Harvard team fossil hunting at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia Heather Desveaux, Chronicle Herald, June 22, 2017 http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1480307-video-harvard-team-fossil-hunting-at-blue-beach The Blue Beach Fossil Museum http://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/blue-beach-fossil-museum/1611 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beach Mansky, C.F. and Lucas, S.G., 2013. Romer’s Gap revisited: continental assemblages and ichno-assemblages from the basal Carboniferous of Blue Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Carboniferous-Permian Transition. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 60, pp. 244-273. http://www.academia.edu/12658498/Romers_Gap_revisited_continental_assemblages_and_ichnoassemblages_from_the_basal_Carboniferous.. Yours, Paul H.

Earlier this week I got the chance to get out for a hunt at a great site on the east coast of Scotland for the Lower Carboniferous shrimp Tealliocaris woodwardi. The specimens here are beautifully preserved but decent sized blocks of the right bed can be hard to find so I was really happy to get this large multi-block with three well preserved shrimp, and in both dorsal and lateral views! The largest shrimp is 34mm. Thanks for looking Sam

Is there anyone places to hunt for carboniferous fossils in the eastern US? I live in georgia and heard that there are some but they're in private property.

Is there any coalmines in georgia? I heard there are some but where are they?

Here are a few bits that I have found local to me, there is loads of fossil bearing rock and it produces some nice pieces. I will put a photo up at a later date of a large plant fossil that was found here. The strata is Carboniferous in age and is accessible via a stream cutting. I have also found a nice piece of brach with the leaf scars. thanks Alex

Can anyone say what the carboniferous plant in the lower left corner is? The vein preservation is poor, but is this maybe Mariopteris? Found at Cory's Lane, Rhode Island

К сожалению , я не говорю по английски, но я не плохая фотография, так что позвольте мне сказать , мои фото .. На фото полного цикла от процесса экстракции до готового образца морских лилий Neotaxocrinus. Искренне, Александр Unfortunately, I do not speak English, but I'm not a bad photograph, so let me say my photos .. On the photo of the complete cycle from the extraction process to the finished sample of Neotaxocrinus sea lilies. Sincerely, Alexander

Last week I got the opportunity to go fossil hunting in an abandoned Lower Carboniferous/Mississippian marine limestone quarry near my home in Fife, Scotland. The quarry exploited a bed known as the Charlsetown Main Limestone. It is from this bed and the overlying beds of shale that I have collected the majority of my Lower Carboniferous marine shark and cartilaginous fish fossils from various sites across the Midland Valley of Scotland. I try to check the site as regularly as I can as new material is constantly being washed out of the spoil heaps, but the overall area where fossils can be collected is very small. I hadn't found anything worth keeping on the last few trips but on this occasion I found a nice near complete Cladodus mirabilis tooth on the first block of limestone I picked up, needless to say I was pretty chuffed! This tooth was found on the bank of a flooded section where the lapping water is eroding the side of a spoil heap and in the past Ive found two partial Cladodus striatus teeth here as well as lots of well preserved inverts like crinoids and brachiopods. Ive decided next time I go to take equipment for sieving the mud on the bank and bed of the pool for fossils, so hopefully by using this method I'll soon have lots more nice finds from this site to show! The flooded section with the Charlestown Main Limestone and shale layers above exposed (photo taken last summer):

Partly preserved in what I think is ferroan dolomite, with clear calcite in the voids which allows a 3D view of the structure in places. A common cerioid coral at this level, with a wide range of preservations.

Good day. I could not identify this tooth, help me figure it out. Found in sediments Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian Subsystem), Serpukhovian Stage in the career of "Zaborye" is not far from Moscow. Sorry for my english, best regards Alexander

A rare genus from this bed, one previous record seen from Cumbria. It is common earlier in the Mississippian of the region. The voids are filled with transparent calcite. This genus has a lonsdaleoid outer dissepimentarium (looking like large bubbles). As is most commonly the case, it was largely removed prior to fossilisation, leaving a trace on one side (see photo 4). The contorted axial region is typical.

