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Showing results for tags 'shale'.
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Fruits of "me time" in road cuts in Russell and Wise counties in southwest Virginia 3/25/17.
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New USA Anomalocaridid!
ElToro posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
I have been researching a fossil "Anomalocaris sp" from the Wheeler Shale. Its from a collector who thought it was his "worst" Anomalocaris fossil and he was clearing his collection to make room for more. I collect Anomalocaridids so bought it from him for less than a $100. I thought the feeding appendage was a little strange as it was so straight, the spines were strange and small, and I couldn't see the podomeres (segments). I love the papers from Dr Allison Daley of Oxford who is an expert on Anomalocaridids and in a paper "New Anomalocaridid appendages from the Burgess Shale, Canada", (A.C. Daley & G.E. Budd, Palaeontology vol53, part 4, pp 721-738, 2009) I read about a very rare and enigmatic Anomalocaridid, the Caryosyntrips serratus. Only 11 or so specimens of this critter have been found and all at Burgess. I realized I was looking at my "anomalous" Wheeler Shale Anomalocaris. But how can this be? The Caryosyntrips has never been found outside of Burgess. Wheeler is also substantially younger. I was sufficiently convinced that I sent an email to Dr Allison Daley and she responded quite fast. She's very excited about this fossil! She also believes it to be a Caryosyntrips serratus and couldn't believe I have one from Wheeler Shale! The greatly increases the temporal and geographic range of this genus and is very important to study. She is writing a new paper on the Anomalocaridids of the US and this is a massive new discovery which will feature in her paper. Of course, I am sending her the fossil to study. After that she recommends I donate it to the Museum of my choice, and suggested the Smithsonian as they already have a large Wheeler Shale collection. Being an Aussie, I'd love it to end up at an Aussie museum, but this Caryosyntrips was "born in the USA" so I believe that's where it belongs. So the Smithsonian it is. Great lesson to everyone on researching your fossils! Sometimes a seemingly impossible fossil can actually be a new discovery. And communicate with the experts, this fossil could have ended up in a private collection as a "low quality Anomalocaris sp." Finally, I could sell this for a huge price to a private collector, but its much better off being studied and residing in a Museum. That's where it belongs. On Monday I will send the fossil off to Oxford for Dr Daley to study. Can't wait to read her new paper!
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The symmetry in this little feature really is amazing to me. Its about 8mm dia. I'll go out on the limb and guess that it is the mold of a small crinoid holdfast. (its a very slender, shaky limb though) Do you recognize it ? Thanks again
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Hi again friends, I recently broke up some larger chunks of shale that were full of some of the nicest examples of coral that I've seen here. Sort of a shame as I was looking for trilobites, but I saved these pieces. I'm wondering if the 3 samples are of the same coral ? or are they different ? Thanks again, kind regards.
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Hi folks, due to my recent infatuation with the trilobites, I've neglected the other plowed area where the orthoceras are found (and virtually nothing else, btw). It has rained a few times so I walked through the patch and picked these up this morning. Have a great weekend ALL !
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New dig area, larger more complete trilobite, assuming Eldredgeops ?
Rocky Stoner posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hey folks, I'm exited ! #30 IS IN ! The first chunk of shale from the new dig at the outcrop mentioned earlier yielded this specimen. It is much, MUCH larger than all the others and looks as if it would have been complete if it hadn't broke out at the edge of the chunk. This shale is very unstable with fractures all over and throughout. It may fall apart at any moment so I photo'd it before doing anything else. I assume it is an Eldredgeops? I think it would be well over 2" long if all of it was there. I never expected to see one this size, how large do they get ? I may try to stabilize it with watered down elmers, or what would you suggest ? Thanks folks, 30 might be my lucky number now. More pics after I "dig in". Kindest regards.
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Hi folks, found a new one this AM. There is a small piece of a cast loosely fitted in the first pic, then removed and flipped for the second. Can you tell what this is ? Its about 1" wide. Thanks. Also, looks like another little trilobite, bit, butt, pygidium ?
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Hey folks, just picked this up after lunch. This is the first I've seen anything like this in the garden shale. Does it look like the wings from a trilobite ? It is shown exactly as it split. Is there a way to prepare this ? Thanks !
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Does anyone recognize this ? I thought it might be a partial print of a cephalon with suture lines but don't see anything resembling this shape or pattern in any of the eldredgeops pics or illustrations I've seen. The opposing "Y"s appear to be symmetrical. Thanks.
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My name is Mike and I'm originally from Orange county NY and now live in Florida. I retired last December. I am starting to introduce my 11 yo grand son to fossil hunting and mineral hunting. We have been collecting for the last 3 years so I would like to learn more about fossils in general and perk a greater interest in collecting and learning about our hobbies.
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Hi all, Newbie here. I work at a science museum (former archaeologist/physical anthropologist) and am working on a geology outreach. I'm going over some of the specimens that we have, which are all unlabeled and without provenance. However, I noticed something odd in this shale specimen. It ALMOST looks like well preserved bone, but I honestly am know super knowledgeable with paleontology (it's been awhile). I was hoping this forum could help me identify if this is something significant, or if it's just some sort of funky concretion. Anyways, I've posted pictures. Thank you in advance!
