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Showing results for tags 'sacramento mountains'.
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As the temperatures are heating up in the desert I'll be moving more into the high country collecting. This will bring me to formations bearing ammonoids. My understanding is I'll be finding versions of goniatitic ammonoids as opposed to true ammonites that didn't emerge until the Jurassic? I'll be primarily hunting in upper Pennsylvanian or lower Permian formations. These will be new formations to me and difficult to determine the age. There are no stratigraphic maps for the areas I'll be searching to guide me. Hopefully I'll find additional marker beds or fossils that will help date the formations and make them easier to find by association. It appears that obtaining complete specimens will be rare as the best preservations seem to be in dense limestone. Here are a few remnants. Is it possible to discern the species from these limited portions? Also, is there a good link to understanding and being able to recognize ammonoids from the Pennsylvanian to Permian? From what little I can read from research papers for our geology they have not been studied well and there is little reference to them. The specimens range from the smallest being 150mm to largest being 200 mm (6" - 8") in diameter. I feel the preservation is generally nice but finding complete specimens will be pure luck. Thank you for any beginners tips and guidance. Kato
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- New Mexico
- Pennsylvanian
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Sacramento Mountains - New Mexico, Ordovician - Mississippian exploration
Kato posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
This was purely an exploratory hike to a remote area with no expectation of finding much. In that regard, I was not disappointed. I'd previously last covered some of this ground about 5 years ago and had forgotten how formidable it was to get into. The walk in a rocky canyon bottom for about 2.8 miles before taking another rocky side canyon ending at an Ordovician-Silurian dry water fall. Approaching the base of the dry water fall with Ordovician bedrock that was pretty much non-fossiliferous. At the base of the dry water fall to get a nature shot. This looks like it should be climbable and, perhaps it is, but I'm getting a bit too long in the years for such risky business. I took a bushwhack side trip up a steep hill. Fortunately, it had rained recently and the otherwise loose scree was a delight. Even if one could climb the lower falls they are faced with an unclimbable Silurain vertical wall. A view of that dry fall from the other side.
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- devonian
- mississippian
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I stumbled across this. I can't quite make out what it is so I'm asking for some suggestions. It is rather large at 50mm ( 2 inches) in diameter. Although, I do see crinoids in the rock I don't think this is a crinoid calyx simply because I've never seen one this large in our area or even this well preserved. I'm figuring some other form of sea life but at that point I run out of ideas. Any thoughts? Found in New Mexico, Sacramento Mountains, Pennsylvanian Beeman formation.
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- new mexico
- pennsylvanian beeman
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Hi, I'm pretty sure this is a favosite coral but how does one determine the species? It was found in a middle Pennsylvanian formation. I had to leave the base of this coral until I can go back with some tools to hopefully successfully remove it. Measurement is 100mm x 80mm and 70mm tall. Any coral experts out there to narrow this down? Thank you, Kato
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- favosite
- new mexico
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Hi, I'm cataloging some finds and would like to learn more about how to identify predation. In the dozens of specimens I have of cordaite leaves from this particular formation, only two have properties suggestive of predation of some sort. The rest are either undamaged or show signs of splitting in the leaves. How do I identify predation? What are the sources of predation? Arthropods? Microconchids? I've searched on google but not found any satisfactory information. Any guidance appreciated! Thanks, Kato I can't find the other half of this split pair currently but the other half is the mirror image of this. I'm thinking this is just missing parts of the leaf due to natural decay processes before preservation.
