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Found this morning after a small rockfall. The old mountain road was modified about 10 years ago by cutting through what is predominately a limestone outcrop of triassic age which links the sandstone basin below and the much older Sierra de Gador mountain range above. Travelling up to our home there were signs of a small fall. I pulled over and scooped up a bagfull of small rocks. This was the only interesting piece.

Today on my way to the 2022 GeoFair, I stopped at a road cut in Wilder, Kentucky that I have visited before. I also stopped here after I visited the show and collected until it started pouring / hailing. Here are some pics of the road cut. At this location I collected hash plates, did not really find any loose fossils that I wanted. I always finds pieces of my favorite trilobite, Cryptolithus bellulus as well as pieces of Isotelus and Flexicalymene. I also find graptolites, Tentaculities, bryozoan and crinoid discs all on hash plates, it is great. I know people like individual fossil finds, I do too, but there is nothing like looking at a hash plate that tells a story in time. Here are pics of some hash plates, many of which I kept. I showed this picture to one of the Dry Dredger members who was doing fossil ID and he showed it to Dr. Richard Harris and they believe that the triangle indentations are part of an Isotelus trackway. CONTINUED ON NEXT POST-

I don't get to go out fossil hunting as much as I would like these days, but I was able to sneak out to a local road cut for a few hours the other morning. It was the day before my birthday after all! A great excuse for me to convince the wife to watch the kiddos for a few hours. This particular road cut is dated to the Mississippian and is full of crinoids! I was literally walking over them. They were everywhere! Upon closer inspection I found that there were a couple of layers that were mainly composed of crinoids. This large slab was laying on the ground in front of the cut. The slab was almost 2 meters in length. Covered in crinoid fragments. Another large slab of crinoid infested rock. Again, it was on the ground in front of the cut. Yet another slab. I finally remembered to put something in for scale... A picture of what I am calling crinoid gravel. If you look closely you can see many crinoid fragments mixed in. This gravel was up a little higher on the cut. The road cut has multiple accessible levels. Here is a sample of some of the pieces I picked up. In my excitement, I started out picking up everything. Then I quickly realized that was an effort in futility. I thought the specimen at the very bottom right of the picture might have been a calyx when I first picked it up, but I think it may be a geode with a piece of crinoid attached. The largest of the "coin" looking columnals (third in the top row from left to right) is over an inch in diameter. With work being crazy, I haven't had a chance to go through everything and clean them up for a closer look. Sorry this photo isn't the best. It's late here and I'm trying to not wake up the family. Its the best I can do under sub par basement lighting. A very nice (and heavy!) hash plate that I was able to manhandle to the truck. Crinoids were not the only things I found. This horn coral was sticking up out of the rubble just waiting for me to come along and take it home! I like how it is coming up out of the matrix. Lording over its domain! lol I also came across bryozoan on occasion. The shale that they are in is very delicate and brittle. It's barely more than clay. I had to handle with care. Overall it wasn't a bad little outing. Any day out fossil hunting is a good day! I picked up much more, a few longer crinoid stems, a couple of small hash plates to practice prepping on, some geological items for my brother who is more into geology than paleontology. I ran into a few brachiopods, but most were not very well preserved or were badly weathered. Ill try to post a few more/better pictures as I go back through things and get them cleaned up a bit. I also have more pictures of the exposure and crinoid layers that I might post as well. Happy Hunting!

On Sunday, my family and I decided to head out for a fossil excursion to spend out day.@Uncle Siphuncle pointed out a good fossil site for me to find trilobites at a road cut in St. Leon, Indiana. Thanks a ton!! Unfortunately, as it had rained for quite a while that day, we had to wait until well after noon to reassure ourselves that we would not need to fossil hunt in the rain. Luckily, this also meant we got fresh picks before the other collectors! Here is the haul from the day: (I hope to bring back more over the course of the week!) Top to bottom: (1) Random pieces of the trilobite Isotelus (sp.). (2) The largest piece of trilobite that was found that day at the site. Although the piece is large, this is just a tiny, tiny fragment of the real trilobite! It is included at the bottom of image #1. (3) The best find of the day. It is a piece of the rear-half of the trilobite Flexicalymene (sp.). I do not know the specific specie, but the most abundant trilobite found at the site is Flexicalymene meeki, so it is safe to assume that the trilobite is F. meeki. After staring at the trilobite piece for some time, I extrapolate that it is approximately ~2/5ths of the trilobite which it once was. It is indeed very small! (4) Fossilized gastropods: (5) Fragments of orthoceras. These tend to be larger! ( (6) A handful of associated crinoid stem segments. The 2.4 cm one is quite long for a piece found detached from a matrix. I like it! —————————————— Overall, I think that our trip to the site had not met its maximum potential. We thoroughly examined every foot of ground that we covered- but this was only a short strip of land roughly 20 * 60 feet. Time was not available for a longer hunt. I estimate that we covered less than 5% (!) of the total fossiliferous area available to us that day— next time, I hope to find more than just ~1/3rd of a trilobite! -FS

Fruits of "me time" in road cuts in Russell and Wise counties in southwest Virginia 3/25/17.

So, I have this idea -- maybe it's nuts. What if we, as a community, started a census of sorts for road cuts. Every time I pass an attractive shale road cut, I think to myself, "I should really stop there and see what sorts of fossils are there." Then I got to thinking, there ought to be some way to share standardized information on what is in any given site. So here's what I propose: Every time I stop by a road cut, I will rummage around in the scree for exactly 30 minutes. Then I will post an exact location (drop a Google maps pin, maybe), and precisely what I find. That way, the next time a Forum member goes down that road, he can know what sorts of fossils are to be found. Because I will look for exactly 30 minutes, it will also give some estimate of fossil density. (Sites where I find ten fossils in 30 minutes are likely more fossiliferous than sites where I find only one.) Over time, this road cut census will give clues about where to look for new, undiscovered sites. Any thoughts on this approach? Would this be useful to other amateurs? Are there improvements to be made in my standardized approach? Would anyone else like to join me in this endeavor? Just think how useful it would be to know before your road trip which areas have fossils in nearby road cuts... Cheers, Matt

This is from a second road cut west of Mineral Wells. I suspect plant of some type by the folding(?) seen in the end cuts. Any ideas or is it just a really cool piece of sandstone?

Hi, I collected these yesterday near Kingston NY (rte. 209) If any one could help with ID I would be most grateful! Thx- Dave

I've been reading some posts lately about Trilobite hunting in Wisconsin. And Calebs posts and amazing finds kept popping up. The reason for my thread is to find out Caleb's old stomping grounds. All of his pictures and posts say SW Wisconsin. I know he liked to hunt the Platteville formation. Can anyone please help me to find some nice Trilo spots around here? I've never found a Trilo yet, .....i know right?! And if you don't want to post it in here for the World to see, please PM me. I'm looking for road cuts, outcroppings, maybe pits, etc. I also can't just drive out there (3hrs away) and drive around looking for road cuts. Now that i have kids, a house and other responsibilities it's really hard to get away. So this needs to be cut-and-dry, and planned. That is why i am calling on you for help. Any and all help is very much appreciated. Thanks, Charlie