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Hi all!

Today I'd like to introduce you to another place to hunt for small Oxfordian fossils, a quarry by the village of Timonino, located to the east of Moscow. The finds and hunting method are pretty much the same as in the previous site.

Basically, surface collecting small Oxfordian fossils, usually gastropods, is a distinct sort of fossil hunting in the Moscow region. To the east of the city lies a sort of "Oxfordian belt" with similar geologic setting, finds and hunting conditions.

мосоксфорд.jpg

Here's a map of the Oxfordian sites in the region. The quarries in operation are marked in blue, they usually extract older layers, thus removing Oxfordian clay and stacking it in spoil piles. Fossils can then be collected from the piles' surface. Due to specific conditions, ammonites are not preserved at all, but bivalves and gastropods retain a very good quality. People usually search for the latter. Most such quarries are located around the city of Kolomna, including Peski quarry I've already presented.

Shchyolkovo quarry (in brown) is out of operation and completely flooded, but there are a couple of tiny clay patches with mostly belemnites. A group of sites marked in orange are located on the Moskva river bank and accessible only in winter (focus of the Frozen fossils topic), the hunting season is about to resume. They are also Oxfordian with the same set of gastropods, but also well-preserved ammonites everybody looks for.

Timonino quarry is an isolated site with conditions similar to Kolomna's. Unlike the latter, it strangely extracts white Bathonian clay instead of limestone. The quarry came in operation just a few years ago and ultimately became popular among fossil collectors. Going forward I can say its reputation is greatly exaggerated.

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Maybe it's the way it should be? (I'm far from the  quarry business). There were no working machinery, but 4-5 giant white clay piles (the clay is empty fossil-wise). Here are some pictures taken from the top

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But unfortunately much poorer than Peski. I suspect the place was already picked over. I almost broke my eyes trying to spot rare tiny shells  and microscopic Bathrotomaria's  (I know there ought to be big ones, but see above). The only pleasant surprise were juicy Gryphea's

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And other stuff like Hibolithes guards, Cyclocrinus stem pieces (it's the mysterious crinoid with no known calyx), echinoid spines and scaphopod shells (strangely abundant there)

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Ammonite fragments are typically rare

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Thanks for another great trip report, Interresting to see quarrys in a place I will probably never go to. 

 

Without knowing what they produce there (bricks, tiles?) it's hard to know what the spreadout spoil piles are, but they could be overburden piles, they are after a certain type of clay and have to remove overburden first and pile it on top of previously excavated areas, might also explain why some people have said it was great a great site earlyer

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Seconded!

As always, your photo-journaling of trips is like we are along for the journey. And you did all the hard surface scanning to spare our eyes. :P 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Thirded! 

Great report.

Interesting to see the scaphopods being so abundant there. :)

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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Thanks for the kind words!

1 hour ago, Phevo said:

have to remove overburden first and pile it on top of previously excavated areas

Well, why not? I've only seen flooded or "recultivated" quarries before and got used to big pits

1 hour ago, Kane said:

you did all the hard surface scanning to spare our eyes

A sort of underwater telescope would be useful there, but for surface collecting:D

 

17 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Interesting to see the scaphopods being so abundant there

Yep, it could mean the layer is different from the point of view of conditions and probably geologic period. It's vaguely the same geologic setting in all the aforementioned quarries (nobody knows exactly as there are too few ammos and gastropods are too slow-evolving to distinguish). But actually there can be several different ammonite zones with different faunas. Too little research in this field so far

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Thanks for taking us along again, @RuMert!

 

The small gastros and bivalves are so fresh, so well preserved, so, well - so Cenozoic-looking.

Could there be younger sediments above the Jurassic ones in this area?

 

Franz Bernhard

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Thank you, @FranzBernhard

Oxfordian clay magic:D The shells are so well preserved some people lose their mind and can think about nothing but those gastropods (there are lots of rare beauties I have yet to find and show you). Unfortunately the magic concerns only small shells of more "ordinary" mollusks

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Hi,

 

I’m very surprised at the quality of your Mesozoic shells :wub: :wub: They look like Cenozoic ! I’m really looking forward to seeing more, if you have more in your collection !
 
Coco
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----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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I like Acteonidae !

 

Coco

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----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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