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Greetings, 

 

I’ve recently gotten back into prospecting fossils and I’m looking for some suggestions on sites to visit in western Pennsylvania. I frequently visit Ambridge PA to find fern and Calamite fossils from the Mahoning fm and would like to find more. I also would like to find fossils of early Permian (tetrapods, plants, or invertebrates). I hear that Washington county (south of Pittsburgh) has some great spots and would like to know if it were true. I also would like to show some of my findings from Ambridge as well. 
 

Note: I’d like this to be suggested places not just western PA but West Virginia and eastern Ohio as well.

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  • JurassicMeasures changed the title to Fossil Sites in Western PA?

Can't help with any sites, but wanted to say those are some nice finds!

Welcome to the Forum. :)

 

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Nice finds! I get the chance to hunt Ambridge every few years and enjoy it tremendously. It is so different than hunting in Minnesota. Being from Bowling Green, do you hunt the Cincinnatian or Silurian too.

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Tetrapods are pretty sparse in Western PA and if you find any they ought to be reported to the Carnegie Museum. In terms of localities to collect at, you can find plant fossils just about anywhere. You used to be able to collect marine inverts (and Paleozoic shark teeth) at places like Sewickley Bridge roadcut, but those are largely closed to the public now. However, roadcuts and other places with lots of exposed rock are worth looking around in; there's some good exposures of the Brush Creek Limestone and Ames Limestone north of Pittsburgh which are full of brachiopods, cephalopods, and rugose corals, and occasionally shark teeth (Petalodus, Deltodus, Glikmanius, Saivodus, etc). 

 

If you are willing to go a bit further afield, Eighteen Mile Creek near Buffalo has excellent trilobites, cephalopods, brachiopods, etc, and rare placoderm pieces. That's about a 3 hour drive from Pittsburgh but good for a full day trip on a weekend.

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30 minutes ago, jdp said:

If you are willing to go a bit further afield, Eighteen Mile Creek near Buffalo has excellent trilobites, cephalopods, brachiopods, etc, and rare placoderm pieces. That's about a 3 hour drive from Pittsburgh but good for a full day trip on a weekend.

 

A NOTE TO ANYONE LOOKING TO HUNT ON 18 MILE CREEK IN NORTH EVANS, NY:

 

Please keep in mind, 18 Mile Creek is now posted NO TRESPASSING from the fisherman's lot to the lake shore. This is where the landowners have blocked access to the creek exposures.

To hunt the creek, you need to head east, (away from the lake shore ) on the creek from the Fisherman's lot off of Old Lakeshore Road.

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Western PA is, in fact, quite fossiliferous, but vertebrate remains (as @jdp mentioned) are quite rare. Articulated remains are incredibly rare, and should certainly be donated when found. I am lucky enough to have a site that produces vertebrates on my property; that being said, everything in that collection will probably end up being donated. Plants and marine fossils are common at road cuts, just be careful when you do collect as the cliffs are often unstable and quite tall. If you end up finding anything feel free to PM me and I will try my best to identify them. Happy hunting!

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I used to live in Buffalo and worked as a park educator at the Penn Dixie fossil park for a few years. I have my share of trilobite fossils. I currently live in Pittsburgh and I love the abundance of fossils everywhere. I know I’m being a bit ambitious but I’d like to be those lucky few to find some rare like tetrapod fossils in the western PA area.

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I would try Glenshaw, and Allison Park. Found these in that area (sorry I don't have anything for scale):

 

 

 

 

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Please send any site information via th Forum's PM system.

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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