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I recently purchased a 6x5" piece of shale from an auction of an old geological/fossil collection. This contained 5 trilobites of the same species but no info on where it came from. It wasn't much money, but would love some assistance in trying to ID the species. I've no idea of the location or age sadly as there was literally no info that came with it (although I purchased a few other North American trilobites in the same auction). The 5 trilobites range in size from 1" to 1.5". Thanks in advance.
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I went to visit my family south of Rochester, NY a couple of weeks ago. They own property which includes a creek emptying into Canandaigua Lake. Here are some pics and finds. There are public sites very close with similar fauna, including Green's Landing, and Barnes' Gully/Onanda Park. Eldredgeops Rana strophomenid Amboecoelia umbonata strophemenid brachiopod (not concava--its a flat one)
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Found #6 last night. Only a small portion was exposed, I scratched the matrix away to expose the rest. I wish I had learned earlier what to look for more specifically. I am certain that I have overlooked more of what I am looking for than what I have found. Thanks again to all for you guidance, experience and willingness to contribute. Kindest regards.
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Upon seeing the very nice recent posts by WhodamanHD, I was prompted to revisit my rock-pile stash and crack a few. Does this look like a trilobite ? If it is, the eye is a bit different than WhodamanHD's find. This one would be a bit larger than the others found here too .... if it actually is one. Thanks for looking. ...more.
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Hi folks, We had a nice rain last night. Walked around the upper yellow shale garden and found these rinsed off lying on the surface. Sort of strange, this is (practically) the only fossil I've found here in this spot. Just 200 yds. away is my other dig site that has all of the other examples I've posted, but none of the orthoceras has been found there. I suppose there are many layers separating them, makes me wonder what the timeline would be relating to the different exposed areas. The bulk of the orthoceras seems to be in one end of my current tilling. Soon I plan to extend the plowed area a bit further up the ridge in search of higher concentrations. Cheers.
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Here is the largest brachiopod that I have found here yet. I could see the very end of it in the matrix and it was loose. The chunk didn't break exactly where I wanted it to, never does, but it came out OK. It was cracked into a few pieces so I glued it back together. Finally found one "eatin' size". Cheers.
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Hi folks, another discovery in my garden. I haven't seen this size or type of segmented surface before. It doesn't really look like a shell as it has a wavy contour that I hope you can see in the pics. Thanks,
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Does this look like a crinoid stalk ? The spacing of the structure is different than all others found here. (can get better pics later) Thanks.
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Hi again folks. There are sparsely scattered chunks of sandstone and other rock here. Today I found this one barely exposed at the surface. It was extremely difficult to break in two and is full of sparkles, like small quartz flakes. It is not the normal sandstone. There appears to be a section of a crinoid and a spiral gastropod of sorts. I found no reference to it in the link posted above and have not seen another one here. Looks like it may be an "open" tapered coil where the coils do not touch one another, not sure though. Something new here every day .... never a dull moment. (unless I'm boring you with the same ol same ol) Kind regards.
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I call this one my snapping turtle. After scrubbing a ball of muddy shale in the bucket, I pulled this out oriented just so as to startle me for a split second. Imagine a small black bead in that eye socket, spooky. Looks like he's been eating well by the looks of the mouth full. Just thought I'd share, enjoy. Cheers
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This appears to be a section of the largest brachiopod or bivalve that I have seen here so far. The ridges are near parallel in each direction and there is a very slight arc to the surface suggesting (to me) a relatively large specimen. I did not see it in the link referenced earlier. Does anyone recognize this one ? The next post has a stranger in it as well. Almost looks like the hinge of a brachiopod, but not sure. Thanks again. Here is the other ...................
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Referencing the link provided earlier, this is the best example of ........ http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/2010/07/thamnoptychia-trachypora.html that I have found so far. If I've done my research correctly. Please verify. Also found the largest bracheopod ???? that I've ever seen here, by quite a margin. Recognize it ? This little garden is like a box of chocolates ... "Ya never know what you're gonna get". Cheers.
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Hi folks. Several years ago while digging shale with an excavator for road repair, we hit what appears (now, with forum learning) to be a concretion, typical oval/oblong shape about 5' long. We had to dig around it as it was too hard to even scratch with the machine. Over the years it has degraded to where it is quite fractured from the weathering and is easily broken up. The pic is a portion of a "ball" of densely packed fossils that was near the center of the concretion. Could this cluster have been the nucleus ?, or could it have just gotten caught up in the formation ? This is about 3 miles from my digs at home and is a much harder, blue/black shale that was at a depth of about 8'. Nice and clean ... no scrubbing necessary. Thanks
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Hi folks, Rocky again. We had a nice shower this eve., walked the yellow shale plowed area and found these tidbits rinsed off. The longer one is the best orthoceras segment that I've found here so far. Also found the delicate little arrowhead. But as usual, it is broken. This is the first rain since the tilling. I'm hopeful (and confident) that more will pop up after several more rains and another tilling ... or 2. Kind regards.
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