Search the Community

Recently found this rock on a trip to the Keasey formation near Mist Oregon. There are several crinoid stars visible on the outside of the stone and some segmented sections visible as well. Seems like they run throughout the rock. I found this on the ground by the stream and water erosion did a bit of work on the outside. Really curious and excited about what might be inside but no idea how to start and scared to ruin it. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Found this in the Keasey formation in Oregon off Highway 47 about half way between hwy 26 and Pittsburg. Really baffled about what it could be, seems to be made up of numerous stands all orientated in the same direction. There is a iridescent quality in the light. Thanks for the help, love to put this mystery to rest. Fossil? is 1cm wide and 8cm long

So as I was going to toss this piece of rock from a much larger split piece, I saw a very small white piece of shell, thought it was a portion of Mollusk shell. I always check so put it under the scope. Dentalium of some sort. Not sure it is worth the effort to try and remove it from the matrix, but at 4mm long (perhaps half of the full length, and a mm wide), smallest I've found. Perhaps in the dark of winter for something to do....Keasey Formation.

So I am driving on RT. 47 which leads to Vernonia and Mist, Oregon and a road cut that looks very similar to the Keasey locations I have been picking talus and for the first time it appears dry (seems to be a seep at the the top). In Oregon unless on private or in special circumstances BLM land you can not dig, you have to surface troll. I found a safe parking space and then crossed the road to enter the ditch. Once again close to traffic but people on this somewhat used road either slowed or pulled over, except for the truck who stopped and gave me directions to "a secret" place:), now that's cool. I had stopped here during winter but it was really wet and I left after finding a mollusc taking an image so I had the GPS. This day it was very different quite a few concretions had fallen out of the formation. These are very, very had carbonate concretions. So I decided to pickup 3 or 4 and see what I could find. There are lots of sociological items on this piece. However the object of interest in the focus of these images. I have an assumption (I'll post mine after a day or two) of what this is due to the formation (if I am right and the location of this outcrop in relationship to Vernonia and Mist, Oregon). That being said what is your best guess?

My wife found this in some talus. It is 5mm long axis. Image was taken with a G9/Oly 60mm with extension tubes (2x). Is this a Crinoid? Looks like the feeding part. Any Ideas on what this fossils is? Keasey Formation, late Eocene. Mostly Mollusk and Gastropods however Crinoids are listed as being found in this location but rare.

This specimen from the Oligocene Keasey formation is 5mm long. This shale is extremely hard, I had to use the 3 pound hammer to break it. The rock it was encased in was 8 x 9" and this was the only fossil I could find after breaking all in 1-3" pieces. Image is a Olympus Macro 60mm image on a Panasonic G9 camera using flash. Do you consider a fossil of this size a Micro fossil? I am going to leave it in the matrix because I've tried dental tools on this particular shale and it is just too hard. Need to do some further work on the ID with external shell features/geometry, but I think I am close.

So I have found a significant "load" of mostly bivalves in a very deep water mudstone. This mudstone is very hard, when it fractures it is a lot like obsidian, extremely sharp and extremely hard. The specimen in this image is 3 x 5mm. The calcium shell has very little identifiable structures, yet the cast part seems "fair" crisp. If the shell was removed perhaps shell parts would be shown in the cast for ID. Would you remove the shell (if so how? acidic acid?). Any ideas on how to soften this mudstone, it is as hard but not as brittle as any shale I have seen. G picks don't see to do anything but an 8 pound sledge works:( Imaging done with a Panasonic G9 and Olympus 60mm macro lens using focus stacking.

Need some ID help on this one. Eocene, Keasey Formation, and an inclusion or something inside a concretion. Size of the whole piece is 12 x 15 cm, weighs about 6 pounds. Image 1 - Mollusk on top of something that has included into the matrix #2 is a close up of the mollusk and surrounding area Closeup of the inclusion material More images to follow.

