Birthday Fossil Hunting trip to Ardennes (Devonian of Belgium)

[ziggycardon]

Hi everyone! 

 

Last weekend I took a couple of days off work for my birthday and I decided to visit a fossil spot in the ardennes which was recently recommended to me because there was a chance to find fossils of primitive plants as well as devonian fish (which is one of my main interests within the hobby). 

The site is relatively close by as well which was a huge plus as it only took an hour to drive.
The fossils in this location date back to the late Devonian, Famennian to be exact (372.2 million years ago to 358.9 million years ago)

 

After searching for a 45 minutes we finally found the top spot with the right layer rich in plant material, here are some in situ pictures of the larger examples (which we didn't extract). 

If I am correct I believe these are the remains of Rhacophyton condrusorum which is a primitive species of fern if I remember reading once.

 

We were also lucky to find some fossils of devonian fish, which was the main reason for our visit.

A lovely small Lungfish (Dipnoi indet) tooth

 

An imprint of a fish scale of bone

 

While it was quite a cold day, it was sunny and we had a quiet afternoon at the spot where we could search in peace. 

[ziggycardon]

And here are the finds we brought home with us: 

 

My favorite find of the day:

A Devonian Lungfish tooth (Dipnoi indet)

 

 

A small piece of fish scale or bone (pos & neg)
Could it be Placoderm perhaps?

 

 

The next one is another fish fossil, though not entirely sure what it is. 
My first thought was Lungfish tooth but I am now leaning more towards a fish scale.

 

 

A negative of a relatively large Lungfish tooth, 

We looked around for quite a while to find the positive, but to no avail.

 

And ofcourse some of the plant pieces we brought along: 

 

[Manticocerasman]

Ken, If you like late devonian fish from Belgium  : 

https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/314416.pdf

 

[ziggycardon]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:22 PM, Manticocerasman said:

Ken, If you like late devonian fish from Belgium  : 

https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/314416.pdf

 

Thank you! I haven't come accross this one yet, will make for an interesting read!

[Misha]

A late happy birthday to you, and those are some great finds! I love the lungfish teeth! Wish we had fossils like that around here

On 2/17/2022 at 10:39 AM, ziggycardon said:

The next one is another fish fossil, though not entirely sure what it is. 
My first thought was Lungfish tooth but I am now leaning more towards a fish scale

This one looks like a lungfish tooth to me,

The plate bit does look like some placoderms I've seen, but not sure which it could be.

[Wrangellian]

Love it. Primitive pre-Pennsylvanian plants is something we don't see often enough. The other stuff is interesting too.

Someday someone should make an effort to recover a big sheet with a big plant/branch on it like those in your first pic, even if it comes out in a lot of pieces to be glued together. I would do it if I had access to those sites!

[ziggycardon]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:10 PM, Misha said:

A late happy birthday to you, and those are some great finds! I love the lungfish teeth! Wish we had fossils like that around here

This one looks like a lungfish tooth to me,

The plate bit does look like some placoderms I've seen, but not sure which it could be.

Thank you, I am very glad to get acquinted with that location, will probably become a regular fossil spot as paleozoïc fishes are one of my main interest within paleontology.  
Yeah indeed, been going through the publications I could find about fammenian deposits and Belgium and after comparing it matches most with the images of lungfish teeth. 

 

On 2/21/2022 at 5:33 AM, Wrangellian said:

Love it. Primitive pre-Pennsylvanian plants is something we don't see often enough. The other stuff is interesting too.

Someday someone should make an effort to recover a big sheet with a big plant/branch on it like those in your first pic, even if it comes out in a lot of pieces to be glued together. I would do it if I had access to those sites!

Thank you! 
I will definiatly visit again and might try to collect one of the bigger plants then.