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Found 119 results
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Another specimen given to me by my uncle over 30 years ago. Never really looked at these until recently. Any insight would be great! I have no idea. Thanks!' Dan
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Recently, the opportunity presented itself to me to hunt for crinoids in the Burlington Formation of Des Moines County, Iowa. It was not a scheduled trip, but one that occurred because I in the right place but the wrong time. My mistake gave me a full free day to hunt fossils in Iowa (what a bummer!!) , so I headed out to look for some crinoids. The Burlington is so different than any rock formation that I usually hunt. It is made up of 90% crinoidal remains. It must have been a spectacular ocean floor to see!! I envision it to have been an undersea garden. Fossils other than crinoids do show themselves and I did pick up a few. First some brachiopods: A few corals. At least I think the larger one looks like coral. My doubts come due to its thinness. Trilobites are uncommon in the Burlington. This is the first trilo-bit I have ever found.
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- iowa
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Help!!! I lost a good reference for IDing Burlington limestone crinoids and blastoids. I spent all last night fruitlessly looking for it. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good reference??? Mike
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Another piece my son and I found was this partial, it was not found with the others but in a tributary half a mile away?
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My son and I found these yesterday in a few inches of water right next to each other. I would guess they are most likely to be from the same creature. From other posts seen here I would guess bison? Thanks for looking!
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Picked this item up in Driggs, ID. I believe the area is Cretaceous and can see several imprints and bits and pieces but am wondering what this could be. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.
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Found a tooth walking along the gravel/sandbars of a creek in central Iowa (Des Moines lobe) and came across the tooth on the right. I was surprised to find both these jaws about 1,000 ft apart and a mile downstream. I assumed they were the source, but looks like the loose tooth may be an upper (it's larger) and both these jaws seem to be full. The teeth don't seem to match up symmetrically either, making me think it might be different individuals. Modern and ancient bison remains are pretty commonly found here (the former being extirpated ~100 years ago), but I figure cows are just common enough to confound things. They seem to have the stylids I read about, but I can't tell if they are strong/prominent enough to be Bison. Any help would be appreciated!
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My son and I went fossil hunting last weekend and here are our findings. The most recognizable is the mammoth tooth.
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Found this on the edge of a parking lot in Sioux City Iowa. I know nothing of the area but would appreciate help from those who do.
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Why Does the U.S. Army Own So Many Fossils? Turns out massive flood control projects are a great way to find dinosaurs. by Sabrina Imbler, Atlas Obscura, August 7, 2019 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-does-the-army-own-dinosaurs Yours, Paul H.
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- montana
- fort peck reservoir
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Hi, I don’t know anything about fossils, but I recently found this while digging at the farm where I work. It was 6 inches or so below the soil surface. It is very hard and light, but the upper edge chipped/crumbled a bit when I washed it off. I assume it’s a tooth, but can’t find any matching photos on the internet. Does anyone know what it might be? Thanks!
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I found this nice little Crinoid calyx at a roadcut near Dubuque Iowa. i was wondering if anyone might know what species. It was collected in the Upper Ordovician Maquoketa Formation.
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This past Sunday, I had a chance to explore a few roadcuts near Dubuque Iowa. i came across a very unusual fossil that had me stumped. After reading through an old paper, I found a match to my fossil. The guide listed the name as Climaconus. I was unfamiliar with what it might be so I did a Google search which did not yield any helpful results. I am hoping that someone on the forum might be familiar with this animal and enlighten me as to what it is. Is the name still valid? The Rock is part of the Maquoketa Formation which is upper Ordovician. It was found in the Brainard Shale member. Any help will be appreciated.