I think I've found my "home" here. I have well over 50 pieces (a couple are large - 10-25 pounds) of formation that I've collected over the last three months to "investigate". Mostly sandstone and what I think is deep water mudstone (thought it was shale at first but no layering). Will try the Hydrogen Peroxide to dissolve the sandstones but am at a loss for the mudstones. the mudstones are extremely hard but contain lots of micro deep water (>200 meters) fossils. Any advice? I've included an image in the what I think is a softer mudstone higher up in the Keasy. This is juvenile Dentalium agassizi (20mm in Length) I believe but after a 30 year break I've just gotten back into the game and may be erroneous in my ID. Interesting point is that specimens of Dentalium agassizi were used as the "wampum" of the North American Pacific Coast tribes (have a long PDF on it if any one is interested (Phd thesis I found).

No images (yet, they are coming), yesterday in celebration of my Stereo Microscope (3.5 to 90x with camera port) shipping I decided to go fossil hunting. @71 I have to be careful when I go hunting (my wife it turns out is a fair weather digger) by myself. I have spent the last months working on my collections from the summer in two Keasey Formation locations (deep and shallow marine) with good manual tools and a dremel, but with sup-optimal hand optics (one is actually a very nice 8x optic but just to hard to use). So my wife said why don't you get a reasonable scope (would be my first since high school). So I ordered an AMscope and added a ring light to go with my video LED's I used for lighting. Not the best, but what I could afford and should work well with my camera capable of taking 80 MPX stills and being tethering to my PC showing the image on a 4K 50" screen. So being excited I went to the easiest of the two locations I've been "digging". Low 40's (F) and raining when I left in my Subaru Crosstrek (both of my cars are 4x4's to get me where I want go go here in Oregon) I was thinking "if I only find a couple of new things I will be happy". This location the actual out cropped is on an extremely steep hill, and I "dig" only in the talus at the bottom, what falls is where I find. As I approached the site I started to fill the anticipation. I parked at the base of the hill, and started my adventure. There are two layers at this location, one is a sandstone that is loosely consolidated (I think shallow water) and the a hard Shale (earlier deep water). First find in an unconsolidated sandstone that falls apart in my hand leaving a complete (top/bottom shells - one piece) in my hand. Big smile. Then I look a bit farther and I see the "mother-load" as the miners say. Apparently the heavy rains of the last couple of weeks have cause a large piece of shale to break off the formation and tumble the 70 or 80' down and break into about 15 rocks weighing between 5 and 30 pounds, fossils are abundant in every rock. I know the state will clear these because they are on the edge of the road and present a hazard. I move and leave 3 pieces for the next lucky person. I load what I think is about 100 pounds of large rocks in the car and then add a trash bag full of the unconsolidated sandstone, and a 10 gallon buck of small pieces that have the same matrix of shells. I now have my winter tasks all set. I've accumulated a lot of research and images from which work on the identifications this winter. If this find had not be a road hazard on this blind curve I would have left more but there was a road crew working not more than a couple of miles away and I could not risk that these precious finds would end up in the rock crusher or just dumped somewhere. I will be posting my finds here asking for ID help I am sure and with the new scope hopefully some great images. All and all a great way to start the New Year off. I've attached just a quick macro shoot of a snail. Haven't ID it yet, guess anyone? BTW its a cast and that is why some areas are Out of Focus (didn't have time to stack images).

So after a 30 year lull, my wife and I decided to do a fossil trip to "get out". She had never been. I had 12 hours of college geology and have done a lot of Devonian and Silurian digs (gave my collection to a friend who made a fireplace cover out of them in his home when I moved). I picked a location near the town of Timber, Oregon which has a nice Keasey Formation outcrop. But it is a dangerous climb so we settled for looking through the talus. My wife was very excited to find her first fossils:). Here are a couple of images. First is a cast and either a mold or the actual shell, second is a comparison of the different sediments we found, and third is one with a mm ruler for scale. Back in the game for sure, even ordered some cleaning tools and a mason hammer (have a pick hammer) but needed something with a wide end and lighter for my wife to use. Will have two other images in the ID second not sure what they are, perhaps a brittle star and then either a tooth or something else. Feels good to say "I'm a digger" again:)