Good Books to Help with Identifying Ordovician-Age Fossils on the East Coast

[Megalodoodle]

Does anyone have recommended beginner books to help identify Ordovician-age fossils on the East Coast? Or identifying common fossils of all ages on the East Coast? I'm a beginner when it comes to identifying fossils and in need of help.

[Fossildude19]

Your best bet is to search for the names of the formations you are hunting, and see if they have any species lists. 

Read any PDF's that come up in your search. 

There are no real "guide books" to Ordovician fauna of the East Coast that I am aware of.

Index Fossils of North America. 

 

 

 

 

[grandpa]

To help get you started:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsburg_Formation#:~:text=The Ordovician Martinsburg Formation (Om) is a mapped,West Virginia for which it was first described.

 

http://paleoportal.org/index.php?globalnav=time_space&sectionnav=state&state_id=45&period_id=15

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology_in_Virginia

 

https://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2019/03/18/new-discoveries-in-the-martinsburg-formation/

 

https://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2015/03/24/martinsburg-formation-outcrops-in-edinburg-gap/

 

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/UnitRefs/MartinsburgRefs_2661.html

 

Also search the State Geological Survey publications for the states of interest for resources and search google scholar using appropriate terms that are revealed in your research.

 

AND:  don't forget using this forum's FruitBat's Library and regional searches for further useful info:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/forum/89-united-states/
 

 

Hope this helps to get your started.

[Rhiguita]

A book that I have used that helped me identify a decent amount of the Ordovician fossils I have found is the Fossils of Ohio by the Ohio geological survey, as some of the fossils in the Cincinnatian region overlap with the fossils that I found from the Ordovician of New York, so It might help for other areas of the east coast.

[FossilNerd]

+1 for the Fossils of the Ohio book. Pro tip... Contact the Ohio Geological Survey department directly if you are looking to purchase a copy.  

I could also recommend the book  Cincinnati Fossils : An Elementary Guide to the Ordivician Rocks and Fossils of the Cincinnati, Ohio.

Another good book on the Ordovician age is A Sea without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati Region. 

 

All of these books are focused on the Cincinnati Arch region of the eastern US. Not sure if they will be of use to you, but they are excellent books on the subject. Hopefully they help!  

 

 

 

 

[Plax]

The book "Fossil collecting in Pennsylvania"

[erose]

Publications of the New York State Museum/Geological Survey may help. Google it up and see what is available. Great maps as well.