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I was hiking up a ridge between two washes looking at exposed formations for plant and insect fossils in mid-to-upper Pennsylvanian formations. I came across a possible sandstone formation with no evident bed layering. This formation was 1-1.5 meter thick and appears to have plant fragments scattered throughout. Perhaps the fragments are actually the result of this being a high energy deposition area and sedimentation of another type was broken up and preserved in the matrix. Preservation is poor. No evidence of shells of other sea fauna seen in examining the specimens. In the first photo is 'looks like' branching of some type is preserved as seen in the upper middle. The length of that branched object is about 200mm or 8 inches. Branching like this is not something I'd expect for ferns or other plants of the time like cordaites, calamites, etc. Second photo shows larger objects of maximum length 40 centimeters (about 16 inches). The top of the central most piece is what has me thinking this is sedimentation that was broken up and captured in the matrix. There seems to be layering which is not something I'd expect of plants from about 300 million years ago in this area. Again, there seems to be a lot of smaller fragments captured in the rest of the matrix. A 3rd photo showing another object. The lower, larger object suggestive of branching Any ideas of what I might have been seeing? Perhaps some suggestions of what I should try to look for when I cross this formation again? Thanks, Kato.
- 7 replies
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- new mexico
- pennsylvanian beeman
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It's been a long time since I've written a trip report. Not that I wasn't hiking, I was hiking like mad and finding stuff. Just didn't get around to documenting in the latter part of 2020. Too much craziness. A couple of days ago, I went in search of an extremely elusive shale formation, that contains some of the loveliest ferns I have seen. My records show I specifically planned 13 hikes last year trying to find another exposure. That was over 100 miles of fruitless searching. Zero. Zilch. Well, two days ago I found another small exposure. Scenic photos of the journey follow starting with walking uphill on an Ordovician rock bed The Ordovician transitioned into this Silurian bed with Devonian formations rising above it on the left Although fairly stumble-free walking this was relatively steep. That day I ascended 2,800 ft with my big pack full of tools, food and drinks. A nice shattered chert nodule in the Devonian. Just to show not everything has fierce thorns here, some 'Cushion Buckwheat'
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- calamaites
- cordaites
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Walking in the hills and chanced upon an exposure of early Devonian here (at least I think it is). About 3 feet above the rock slab is a 2 foot thick formation bearing either trace fossils or nodules. They seem more like mineralized nodules to me. For some reason, yesterday, perhaps due to intense morning light angle on the rock surface, I could just not get a good focus. Note the markings in the brownish trace or nodule. Nothing continuously longer than 4" found. Most exposures either broken or seeming to recede into the formation. Thoughts please....
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I found this a couple of years ago with no resolution or thoughts on what it might be. It is astoundingly close to circular. 6 feet (1.83 meters) in diameter. Dark brown in color but with color variations. Unfortunately, I did not get any close-ups of the orb itself. It seemed fairly indeterminate as to any pattern such as corals might make. The formation it is in is full of crinoids. The brown orb seems to have a radial pattern. Again too dark to get a decent shot while I was there. I am sort of thinking this may be some sort of reef material? Giant stromatoporoid?
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- coral
- mississippian lake valley formation
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I was out exploring a very narrow area adjacent to an exposed upper Mississipian formation here. About 100 yards uphill and perhaps 100 ft elevation gain above that Mississippian formation I was hoping to find permineralized material. For perhaps close to 2 hours I was only finding things like this calamite impression and this either highly hematite rich remnant or possibly burnt material I then managed to find a small area that wasn't heavily overgrown with vegetation and found some permineralized material + some unknowns. This is a piece of permineralized material with unknown #1 Unknown #1. Update---I 'think' it is the pith of a cordaites wrapped around a quartz sandstone fill, much like a taco. Another side view The quartz sandstone filling An end view pic is just a thin dark wrapping with quartz filling the inside. Any ideas on unknown #1? Cordaites Artisia?
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- pennsylvanian gobbler
- permineralized material
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Subject is a bit off topic, but while out exploring a local canyon for Ordovician fossils, I chanced upon this strange exfoliating section in a formation known as the Valmont. Would anyone happen to have knowledge on the processes behind this? The area was not conducive for finding fossils. This is 'as viewed' from the side. It is not taken from above. The bed is in a normal horizontal orientation but exposed in a staircase cleft. Sedimentary rock formation Found in the orange box in this photo
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- new mexico
- ordovician
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Trying to find alternative ways into a remote spot that I call "Bucket of Crinoids". I could conservatively guess billions of bits of crinoids stems but never any calyxes for some mysterious reason. Until today. Maybe. Although this is tiny and split by geologic forces it appears to be a crinoid cup view of a small calyx. As I've never actually found a cup before I would appreciate some guiding thoughts. Diameter would be 15mm maximum.