A small colony surrounded by Archaeocidaris debris. It shows the obverse side , i.e. the side with pores. It is preserved on the top face of a thin limestone lens that was overlain by shale. This is the most common fenestrate bryozoan in this area but the majority of specimens are found in shale and rarely split to show the obverse as it is the "stickier" side due to the pores.

One of the commonest Mississippian corals in the British Isles, France, Belgium, Germany and Russia. Not known from Asia, Africa, Australia or the Americas. Frequently found as an erratic on many parts of the British Isles coast. The simplest and narrowest Siphonodendron species (2.5 - 3.8mm), easy to identify as it has no dissepiments. Central columella present in most corallites, with dome shaped or conical tabulae. Usually sixteen major septa. (14-18 possible) Minor septa may be present. This specimen shows all these features very clearly, partly because the voids have been filled with transparent calcite.

Here are the first of many broken nodules I found from the Mazon Creek formation. I want to start this by saying that one of my favorite parts about fossil hunting is taking an odd looking rock home, pouring over books and online photos until the moment hits when I can say without a doubt what species it is from. With these Mazon Creek fossils I stare blankly from the photos online to my rock smudges and nothing comes to mind. So any help with these would be greatly appreciated, I am really excited about them, the carboniferous is one of my favorite time periods, but you wont hurt my feelings if you tell me I have a great gravel collection. Sorry for not including a scale; if it will help with any of them i can go back and put some in. (The last 2 dont appear to be from nodules) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

This is from the Wabaunsee Group (Phanerozoic | Paleozoic | Carboniferous Pennsylvanian-Late [Virgilian]) Includes: Wood Siding FM, Root Shale, Stotler Limestone (base ST), Pillsbury Shale, Zeandale Limestone (base Z), Willard Shale, Emporia Limestone (base E), Auburn Shale, Bern Limestone (base BR), Scranton Shale, Howard Limestone (base H), and Severy Shale. Found these unknown objects attached to the interior of a myalina clam shell. This is a marine environment but I'm not sure which layer of the Wabaunsee Group this is from. I've never seen this before so would appreciate any help with ID. I'd be happy to furnish more photos of layer and fossil. Thanks

A modern Ratfish, Bischoff Island, British Columbia, Canada (from Wikipedia: Clark Anderson/Aquaimages) Lit.: Grogan, E. Lund, R. 2002: The geological and biological environment of the Bear Gulch Limestone (Mississippian of Montana, USA) and a model for its deposition. Geodiversitas 2002, 24 (2): 296-315 Lund, R. 1977 - Echinochimaera meltoni new genus and species (Chimaeriformes), from the Mississippian of Montana. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 46 (13): 195-221. Hagadorn, J.: Bear Gulch: An exceptional Upper Carboniferous Plattenkalk

Name: Petrodus patelliformis (dermal denticles)Age: CarboniferousLocation: Steeplehouse quarry, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, United Kingdom I haven’t got around to separating or giving it my best shot to an i.d. on the associated crinoids as yet, but I thought you would like to see my work in progress. If you would like to view the PDF below it makes for a very interesting read. Steeplehouse quarry p.s. the scale bar is in mm

