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Gorgeous Day For A Carboniferous Ichno Fossil Hunt!


Rockin' Ric

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Hello all! It was too gorgeous of a day to be indoors so I get out and go to my favorite ancient mudflat. I found several cool tracks of Xiphosurans and Diplichnites. Some day I hope to find a slab of shale with all the tracks I have found on this site so far...one big plate all of them on the same slab like they decided to party in one spot! I'm getting close...it could happen! 

 

Pic #1- Diplichnites and 3 Xiphosuran tracks on this slab

Pic #2- Detail Xiphosuran track

Pic #3- 4 Xiphosuran tracks

Pic #4- Ripple marks??

Pic #5- One of the largest Xiphosuran tracks I've found so far...it's the size of a US 50 cent piece. Most have been smaller than a US quarter

Pic #6- Pos/Neg impression of a Xiphosuran track

Pic #7- This one is shaped differently than the other Xiphosuran's, a different species perhaps?

Pic #8- Dunno what this one is?

Pic #9- Larger leg marks made by a bigger Xiphosuran??? Always find one side leg marks and never the both sides?

Pic #10- Diplichnites

 

Trace1.jpg.a6ea98f9b19b42ad8fec489f85a498a5.jpgTrace2.jpg.ccd5d2b3cd919f2eeb309c8d0982afb8.jpgTrace3.jpg.5aeba9dd82217866c126c0895f085776.jpgTrace4.jpg.1403b4df0bda98ef538acc8763752217.jpgTrace5.jpg.e0bc0054fef3daa9c2cf45e8f6af2aad.jpgTrace6.jpg.506fbb4ccbe2fd87dfb1b04e2e1c2ff1.jpgTrace7.jpg.4c0f2010c54df493e1bfe6f4bcd12e7c.jpgTrace8.jpg.45b5818e6af8d993350fb29d060e2634.jpgTrace9.jpg.990aa9fa7439ba94727673dc6db376de.jpgTrace10.jpg.84e0ce97bc860ee28f5bf4d85ac3c9bb.jpg

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If history repeats itself, I'm SO getting a dinosaur. ~unknown

www.rockinric81.wixsite.com/fossils

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Sweet! :wub: 

I can just about picture the creatures that were crawling around in that mud. :) 

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I'm rooting for you, I hope you do find such a slab! The ripples(?) are interesting... I wonder how they could be so localized.

#8 reminds me of Syringomorpha.. One of our members sent me a Cambrian specimen from Sweden, but I don't know how long that ichnogenus lasted.

It was a nice enough day up here to go out collecting, surprisingly enough, but I didn't bother.

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I love fossil tracks, whether from a bug or a dino! These are awesome! Thanks for sharing. :dinothumb:

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The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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My friend, it could be a blizzard outside and I'd consider it a:

"Gorgeous Day For A Carboniferous Ichno Fossil Hunt"

if I could find fossils like these - a beautiful collection! :envy:

 

 

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On ‎19‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 6:50 PM, Rockin' Ric said:

Pic #4- Ripple marks??

 

On ‎19‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 10:28 PM, Wrangellian said:

The ripples(?) are interesting... I wonder how they could be so localized.

 

Hello all,

 

I'm a little bit late to this forum, but wanted to say congratulations. Those are some fascinating ichno fossils!

 

Regarding the questionable "ripple marks" in pic 4, I am almost certain these are Microbial Induced Sedimentary Structures  (MISS). In short, they are

impressions of a microbial matt, which is a multilayered sheets of microorganisms (Bacteria and Achaea). Are these impressions common at your hunting

localities?

 

I very much enjoy your posts,

 

FossilsNS

 

 

 

 

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FossilsNS, The Parkwood Formation stretches for several miles. So far, that I'm aware of, trace fossils like these have been found locally in my area. The Xiphosurans and Diplichnites are the traces mostly found. There have been others and noted in past posts which you are welcomed to check out. Btw, found this interesting trace today...20191125_144412.thumb.jpg.26c0ec2dab69bbcfb135cbb1e087fe55.jpg

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WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW MEMBERS!

