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Showing results for tags 'pottsville formation'.
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Yesterday, I spent about 30-45 minutes sitting in a pile of mud/rocks and practicing breaking apart softer rocks with a hammer and chisel (a little closer to shale--pretty easy to split into layers--but I'm not sure?) to see what I could find. This was one of the prettiest things I found! Northeast Alabama, US. Pottsville Formation. Thank you for your patience with my lack of knowledge. I'm currently waiting for a paycheck so I can purchase a book that will hopefully decrease my posts here!
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Northeast Alabama. Pottsville Formation. This is embedded in a large boulder (with multiple other fossils) that we dug out of the ground within the past 6 months. I'm not sure yet how to remove or clean it. Not the greatest quality photo (my apologies), but I am assuming this is Lepidodendron bark?
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Is this a Lepidodendron root? Northeast Alabama, US. Pottsville Formation.
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- alabama
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Is this a whorl of a Sphenophyllum sp.? Northeast Alabama, US. Pottsville Formation.
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This needs to be cleaned up a bit I think, but I found this cool fossil on Friday afternoon! Northeast Alabama, US. Pottsville Formation. I still don't have any good reference books (plan to order this week), but with my internet digging it looked like this could possibly be a spore cone from one of the clubmosses (like Lepidodendron sp.)? Any help/guidance is much appreciated!
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- alabama
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Northeast Alabama. Pottsville Formation. Beautiful (and tiny) fern fossils I found a couple of days ago. I would love some help with an ID (or even someone to point me to a guide)! Photos are from my cell phone, but I plan on taking more with a better camera this week
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Hello y'all! I got an opportunity to visit a trackway site locally. It was a hot steamy day for the crazy in me. When I got to the site, it had overgrown considerably since the last visit. There were patches of exposure that could be seen... while walking around scanning those exposures I see this five foot boulder thinking it could be split into, ... surprisingly it was easy peasy. It contained Mariopteris Fern fossils and the find of the day, Attenosaurus tracks of a large tetrapod amphibian affectionately called "Frogzilla" that predates the dinosaurs! Another surprise was that I didn't destroy the fossil by whacking off excess stone... 99% of the time I wind up having to glue pieces back together! It split in half beautifully, providing the negative plate with both prints and separate positive prints of those tracks! My day was done... the tracks are my first find ever! It was a bucket list item for this site where I have found many tetrapod trackways in the past. Carboniferous Period, Pottsville Formation, Southeastern USA.
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- carboniferous period
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Central AL Pottsville Formation What are these round, flat cookie shaped things? Stromatoporoids? Mineral concretions? Thanks for looking!
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crane Hill, AL -Carboniferous Wondering if any of these could be fossils such as bivalves or brachiopods or if they are limonite concretions? Y the one below looks a bit like a lingua in person, but hard to see in the pic Would it be beneficial to try to dissect the one below? Also wondering if the area of interest below could be better exposed? Thoughts if fossil vs concretion? Thanks for looking!
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Here are some tetrapod trackways found at a local site. Some of my favorite trace fossils to date for my collection! It's even better when ya have a fern frond impression next to a trackway!
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- carboniferous period
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I had seen fossils that came out or near a local waterway. I didn't think much of it until I was invited to join a friend of mine. When we arrived at the site, the riverbed was exposed because of the lack of rain with tons of rocks that looked like shale? Upon closer inspection most of it has weathered and was splittable. I split a few of them a saw there is indeed fossils here. I came across this slab and when I split it this positive and negative plate lay before me. A beautiful Nueralethopteris fern frond with detailed pinnules. I was pretty excited about it and wanted to come back! It was toward the end of the day as the sun set, the mosquitoes were atrocious so we had to leave. I think this is the biggest fern fossil I have found by far!
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- carboniferous period
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Location: Vestavia Hills, AL Paleozoic While inspecting this rock, a tiny barb pricked my finger. Initially, I was thinking it was a tiny piece of plant debris superficially attached. However, as more of the area became exposed after cleaning, it appears to be clearly embedded. Also, additional similar areas became exposed. Unclear if they are part of the same thing or separate inclusions. My wild guesses: Spicule? Small arthropod leg (though I realize that is in likely to be preserved)? Bryozoa? Thoughts? Last 2 pics: Potential related debris sifted and sorted for after soaking. Thanks for taking a look
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Hello all, here are two more track ways I found on Saturday. Just looking at these I'm imagining what the tetrapod was doing to create this wonderful piece! These are so cool because the mudflat the organism took a stride on was a lil' wet, at least that's what it appears to be. The Cincosaurus cobbi left some of its footprints (can see the prints if photo is enlarged) on the mud of the disturbance as it sloshed through the mud on its belly?
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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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Carboniferous Plant And Marine Fossils Were In Abundance!