WHAT WE LEARNED IN OUR FIRST FOSSIL HUNTING SUMMER This is a short recap of what we learned on our fossil trips this summer, in our first 3 months as very new fossil collectors. This week, Nancy and I gave a slide presentation on our summer fossil hunting experiences, to the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society. We didn't realize it ourselves but in 3 months we visited 8 sites in Pennsylvania and New York including: Antes Creek, Deer Lake, Red Hill, Juniata County, McIntyre Mountain, Montour and St. Clair in Pennsylvania, and a very productive trip to Tully, NY. We visited St. Clair 4 times, which has become our home site. At St. Clair, we were astonished by the diversity of species - we collected well articulated samples of more than a dozen species including: Alethopteris, Annularia, Asterophyllites, Cordaites, Cyclopteris, Eusphenopteris, Lepidophylloides, Neuropteris, Odontopteris, Pecopteris, Sphenophyllum, Sphenopteris, and numerous Seeds, Bark, Roots. Most notably - I learned to pronounce all of these without stuttering! At St. Clair, we spent one trip looking exclusively for seeds trigonocarpus), and one trip looking just for roots (stigmaria). Our most significant finds have included very large (2 foot long) display pieces covered with well articulated orange ferns, an alethopteris seed attached to a leaf stem, and many Carboniferous leaves that have different shapes from traditional ferns. What we learned this summer has really helped us find some interesting fossils - here are a few things we did that helped a lot: 1. DOING OUR HOMEWORK. It helped to study each site in advance using Internet websites and books on fossils (Dave's "Views of the Mahantango" and "Louisville Fossils" are among the best, imho). Several universities also have great educational sites that bring each era to life in very creative and interesting ways, with lots of illustrations and photos. I like the UC-Berkeleyand University of West Virginia websites. 2. LEARNING FROM TRIP REPORTS. We read trip reports from other groups and individuals to see what they reported - sometimes this helps us stumble across new places to visit such as the site at Tully, NY and Deer Lake. 3. SETTING GOALS AND TARGETS FOR EACH TRIP. For each trip, we establish specific goals - for example we may look for seeds, or roots at St. Clair, or trilobites or shell assemblages at a Devonian site. Our interest right now is in looking for things that are scarce or rare, and fossils that are extremely well articulated (which is also rare!). We also like solving puzzles so eventually we would like to find things that help add to the fossil record in areas where there are still questions or missing links. 4. DISPLAYING WHAT WE FIND. Personally, Nancy and I like collecting larger fossils that we can display in mounts and frames, and we are also looking for larger pieces that we can display like sculptures - we have a few pieces that we drilled holes in, inserted wooden dowels that we stained, and then drilled/inserted the dowels in wooden trophy bases - all available from a craft store. This allows us to display thicker fossils esp. assemblages, like sculptures, and you can turn them around and look at all sides when they are mounted like this. 5. WE AVOID FOSSIL HORDING. We both agreed that we would NOT become "fossil horders" putting hundreds of rocks in boxes and sticking them away in the basement or garage - instead, we focus on finding display-quality items, and rare or scarce finds which we are slowly putting in frames. 6. DOCUMENTING OUR FINDS WITH CLOSEUP PHOTOS. We photograph everything we find as soon as possible after returning from a trip, using a digital camera with a closeup attachment - many times we find new discoveries while taking closeup photos and some of our best finds came AFTER we returned from the trip and inspected our fossils. I usually put the finds on a white background on an ironing board and use window light, nothing fancy, but it works. 7. FOSSIL ID. We post anything we can't identify on the Fossil Forum and are EXTREMELY grateful for the terrific response from our friends on the site! We are also accumulating a growing library of fossil books (some modern, some from the 19th and early 20th century) so we can identify more fossils ourselves without having to post on Fossil ID. 8. WRITING ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCES GIVES US NEW INSIGHTS. We report everything that interests and excites us about fossil hunting on Fossil Forum to share our experiences - and we find that writing about what we're doing helps us learn more and gain insights, just from writing about it. We have also started videotaping some of our adventures and are thinking about the best place to post some of these. 9. WINTER PLANS: COPING WITH CABIN FEVER. Our winter plans are to visit one or two more sites, then go into "fossil hibernation" and organize, identify and label fossils we haven't processed yet. We have a Dremel to do some light preservation work where needed. We are not planning to become "chemical conservators" - using chemicals to dissolve limestone and so forth - that's a bit too ambitious for us at this point. We may get involved in some interesting activities by local universities that are using 3D printing to process and replicate large dinosaur bones. We are also planning to provide an exhibit (on Carboniferous plants and trees/coal swamps) at a fossil fair in April. 