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Sometimes, when you go on a fossil hunt, you find more than just fossils. Some friends and I traveled to southeastern Iowa in Spring '18 to scour the Mississippian for fossils, but while there, we noticed that many of the homes that we drove by sported geodes in their front yards. Intrigued, we decided to investigate for ourselves. As it turns out, the area is well-known for its geodes (Iowa's state rock is the geode), so we promptly decided that we had to collect some for ourselves. We eventually found a privately owned piece of property where we could fill a bucket with geodes for about $20, descended upon a stream cutting into the bedrock, and filled a bucket in short order. Then, on a return trip to Iowa a month later, we found another outcrop of geodes along the Mississippi River. Once again, we collected handfuls. Then, once we got back, we split them with a geode cracker. They varied in quality; some were stunningly beautiful, and others were less so. They were filled with all manner of minerals: some had chalcedony fillings; others had quartz crystals, and still others had minerals that I didn't recognize. The colors varied, too: pink, white, light blue, red, and brown. As it turns out, we were a little overzealous in our efforts; we collected about 50 pounds of rocks. We've given them away to as many friends would like them and have only just now run out of them a year later. Pictured below is a fraction of the haul. If you happen to find yourself in this neck of the woods, then remember: the Osagean of Iowa and Illinois has more than just crinoids. If you would like more information on them, where you can hunt for them, or even the annual Geode Fest, then check out this link. http://keokukiowatourism.org/geodes/index.php
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Greetings, all! I am currently writing a thesis involving fossils from the Burlington Limestone near its type section along the Illinois/Iowa border. To demonstrate the diversity of the crinoidal remains from the limestone (over 400 species have been described from the Burlington alone!), I am looking for photographs of articulated crinoids. Do any of you have any that you would like to let me include in my thesis? If possible, I would like high-res images of crinoids identified to genus or species with a scale bar/ruler present in the image as well as the collection/locality info. I can't guarantee that I will use every image posted, but if I use your image, then I will acknowledge you in my acknowledgements and give you credit for the image. Thank you for your time & assistance! -Elasmohunter
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Whenever I visit the Decorah Shale the gumdrop bryozoans called Prasapora stand out. The vast majority have a domed top to them. But once or twice a summer, I stumble on a few that are distinctively pointy. Are these separate species or just variants of the same one? The species eludes me even if they are one in the same. HELP!! Mike Normal domed ones: Pointy one:
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I found this fossil on a gravel covered sand bar in a stream in central Iowa. I think it is a mammoth tooth but the shape seems quite unusual. The circular root is small compared to the rest of the tooth. Can someone confirm? This is my first post but I have found lots of interesting stuff in just three trips including an awesome mastodon tooth! Lots of questions too. Thank you.
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Help please! Last weekend I was on a club trip here in Eastern Iowa, and I found a really cool fossil. According to other club members, the layer it appeared to come from is roughly 385 million years old, possibly from the Little Cedar Formation, although we can't be sure. We believe that it is likely plating from an armored fish. A photo with a couple measurements is attached. The bumps vary in size, but are about 3 mm in diameter. I've reached my photo size limit, so I will try to add more close up photos in a little bit. What species could this be? What part of the body would it be from? Thanks! -Ben Worrell
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- easterniowa
- devonianfish
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From the album Nautiloidea
The plate measures 11x9x3cm. Elgin Member Maquoketa Formation Richmondian Late Ordovician Found at a roadcut near Graf, Iowa Gift from Minnbuckeye. -
Hello, I have a femur and metatarsal and thanks to this forum, I've been able to use plenty of reference to ID Bison as opposed to Bos with decent confidence. However, I'm wondering if there are any references or tips on identifying species. I hear B. antiquus is tricky to tell from B. bison, but are there consistent size differences? Both were found in Ames, IA in Squaw Creek in sandbars after spring flooding. This femur is 45 cm (~17.5 in) long and the distal is 11 cm (4.5 in) wide. The metatarsal is 20 cm (~8 in) long and 8 cm (3 in) wide.
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Hello everyone, New member from Minnesota, post my intro in the member introduction forum. The first is my Minnesota fossils. From the Cannon Falls and Rochester area from Ordivician period. The first is a Cephalopod from Rochester. One other from Minneapolis area from Ordivician. Apologies but most of it is unprepped at the moment Will have to post images in multiple posts. The Second will be my collection from Iowa. I have stuff from Montana that I will post in a different thread.
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Found this tooth while arrow head hunting in Southeast Iowa. Anybody know what it is?
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Hi everyone, I found what I think are a lumbar vertebra and an astragalus bone. I'm not sure how old they are, but they both seem pretty weathered and possibly mineralized. Both appear to be from bovids(?). These were found on a river sandbar around Ames, IA after recent spring flooding. Does anyone know how to distinguish bison from cattle bones? The vertebra is 35 cm wide, 10 cm long, and 8 cm tall. The astragalus is 7.4 cm long, 5.5 cm wide, and 4 cm deep.
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This gastropod was found in a block of matrix from Graf, Iowa that I split open last week. I have never bumped into this type of gastropod from there before. Research has left me stumped. Suggestions are welcomed! Elgin member, Lower Maquoketa formation, Ordovician. Thanks for the help Mike
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Hello, I know this is most likely not an egg but I had to see what someone else thought. This was found in Jackson Co. Iowa which is on the eastern boundary of Iowa. It was in a dry creek bed below an old limestone quarry. The quarry has not been in operation for a long (unknown) amount of time. We find many interesting rocks here after heavy rains that I do not see normally in other parts of our county or Eastern Iowa. This one is about 6cm in length and about 97 grams. any thoughts?
