wrong. Here are images of the positive and negative sides of the "head", middle, and rear, respectively. I put "head" in quotes because I can't tell if this is the head of the animal, or if it continues more into the concretion. @RCFossils @Nimravis @Mark Kmiecik @deutscheben @stats @bigred97 @flipper559 Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Picked this up in Woodbine as erosion control rock, thinking it's Pennsylvanian from out west of here though. Not familiar enough with corals and preservation like this to be certain it's rugose since some shapes are odd. What's more curious is the tiny circles which were difficult to get clear pictures of, most can't be picked up on an image. They appear to be spirals and not all are identical. Stumped as to what they are. Have an area highlighted to show size, the largest one a little over one mm, the smallest almost microscopic.
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I'm chipping away at what I think is brush creek limestone to find what I think is Mooreoceras (first two pics) and Metacoceras. I have no idea what the last fossil is. All help is appreciated, thank you.
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5 Mazon Creek specimens that need confirmation or species ID
Mark Kmiecik posted a topic in Fossil ID
Calling on the usual members, again, to either confirm or refute my attempt at ID on these five Mazon Creek specimens. Thanks in advance. @bigred97 @connorp @deutscheben @fiddlehead @flipper559 @Nimravis @Plantguy @RCFossils @Runner64 @stats @TheRocksWillShoutHisGlory
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Here is a brachiopod that I am completely lacking a guess on its identity. The specimen is from the Bond Formation, LaSalle Limestone, Pennsylvanian, found in LaSalle County, Illinois. It is tiny for the formation's other brachiopods.
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Tiny bryozoan-like pattern Pennsylvanian find - Texas - (New Photos)
BobWill posted a topic in Fossil ID
This is from the Finis Shale in the Pennsylvanian, Graham Formation at Jack County, Texas. It had no visible features except for a rectangular patch of a different color from the matrix until I magnified it. The images are using an inexpensive usb microscope set to 250x so not great resolution but it's all I have. It looks like the grid pattern you see on some fenestrate bryozpoas but these are just way too small. The closest image has a total height of about 1 mm.
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An ID post for a similarly shaped object @Mark Kmiecik made last month reminded me of this Pennsylvanian concretion I found a while ago at an eastern Illinois spoil pile. It has a shape and texture suggestive of a piece of chondrichthyan cartilage as @fiddlehead had mentioned in the earlier post, although the pattern is not well-defined like it is in other cartilage finds I have made. Thoughts? I’ll loop @jdp in too while I’m at it.
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The Francis Creek Shale in northeast Illinois is best known for producing Mazon Creek concretions. However, the shale itself also contains an extremely diverse and well preserved flora (and fauna occasionally). Unfortunately, the shale is extremely soft, and quickly weathers to clumps of clay. This makes collecting from the shale very challenging, and most collectors don't even bother trying. On a recent trip I found some fresh chunks of shale and decided to try and save some of the plants. Even working with fresh shale, it was still very hard to extract anything. Larger pieces crumbled easily, flat surfaces flaked as they dried, and some fossils were destroyed just by accidentally brushing a finger against them. These specimens represent what I was able to save. They have been sitting out for over a week now and seem stable as long as they are not handled, but only time will tell if they last. Crenulopteris acadica Crenulopteris subcrenulata Neuropteris fimbriata (seed fern pinnule) Lepidostrobophyllum lanceolatus (cone bracts) On the left is a fern I am unsure of, any thoughts are appreciated. On the right is Stigmarioides. I have not found many examples of this taxa in concretions but it seems fairly common in the shale. I think this is also Stigmarioides. Many of the scars are plugged with pyrite - it was bright gold when I first split the shale but oxidation has darkened it. Hopefully these will last, but if not I wanted to post photographs in case they don't.
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I have several specimens that look similar, the best of which are attached. The margin of the leaves have deep dentation (is that the right term for it?) or very long fine notches. I found them in central Pennsylvania, in a Pennsylvanian period coal strip mine. Any idea on a genus or species?
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