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- crinoid
- new mexico
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Every now and then I find something odd on the ground in the backcountry. Do not feel this is a fossil. At first glance I thought this was just some siliceous ooze with intricate folds. At second glance I noted the broken surfaces were not conchoidal as one would expect with silicate materials. It almost appears like extremely fine-grained basalt on the broken ends Specimen is 1.5" (38mm) long and 1.25" (32mm) wide. Thickness is 3/8" (8-9mm) I'll call this the top view. Primarily very dark black Bottom view has a decided reddish cast in places. Note the broken end on the left. Another broken section on the side. Small vesicles. Some strange inclusion on the left. Another exposed side section If it is igneous in origin that would be interesting because the closest igneous activity is about 70 miles away and would imply transported in by ancient peoples. Any geologic thoughts to send my way? Thank you, Kato
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Wandering about I found some slivers of porcelain like permineralized material floating on the surface in a small dry wash. Exposed and opened a small trench of very broken up pieces of a Lycopsid. I'm going to very tentatively guess Sigillaria due to presence of crenulations on the remaining margin of the material. Covered the pocket back up after taking a few photos. The overall pocket length was at 3 feet when I quit. Specimen increasing in size and going deeper into the hill than my little digging knife could handle. Nearby plant roots had entered the specimen and succeeded in breaking it up into chunks. In this photo one can see areas of black, red and pink surrounding the exposed permineralized specimens. Learning questions: (1) I'm going to guess this is degradation of the former exterior? (2) Colors suggest iron content and/or maybe some carbonization? (3) Are there some papers whereby I can learn more characteristics to help narrow down otherwise hard to ID Lycopsids?
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- lycopsid
- middle pennsylvanian
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At first sight out in the back country I thought I had stumbled on some calamite sections. After cleaning up some specimens at home, I am now leaning more toward some other Lycopsid. Perhaps Sigillaria? @paleoflor More photos to follow
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I'm piling back in late from a fossil hunt and wanted to get this online. Found in a lower Pennsylvanian formation locally. Typically find cordaites and ferns in this formation. Today, this odd split pair caught my attention. For size reference the small calamite next to the split pair is a little over 5 cm long and 2 cm wide. Although not a great field shot I'm posting it up now in case someone can point me in a solid research direction. Part of me thinks cordaite but the unusual branching features on one side only are quite odd to me. Perhaps some sort of rhizomic structure? I will post a close-up tomorrow when I have access to natural light again. Thanks for any advice or suggestions, Kato
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This isn't the best field shot and I'm not sure how much I can clean up the specimens I brought home as they appear to be glauconite encrusted. My thought when seeing these was Syringopora. They are both somewhat dome shaped. The larger one is about 6" (16cm) in diameter and half of the bottom is exposed and looks like the top. Some of the indents have tiny crinoid segments captured in them.
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New Mexico - Sacramento Mountains; Mississippian Lake Valley Formation
Kato posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Mother Nature graced us locally with another temperate day so I had time to squeeze in a long exploration into some hidden canyons that comprise a large subset of the local Mississippian formation known as 'Lake Valley' To get to the canyons of interest I walked through Silurian-Devonian exposures but I did not stop to explore for anything. Here was my first view toward the hidden Lake Valley Formation canyons. You can see deformation from the mud mounding. More to follow.
