Biking for fossils in Moscow. Part II

[RuMert]

Hi all!

Following the first topic I'll show you another fossil layer in that same location, Epivirgatites nikitini ammonite zone. It's the lowest of the three layers in Fili Park, relates to the middle Tithonian (Volgian, upper Jurassic) and is known for big ammonites and vertebrate remains. It's the last remaining accessible site in the region where you can count on finding Jurassic vertebrates. The finds are stable, but small, scarce and involve sifting.

 

[RuMert]

The park is living its life...

 

 

...while we go into the woods...

 

...and follow a creek

[RuMert]

Having parked the bike...

 

...we get down to work

[RuMert]

The park amuses and puzzles me. On the one hand, it's well known to have fossils, and many people, mostly with children, visit the fossil creeks daily in search of belemnites ("devil's fingers"). For example, somebody left belemnite and ammonite fragments here. Those are fossils "on normal difficulty"

 

 

On the other hand, with enough effort you can uncover much more impressive fossils, like big ammonites (this one is 30 cm in diameter).

 

It takes time and nerves though: sticky slurping clay, omnipresent mud, water pouring from everywhere, cold, general look and feel of a swamp, shameless mosquitoes

 

...concrete-like 30 cm thick layer of pressed belemnites and bivalve/ammonite fragments you have to break through

[RuMert]

The problem is that the whole target layer is below the creek level, so you have to work in a hole 1-2m deep (as it has to be started above the creek), constantly taking out water still staying in the remaining loam goo knee-high, scooping and sifting

 

The good news is that water doesn't fill the hole so quickly as you would expect, for example, by a river. The clay and pebbles in the creek bed prevent it from filling holes up at once

 

Here you can see that the water level in the hole is much lower than in the creek

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Wow, what a site! Those are some nice belemnites.

[RuMert]

With scooping and sifting and a bit of luck it's possible to find some shark teeth

 

If you ever wondered what Moscow shark teeth would look like, here they are:)  (Sphenodus, 10 mm crown). Unrooted unfortunately, the ratio of rooted vs unrooted is like 1 to 10 and the luck was not on my side this time

[RuMert]

Fish verts, 2-12 mm

 

...and fish otoliths, a trademark of the site. They were recently described as Palealbula moscoviensis. They are strangely more numerous than any other fish remains. 5-8 mm

[RuMert]

...and an ichthyosaur tooth, a rare guest.

 

Note that the site is in no way similar to the Cretaceous and Miocene ones where you can get hundreds of teeth and verts. Here you have to sift for hours to find a single tooth, fish or reptile alike

[RuMert]

As to invertebrates, the most known are Mosquella (3 cm) and Russiella (2,5 cm) brachiopods. The latter is present throughout the park layers, while the former is characteristic of the nikitini zone

[RuMert]

Echinoid spines and their fragments are abundant in the "teeth layer"

 

Eucyclus gastropods are almost the only ones of their kind (15 mm)

[RuMert]

Those are the bivalves present: Entolium, Astarte, Buchia (all 2-3 cm), oysters (a bit less)

[RuMert]

Ammonite fragments are numerous, but complete ones are almost non-existent. The preservation of all the fossils depends on phosphorite conretions, if the former are somehow associated with the latter, they are likely to be solid, otherwise they feel like wet paper and are easily destroyed

[RuMert]

Thanks for reading!

[Darktooth]

Great trip report and pics! Thanks for sharing with us!

[jcbshark]

Great report and pics, thanks 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely fossils, it's always nice to see fossils from more unusual (to me) places. 

Those brachipods are my favourites. 

[FossilDAWG]

42 minutes ago, RuMert said:

Thanks for reading!

 

Thanks for showing!

Don

[Ludwigia]

Once again, thanks for sharing one of your sites with us. It just goes to show that you don't git somethin' fer nuthin'

[Bobby Rico]

Great report and many fantastic finds.  I love the Eucyclus gastropods.
 

 Thank you .

 cheers Bobby 

[butchndad]

i love calling belmenites "devil's fingers"

[Monica]

Wonderful finds!  I especially like the ichthyosaur tooth and the iridescent ammonite 

 

(By the way - did you manage to extract the 30-cm-diameter ammonite?  Is the pictured iridescent ammonite the same one?)

[RuMert]

Thank you all for the kind words:)

11 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Those brachipods are my favourites

In this place brachiopods are the kings, which is not so common in Jurassic

2 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

It just goes to show that you don't git somethin' fer nuthin'

Exactly:) This "swamp paleontology" is typical for our Jurassic unlike for example, Carboniferous

1 hour ago, butchndad said:

i love calling belmenites "devil's fingers"

That's how they are called among the people:) It's just a name, but some do believe they actually have medical properties

49 minutes ago, Monica said:

did you manage to extract the 30-cm-diameter ammonite?

Nope, the big ammonites are very badly preserved, so at best I would turn up with something big vaguely resembling an ammonite

[Troodon]

Very nice thanks for the report 

[minnbuckeye]

Another spectacular report! Judging from your pictures, fossil hunting in Moscow is tailor made for children who love to play in mud!!! I would have loved your sites as a child, and still enjoy the feel of earthen mud between my toes as an old man.  

 

Mike