10. RECOMMENDED READING: I enjoy reading fossil books - I'm currently reading with great interest a small book entitled "Leaves and Stems from Fossil Forests" by Raymond E. Janssen (1939) which I bought last night at the DVPS meeting, and a textbook entitled Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record by Benton and Harper (2008) (excellent book). The book that has been the most useful to me so far is the classic book "Fossil Collecting in Pennsylvania" by Hoskins et. al. (3rd ed. 1983). I am constantly re-reading the Hoskins book and find something new each time as my knowledge grows. A book that impressed Nancy and me is a large beautifully illustrated book entitled "Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth" (published by Dorling Kindersley, 2012) UPDATE (Oct 11): Nancy is taking some college courses which are prerequisites to enter grad school, so I am doing most of the fossil reading and ID. I read several books at the same time and other books I purchased that I am currently reading are: Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants (second edition) by Thomas Taylor; and Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record by Benton and Harper. I guess you can tell from this that I'm reading up on fossil plants - my main interest is not just to understand the evolution and fossil record, identification tips, etc. - but also to try to figure out where the missing links and gaps are so if we come across something that adds to the fossil record, we will be able to recognize the value. What is most surprising is that there is a lot missing from the Carboniferous record - partly because after this period, many of the oceans and swamps apparently dried up and there were ice ages and other factors that caused mass extinctions. Here are some interesting things I have learned this summer about Fossil Plants and Trees: 1. More Carboniferous insect fossils and evidence of insects are needed (by the way, there are some GREAT current discussions about insects on this forum!). 2. Many categories of lycopsids and other Carboniferous trees and plants do not have verified associations between the leaves and seeds, or leaves and trunks/stems. Many trigonocarpus (fossilized seeds and "fruits") are found with leaves, but examples of seeds actually ATTACHED to leaf sprigs are rare (we have found one example of a seed attached to Alethopteris). 3. More Leaf and Bark Verifications are Needed. Another interesting thing I learned is that there are more than 30 different types of "scale tree" patterns but only half a dozen leaves for these trees - suggesting that a lot of different species had the same leaves - or - there are a lot of missing leaf types or the existing leaf types have not been matched to the bark patterns yet. 4. Another peculiar revelation is that most Carboniferous leaves that do not fall neatly into classic fern shapes seem to be lumped together as "sphenopteris" - we have many "non-traditional fern" leaf fossils that are VERY different from each other and obviously different species, but when we go online to ID them, they all seem to be grouped as "sphenopteris!" Maybe some of these leaf types match up with the bark patterns I mentioned. 5. Last but certainly not least is the insight that fern trees could have 2 or 3 different types of leaves on the same tree! This was really interesting. Also, some leaf types can come in different shapes - for example, Neuropteris can be round at the base of a stem and elongated along the stem and at the tip...AND...some paleobotanists now classify cyclopteris - the round fan shaped leaf - as a form of Neuropteris. This definitely adds to the confusion. I'm still reading and trying to understand all of this and these are only my initial impressions, which are still forming and there may be explanations for some of these questions that I haven't discovered yet but these are the questions that I am trying to answer by reading, and of course, by fossil collecting. I hope that many of our new friend (and I should add, VERY COOL new friends!) on the fossil forum will help clarify some of these interesting questions. Hope this is helpful.

Can someone identify these Carboniferous ferns? The last two pics may be of the same species? Any help will be appreciated...thanks!

Hello everyone! Here is a fossil that I need help to identify. Yesterday I found this strange waffle-like impression in this piece of sandstone, while I was walking in the woods in the Saginaw area of Michigan. I know that the fossils that are found in Michigan are mainly from Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous period strata. This stone was laying in an old rock pile, that was deposited by farmers who plowed their fields. The stone is 5 1/8" x 3 1/8", and the impression itself stretches 3 1/2" across the rock. The small dark brown cube next to the stone is clay that I rolled over the Impression to make a positive cast of the fossil. From this positive, I can tell that the fossil has a snake skin pattern surface. This could've been an impression of some sort of marine or terrestrial plant, I have some ideas of what the fossil could be, but I need your help to identify and confirm what species this was. I hope these photographs are helpful, and feel free to ask for better pictures of the stone.