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- crinoids
- lake valley
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I decided to get out for what might have been the last warm day in the 70's (Farenheit) for a walkabout to explore high country access and exit points for some long climbs I would like to do this winter. For this trip I rucked primarily in the lower Pennsylvanian formations looking specifically for a new occurrence of mineral rich shale formations similar to one I had found last year that yielded plant fossils. I did manage to find a small but new-to-me location that was very geologically complex having anomalies in the midst of the shale/sandstone formations. First this Cordaite about 5" tall (12.5 mm) Quite near were numerous Liesegang specimens. This one about 2" x 2" (5mm x 5mm) There seemed to be at least two small areas where hot gasses may have vented through the field leaving small seams of quartz-like material. In one location samples present as Bornite. The largest piece below is 3" x 6" (7.5mm x 15.5mm) The other area was just at the contact zone between the shale having plant fossils and sandstone having plant fossils. This specimen seems to have mostly converted the sandstone and permineralized material into quartz. There is a small specimen of permineralized material left in the lower right corner. Also, there is some mineralization which I believe is mostly iron. As this new location is about 4.5 miles from where I parked my vehicle I did not collect many specimens (small pack) but plan to go back and spend more time searching.
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Hello, this specimen is from an excursion in search of permineralized material in the upper formations of the lower Pennsylvanian Gobbler formation. In this particular formation I have found Psaronius and various Lycopsids, calamites&piths, etc. This is fairly weathered specimen in quartz sandstone, but the diamond pattern does not seem typical of Lepidodendron. Each 'diamond' seems more like a square. There appear to be 2 separate layers of diamond shaped material so these might be smaller branches toward the crown of a Lycopsid. The upper one is more complete in appearance. The lower one seems to have an additional overlay of material. Dimension of the upper one is 25 mm wide and 125mm long approx. Suggestions are most welcome.
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- lepidodendron
- lycopsid
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These are from the Middle Pennsylvanian (Beeman) in southern New Mexico. 60mm seam of limestone embedded with gastropods. So deeply embedded and oriented as to make identification more challenging. Guess: Bellerophon * Surface is not smooth. * Appears to be symmetrical. * Ridge along the midline. Larger hash plate. Each of the larger gastropods is approximately 25mm. This plate is 220mm x 270mm at widest measurements. Smaller hash plate View of side of larger hash plate Ridge Aperture Another ridge It's my intent to prep on these two slabs while I hide from the heat during the hot months here in the desert. At least an approximate identification would be quite helpful so I have some idea of the shapes I will be trying to reveal.
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- gastropod
- middle pennsylvanian
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Okay, while on a ramble in the mountains, among other things I chanced upon this pile of petrified wood. Looks like heavy iron mineralization. Black, red, orange, yellow and near white for colors. Banding in the wood. In the white area, it sure looks like insect bore holes like I used to see when cutting firewood. Not that it is, it just looks like it. This piece seemed to look it had bark to me. Or maybe it is where two branches split so the wood grain was heavily intermixed and confused. Again, I come up stumped with finding reference to a fossil type in our local formations. This time no reference to petrified wood just things like ferns, cordaites, etc for plant life. (1) Are folks finding petrified wood elsewhere in the lower Pennsylvanian? (2) Has anyone seen insect bore holes in their wood specimens? (3) Please advise your thoughts on bark versus complex wood graining? I can provide higher resolution and zoom in if need be. Thank you, Kato
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- lower pennsylvanian
- petrified wood
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This is from the middle Pennsylvanian. Appears to be fusilinids in pink-red sandstone with several orange passengers onboard. They all appear to be centralized to a broken open fusilinid. Only one big enough to really get a couple macro shots of. Any ideas on the orange item? I didn't want to put too much pressure on it, but definitely quite hard (scratch resistant to a needle). 33mm x 25mm" as pictured. Orange unknown is 2mm.
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Okay, I left this specimen where I could find it in the future, but the sun and atmosphere was such I could not get a crisp photo or achieve a decent zoom. It almost appears bryozoan in nature, but the regular spacing and rounded conic shapes might be something someone has seen before?
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Hi, I believe this is a pelecypod. It was found in an early Pennsylvanian formation sandstone hash plate. Specimen is 3" overall. Would anyone have some thoughts to which superfamily, genus, etc., so I can dig a little deeper on my own? Thank you, Kato
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