Local Ordovician Trip

[tombk]

@minnbuckeye, as always you come home from a hunt with a trove of beauties! Question: I just today dropped my daughter off at a small college in North-East Iowa and saw some very tempting road coats I didn’t have time to visit, although I’m looking forward to returning soon. Do you have a go-to source book or materials you use to ID your finds from that area? Thanks and happy hunting. 

[minnbuckeye]

On 8/28/2021 at 8:53 PM, tombk said:

Do you have a go-to source book or materials you use to ID your finds from that area? Thanks and happy hunting. 

 

@tombk, unfortunately, there isn't a "go to" book that I know of. Since finding the joy of fossil hunting, I just cut and paste info I discover into an ID notebook, one for each of the local Cambrian, Platteville, Decorah, Galena, and Maquoketa. It still doesn't help with ID's as much as I would like. Wish I had a better answer! 

 

 Mike

[connorp]

@tombk A new book on the Platteville Formation was recently published by the ISGS: Fossils of the Upper Ordovician Platteville Formation in the Upper Midwest USA: An Overview. It is insofar one of the best overall ID references for the UMV Ordovician I’ve come across. Many species will change between the various formations but there are a lot of genera that range across formational boundaries.

[tombk]

Thanks @connorp! I actually ordered that book and it came on Friday. I agree that it’s a big help. I didn’t know it could be used for other formations of the same age as well, as long as you stay at the level of genera. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by tombk
Added clarification

[connorp]

24 minutes ago, tombk said:

Thanks @connorp! I actually ordered that book and it came on Friday. I agree that it’s a big help. I didn’t know it could be used for other formations of the same age as well, as long as you stay at the level of genera. 

 

"Middle and Late Ordovician Lithostratigraphy and Biostratigraphy of the Upper Mississippi Valley" (Sloan 1987) is a great collection of papers which has several species lists I've found helpful. A good primary source is "Geology of Minnesota Vol. III, Part II" (Ulrich 1897). It describes the bulk of UMV mollusks and gastropods, the taxonomy of which hasn't been updated much since. There are a lot of good plates in there for reference.

[tombk]

Thanks again, @connorp! I’ll look for both of those. I appreciate your suggestions.