From the Miocene to the Devonian - Fossils Finds from the Year So Far

[bockryan]

I was finally able to bring my car down from Michigan to D.C. this winter which has really expanded the range of accessible localities (and also avoids the torturous process of renting cars) for me. I don't have many nice in situ pictures unfortunately, but here are some of the cleaned up finds from the trips so far this year!

 

First we tried Matoaka Beach Cabins with some success, lots of little teeth with one great highlight (unsure on ID, let me know if that's clear from the picture). Also had good luck with a complete Ecphora and Moon Snail, as well as a decent sized chunk of sand dollar pieces cemented together and a Stewartia anodonta (?) with some of the first layer of shell material preserved. 

 

[bockryan]

I also was able to try Flag Ponds, which can't compete in terms of invertebrates, but was absolutely beautiful and produced my first ever Megalodon tooth *and* a marine mammal vertebrae on the same weekend, which was pretty cool. The assortment of other smaller teeth was a nice bonus as well. The Meg is unfortunately about as broken as its possible to get, but someone would have certainly picked it up before me if it wasn't so I can't complain too much. 

[bockryan]

Last journey into the Miocene was the Fossil Festival this weekend in Aurora, NC - my first time going (and will certainly be going again next year!). My girlfriend and I dug for about six hours across Saturday and Sunday and came out with about 200 teeth of various sizes, including 5 Meg fragments and several really nice Sand Tigers. We also found several vertebrae but they seem to have been very beaten up by the mining process. The largest one I found was the last one of the day and I'm not sure on the ID.

[bockryan]

Next up were trips up to the well known sites at Ambridge and Centralia, PA in search of fern fossils. We had success at both locations, although I wish I had a bit more time at Ambridge and will likely return there soon. Also curious if anyone has had recent luck with the marine layers that are supposed to border the plant layers there? I haven't been able to find anything, but didn't have long to look so wasn't surprised. I think the Centralia fossils are especially beautiful, there seem to be pockets where they're preserved as silver, white, and then orange impressions with the orange being my favorite. 

[bockryan]

And then lastly we have finds from the well known Lost River quarry site in West Virginia. Lots of solid trilobites that are mostly missing some important pieces, but the digging is fun and they're common enough that I don't seem to go through the type of extended dry spells that can sometimes be discouraging. The non-trilobite find is what I'm thinking is a crinoid holdfast? They're abundant in one part of the quarry and looked initially like gastropods (which I guess it could still be?). Let me know if that's correct or if it's something else entirely. Will hope to continue on the Trilobite front this coming weekend at Penn Dixie, which will be the last trip for a while probably.   

[historianmichael]

7 minutes ago, bockryan said:

Also curious if anyone has had recent luck with the marine layers that are supposed to border the plant layers there? I haven't been able to find anything, but didn't have long to look so wasn't surprised.

I have only been to Ambridge once and it was over 15 years ago now, but it was right as they were doing construction to widen the road there. My understanding is that with the construction, the state removed access to the overlying marine zone. Chunks of material from that zone may still weather and drop down from above, but I believe that it is uncommon. Sadly Ambridge is among the sites whose heyday of collecting was years in the past.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yes, it looks like a crinoid holdfast to me, though I'm interested to know what it was holding onto? 

Love the plants. 

[bockryan]

15 minutes ago, historianmichael said:

I have only been to Ambridge once and it was over 15 years ago now, but it was right as they were doing construction to widen the road there. My understanding is that with the construction, the state removed access to the overlying marine zone. Chunks of material from that zone may still weather and drop down from above, but I believe that it is uncommon. Sadly Ambridge is among the sites whose heyday of collecting was years in the past.

 

Ah unfortunate! Luckily the ferns are still there and still abundant, the widening of the road shoulder next to the site seems to be a welcome change as well.
 

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Yes, it looks like a crinoid holdfast to me, though I'm interested to know what it was holding onto? 

Love the plants. 

 

 

They're basically all on a vertical plane on the side of the quarry, it looks to just be in the sediment since the rock seems to be no different than the rock that doesn't include the holdfasts