Fayetteville Shale Creek Day (Mississippian)

[NWARockhound]

Yesterday I somewhat unexpectedly ended up with a day off of work, and as it's too hot to enjoy hiking, I decided it was time to hit up my favorite exposure of the Fayetteville Shale.  I found myself thinking on my way out, I've picked this place pretty clean, I don't think I'll find too much.  Luckily for me though, the -20F freeze and extremely wet spring we've had did a nice job of eroding the shale.  Almost as soon as I got into the creek, I saw a pickerel frog tucked away in a little hole.

 

 

Not too much further, I hit the beginning of the exposed shale.  The bed of the creek is mostly shale, so it's pretty easy to find outcroppings!

 

 

Inside of the shale, there are sometimes fossils sticking out, like the edge of the first nautilus I found.

 

Further on, I found blue heron and barred owl feathers

 

A nicely complete nautilus shell was one of my favorite finds of the day

 

 

I also pulled up a couple straight shelled nautilus as well.  They are very prevalent here.

 

 

 

The cherry on top was seeing a snapping turtle on my way back out.  I gave her a lot of space to discourage any biting, although they're generally docile in the water.  She was growing algae, so maybe not the healthiest turtle, but quite a sight nonetheless. 

 

 

Some of my finds cleaned up.  I believe the orthocones are rayonnoceras, but only because they are common in the area.  I keep thinking I should figure out what things are better before posting on here, but 

 

 

All in all, a very nice way to spend a day off and enjoy the beautiful Ozarks

 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Great finds! 

Those nautiloids are particularly sweet eye candy.   

Thanks for posting!

[FossilDAWG]

Wow, those nautiloids are really really nice!

Don

[fossilhunter21]

Nice finds! 

 

Thanks for sharing.   

[NWARockhound]

Thanks y'all!