If history repeats itself, I'm SO getting a dinosaur. ~unknown

www.rockinric81.wixsite.com/fossils

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That trace above is quite curious. I pondered over this quite a bit last night and think I may have figured out what it is (in my unprofessional opinion at least). From the pictures I looked at,

it appears to be a limulid feeding trace called Nereites.

 

Here's a link to a living example. Check it out if you would like (its the second image) : http://www.georgialifetraces.com/tag/limulid-tracks/

 

FossilsNS

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Hey Ric, really enjoyed seeing your latest trace examples! It doesnt take much to get me to ponder about yours and anything else...Got stuck in the driveway trying to get pictures of this non-organic design/trace (completely different in origin than yours but similar in general form only) going across most of the windshield a couple weeks ago....what water, a breeze, and a slope and mother nature can do! Dang curiousity slows me down!

IMG_20191121_064041.thumb.jpg.20eda273bb689fb2fc22afd30d6a36ee.jpg

Continued hunting success!  Must be a cast/mold of an originator out there somewhere!

 

Regards, Chris 

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Are the Xiphosuran tracks representing a left and right foot that both landed in the same spot as they were walking, or were their toes/claws symmetrical like that? They look like little Christmas trees! 

-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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4 hours ago, Shamalama said:

Are the Xiphosuran tracks representing a left and right foot that both landed in the same spot as they were walking, or were their toes/claws symmetrical like that? They look like little Christmas trees! 

 

Shamalama, their toes/claws are symmetrical like you see them. I find them above and below usually one or two on the same shale slab? On some of my finds you can see two leg marks in the center of those toes and claws? Sometimes the organism looks like it is hopping/toganoxichnus...that's what I've been told an Ichnologist? One paleontologist has described them in his book as insect nymph tracks? I'm not the professional, I just think they're too cool and that's why I collect them!

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WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW MEMBERS!

If history repeats itself, I'm SO getting a dinosaur. ~unknown

www.rockinric81.wixsite.com/fossils

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xiphosvol36_part1_pp111-122.pdf

Xiphosurid trace fossils from the Westbury Formation(Rhaetian) of southwest Britain)

 

Guanzhong Wang

PALAEONTOLOGY 36/1,1993

(without trying to suggest that it is the best and latest thing on limulid ichnology)

limul66dc33bff39.jpg

I am posting this because i've just read it*,and it MIGHT be useful here. It contains some useful remarks on the possible relations between sedimentology,grain size,ethology

(behaviour)(see pic above),and resultant traces

ichnogenus:Kouphichnium(with some remarks on Selenichnus and: see below)

*actually yesterday,BEFORE I noticed this post

Morocc

C.R.Palevol,15(2016)
(less than 6 MB)

First occurrence of the Ichnogenus Selenichnites from theMiddle Jurassic Strata of the Skoura Syncline (Middle Atlas,Morocco); Palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental context

Mostafa Oukassoua,, André Charrière, Abdelouahed Lagnaoui,Stacey Gibb, André Michard, Omar Saddiqi

 

RR,those are pretty well photographed,hats off to you.

Good reporting,NICE finds

 

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15 hours ago, Rockin' Ric said:

 

Shamalama, their toes/claws are symmetrical like you see them. I find them above and below usually one or two on the same shale slab? On some of my finds you can see two leg marks in the center of those toes and claws? Sometimes the organism looks like it is hopping/toganoxichnus...that's what I've been told an Ichnologist? One paleontologist has described them in his book as insect nymph tracks? I'm not the professional, I just think they're too cool and that's why I collect them!

 

Thanks Ric and @doushantuo,  I was thinking tetrapod when I should have looked up Xiphosuran, which are horseshoe crabs.  Blame my Lysdexia for telling my brain the word looked like XiphoSAURIAN. :DOH:

-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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Thanks to share this. Ichnofossils as those ones are fantastic because they show the activity of the animals that left them.

theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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