Carboniferous limestone fossils??

[patrick plesiosaurus]

I am wondering what fossils you can see in these rocks. they are all carboniferous limestone (prehaps not the red/brown one). 

 

I can see Bivalves, coral, crinoids, brachiopods (I think), And nothing else. 

 

Why aren't there other carboniferous life. (I understand soft parts go)

 

These rocks are packed with fossils, what can a real paleotologist see? 

 

 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

1 hour ago, patrick plesiosaurus said:

Why aren't there other carboniferous life.

 

I am seeing what you are seeing.

 

First of all, location is key to figuring out what types of fossils you are able to find. 

Different environments produce different fossils.  Carboniferous marine environments will have different fauna/flora,  than Carboniferous terrestrial, or lacustrine environments.  

 

Secondly, some of these need preparation or splitting, to see what else may be in the rocks. 

There are no details visible to be able to make any kind of assessment as to what you actually have there. 

 

[minnbuckeye]

Definitely some crinoid material present in some samples. Brachiopod cross sections are likely in one of them.

  

Mike

Edited May 8, 2021 by minnbuckeye

[FranzBernhard]

Two points:

- Sometimes fossils are are highly broken and the fragments are not easy to ID. I am always surprised what some paleontologist of can see in thin sections of. Nearly everything .

- Sometimes, the fauna is indeed poor in species. Local Austrian examples are Trochactaeon beds, oyster beds and some rudist formations. Fossils are well preserved, but you have to look hard to find accompanying fauna. Its there, but rare, less than 10% of main species.

Franz Bernhard

[westcoast]

Better focussed images would help but there are certainly some crinoids there

[patrick plesiosaurus]

Thank you, I was just curious as to why this ecosystem had 4 types of species in it, Obviously minus soft creatures but there should still be other things around. 

 

What are the long stick like bits in the first 4 pictures, Are they small fish bones?

[minnbuckeye]

Think of beachcombers, walking along picking up shells as they go. From their finds alone, one would deduce that all there was in that big open ocean was seashells. The same type of deposition likely occurred millions of years ago, creating these hash plates FULL of fossil bits from a single species or two.

 

 Mike

[FranzBernhard]

19 hours ago, patrick plesiosaurus said:

I was just curious as to why this ecosystem had 4 types of species in it

Have a look at modern marine ecosystems.

One extreme are the coral reefs famous for their species richness.

On the other side, mudflats, estuaries, hypo- and hypersaline areas, tidal zones are often very poor in species, but very rich in individuals. These are very special ("extreme") habitats, only a few species can cope with.

(Some more knowledge members may be able to correct me!)

Franz Bernhard

Edited May 10, 2021 by FranzBernhard

[patrick plesiosaurus]

Okay thank you very much.