Rockin' Ric posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello All! I got to visit an active surface coal mine recently in my area and it didn't disappoint! Everywhere I walked there were plant and marine fossils to collect...I was having the time of my life! My usual goal when I visit sites like this is find fern fossils because it's my favorite plant fossil but that day wasn't as productive as other days. I did come away with a really nice slab of Lyginopteris ferns that I had to be extremely careful with because it later turned to into a fragile slab of stone. I later stabilized it and hopefully it will hold. My next favorite plant fossil is the Calamite, I think I found more this day than I've found the past several years of hunting! I scored a humongous Calamite stem cast measuring 7 inches wide! The largest in my collection at the time was 4.5 inches wide. Other finds include Lepidodendron leaf scars, Sigillaria impressions, 3D Stigmaria and Trigoncarpus. I had a good day considering and look forward to going back there soon! 13" wide slab of Lyginopteris fern fronds Lepidopholios too large to carry out but a picture will do. If it could be removed it would of made a really nice wall piece. 7" wide Calamite stem cast and a large palm size Calamite stem cast. 3D Stigmaria cast...there were a lot of stone on site that was so fragile that it fell to pieces when picked up. This Stigmaria was partially sticking out and when I kicked the stone that it was encased in the stone fell apart and this cast falls out...yeah this is the kind of fossil excavation I like. The pic on the right is a Sigillaria bark impression too large to carry out. Stigmaria impression too large to carry out. Love the rootlets that are sticking out of this one. Really nice Calamite impression with stems sticking out from it. I rarely find terrestrial and marine together on the same stone but here is a Calamite impression with a Bivalve to the side of it. The other picture is leaf scars from a Lepidodendron. Trigoncarpus...seed impression. Cyperite leaves I believe from a Sigillaria? Bivalve. Bivalves.
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Hi all! It was such a gorgeous day to get out to fossil hunt. We've had rain the past several weeks and made this site more interesting to hunt! I found this shale slab that has a set of tetrapod trackways and parallel to it a Diplichnites/arthropod trackways. It was thought this could be a predation trackways but upon closer inspection the Diplichnites veers to the right and the tetrapod trackway veers the opposite direction. My guess these trackways were laid down at different times. Ohhh well, not close enough...perhaps next time I will find a predation trace fossil! Cool fossil anyway!
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Hello Y'all. Got to go visit some spoil piles recently and they didn't disappoint with the exception those piles had been there for a long time. The surface fossils had been exposed to the elements and it showed with erosion and wearing of the impressions. Some of the surface slabs when picked up just shattered to pieces. There were fossils underneath the surface and if I found a slab with a partial sticking out I just dug the thing out and started splitting and found some nicely preserved species of ferns: Lyginopteris, Mariopteris, and Nueropteris, Calamite, unknown fossil and Sphenophyllums. It turned out to be a very productive day adding many more ferns to the collection! Some really nicely detailed 3D Calamite impressions were found. All of the above pics are element worn Lyginopteris ferns. These Lyginopteris were exquisitely detailed! Mariopteris and Nueropteris. Nueropteris hash plate and Sphenophyllum...on some of the Lyginopteris plates u can see these scattered about them. Mystery fossil? It could be a Trigoncarpus since there were Lyginopteris scattered about?
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Hello All! I got to go visit a new site near where I live Saturday and it didn't disappoint. There were fossils everywhere and had to limit what I was able to take home because there was so many. I focused on fern fossils of course but also the most I found interesting. This site contained both Carboniferous Period plant as well as marine fossils. I went with a group of folks, all of them walked away with some really nice finds. Hope to get back there soon! As you can see the fossils just littered the ground, although some of them were so fragile that when you picked them up by hand they fell apart due to being exposed to the elements for a long period of time. The pinnues on this fern frond is the largest I've ever found. I looked it up and this species is a Eusphenopteris stiara? The Lyginopteris has a Calamite overlapping it. Look closely at the stem above it and you can see the hair-like thorns. One of my favorites fern finds is this Mariopteris. Lepidodendron leaf scars. Sigillaria outside impression and decorticated inside impression 3D Stigmaria root casts. Bivalves with Nautiloid impression top left. Bivalves surrounding what appears a Cephalopod? Lepidostrobus cone with Lepidostrobophyllum...what a mouthful! Always find the Lepidostrobophyllum independently from the cone...this is the first even with a partial stem! Bivalves as well as tiny and Mussel. Also to add to this, I found two Lycopod trunks. Seeing I had no room to store these behemoths I gave the bottom one to someone else and let them be Superman for the day. The other one had to weigh 200+ pounds so it was left behind. I got word yesterday that someone in the group is making arrangements to retrieve it because it may have scientific value. Either way I usually pass these things up because there is no room to store them!
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I got to go fossil hunting on Saturday for Carboniferous/Pennsylvanian fossils. When we got to the site we were greeted with frost covering everything! Some of the stone was frozen in the piles and we had to wait for a thaw before removing any that looked interesting. The first picture shows some of the frost crystals present on some of the stone. The first 4 hours on site I didn't find what I was looking for...fern fossils and a possible trackway? As we were wrapping up to leave I came across this slab of shale partially buried with a fern frond visible on the surface. Being the fern collector I dug the stone out to split thinking the entire 3' x 2' stone contained fern fossils. As I began to split not only did I find ferns but these Tetrapod Tracks! The stone didn't split evenly like most do, and this one was aggravating an example in in the 3rd picture where two different set of tracks can be seen on two different layers! The tracks and trackways were split as shown into many pieces instead of a continuous track across the slab. These are a few my favorites including other fossils found in that one slab, not including the partial Nautiloid in the last picture. I was told these tracks and trackways belong to the Cincosaurus cobbi and Nanopus reidiae? Love the first picture, if you see at the bottom there is a Alethopteris pinnue impression overlapping one of the tracks. Also the detailed pos/neg print of the Whittlseya...I did get my ferns as well as the tracks and other fossils to boot!
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Hello All! I got out in the beautiful weather to fossil hunt yesterday. The temps started off in the 30's, quite chilly and eventually rose to the high 50's by noon. I've been to this site known for its fossilized trackways but never had any luck finding any but was always satisfied with the fern fossils that came out of there! Today was a lil' different...when I set foot onto the site I see this 4-foot boulder that was calling my name. I started splitting it, splitting came with such ease and the first two layers didn't yield anything but on the third I got this, both positive and negative slabs (second pic). It has a combination of Stiaria, Tonganoxichnus trackways (arthropod) and a Tetrapod trackway (Nanopus reidiae?) Finally! I couldn't contain my excitement! After I calmed down I began to look for fern fossils...I sat to take a breather, it was taxing to maneuver between the berms. I see this stone (first pic) that looked splittable, grabbed it and the rest is history! The first picture is Nanopus reidiae, Manus and Peds trackway. Definitely the find of the day! Patience does pay off and I was guessing I was done for the day! It was good to meet both fossilDAWG and aplomado on site, Fossil Forum members where I can put faces with the user names, hope they were able to find good stuff!
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Hello all! Love hunting Carboniferous fossils since there is so much of it in my area. I got the chance to go hunting right after Thanksgiving to a local mine spoil piles and it didn't disappoint! Right off the bat the first spoil pile I encountered contained slabs of bivalves and gastropods. Never seen both on the same slab, the Gastropods were a first for Carboniferous fossils? One person I know pointed out they were Ammonites??? Found huge slabs of shale containing fern fossils...I was like a kid in a candy store amongst those piles of rocks! I was able to bring a few slabs of those home...at least the ones I could carry and place into my vehicle. It was a great day, my vehicle was so full of fossils I could no longer place any other in it and hope to visit the same location in the future? Found these three in a spoil pile...too large to carry out so a picture had to do. The leaf scars on the Lepidodendron are the largest I have ever seen measuring at least 2.5" in length. Stigmaria and what appears a Sigillaria trunk impression. Lyginopteris ferns with some Mariopteris ferns mixed in. These are the largest slabs I could take home! Really nice detailed bivalves. Gastropods. Lepidodendron branch. Sigillaria bark impression. Fern Rachis mixed in with bivalves and gastropods. Lyginopteris and Mariopteris fern frond with branch, notice the briars protruding from the branch. This looks like Stigmaria nodes but could be another version of Sigillaria?
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Hello Y'all, back in June 2020 I got the opportunity to visit the trackway site in my state that I visited in May. Still no luck finding any reptile or amphibian trackways but as always I come away with some really nice fern fossil specimens. While looking for Brachiopods on the site I came upon this 3"x4" slab of shale sitting upright and partially buried in the soil in the first picture. I see pieces Mariopteris ferns on it and started splitting till I could split no more! This is the end result.
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I discovered a dark green crystal near a construction site in a neighborhood of Alabaster, Alabama which sits in the southern tip of the Pottsville formation of the Pennsylvanian epoch. At first glance I noticed circular air bubble inclusions and assumed it was just glass. But, upon further inspection with a secondary light source, it appears there’s small material that resembles pollen in other inclusions. There’s striations visible that almost make it look like a green jolly rancher under light. It does not really feel like glass in your hand when held and has a greasy appearance. Anyone familiar with green amber??
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Hello all! I went fossil hunting back in May 2020 and posted a picture of a box of fern fossils in a previous thread. Here are the closeup shots. The site where I found the fern fossils is known for its fossilized trackways of arthropods, reptiles and amphibians as well as marine and terrestrial fossils that lived in Alabama 300 million years ago. As I was wrapping up to leave the site I stumbled upon a 3 x 4 foot shale slab that someone had split previously looking for trackway fossils and discarded it. I see these fern fronds in the first picture protruding from that slab. I sat my butt down and split that slab of shale to see what treasures it would hold until there was nothing else to split. The end result is all these pictures of ferns. Being the fern fossil collector, it was my gain and someone else loss. Most of the fossils are Mariopteris with an Eusphenopteris thrown in.
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Went on a fossil hunt with the Alabama Paleontological Society today and found this nicely preserved Lepidophloios. Both positive and negative plates along with a 3D piece sandwiched in between the layers with striking detail. I had to glue the 3D piece back together and put a protective coating on the fossil because it was fragile. Carboniferous Period, Pottsville Formation, Central Alabama USA.
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