Round 3 of Western Trip

[minnbuckeye]

        The third chapter about my trip out west has been a bit delayed in coming. @piranha graciously referred me to a book on Green River leaves, the main subject of this posting. It was a wonderful book full of beautiful pictures and relevant information on the flora of the Green River Formation. And I immersed myself in it as a way to“semi ID” my finds. For those who are interested:  

 

         MacGinitieH.D.1969
        The Eocene Green River Flora of Northwestern Colorado and Northeastern              Utah.
         University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 83:1-140

 

 In addition to piranha, I need to thank a “to remain nameless” forum member who directed me to the site. I also stopped at Florissant for a short time, which contains many similar if not identical species at its location. So, my finds are a mixture of the two sites, but mostly Green River.

 

           To begin my journey, I exited the highway onto what was thought to be the proper road. It seemed more like an abandon trail, but the landmark mentioned was present. It concerned me, with the small low riding rental car being driven, the likelihood of getting stuck existed. Roads like this never stopped me before, so off I went.  And besides, it is a rental car!!!!

 

 

Looking at my directions, it instructed me to turn right at the next “dinosaur”. What a unique instruction. I couldn’t wait to see what was ahead. After seemingly hours, traveling under 10 mph, seeing nothing but expanses of sagebrush reaching to the horizon, I finally reached my next turnoff. And yes there it was, the dinosaur, clear as day (mixed in with a little pareidolia) soaking up the warmth of the morning sun.

 

 

 After turning right and many more rough miles of travel, I finally reached this isolated spot of Green River Formation.  It is the light-colored rock in the foreground.

 

 

The beauty of the Utah landscape overwhelmed my senses and I just sat on the rim of the canyon taking it all in.  It is moments like this that keep me “fossil hunting”.  My mind, body and spirit were united as one! 

 

 

 

Enough of this meditation stuff. You want to see fossils!! First up are the possible insects found. Again, pareidolia may be part of what I am seeing so forgive me if some are misidentified as insects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My readings told of seeds frequently encountered in the Green River. These pictures depict what I believe are seed like structures.

 

 

Possibly Somara ailanthus:

 

A legume pod??

 

 

 

Next are unknowns to me. They appear to be coniferous.

 

 

 

The next specimen was tentatively IDed as a coniferous leafy shoot. But in the book that I attempted to make my IDs from, the tip of a fern, Asplenium delicatula looked very similar.

 

 

Woody pieces are found on occasion. The first one pictured matches Equisetum winchesteri closely.

 

 

The next two are unknowns that I keep seeing as flowers. Hopefully not more pareidolia.

 

 

 

An odd trace fossil.

 

 

Now I will show samples of the Green River leaves found. I was unprepared for splitting this matrix. My lowly bon big face Estwing brick hammer could not peel up large enough slabs of matrix, resulting in many partial leaves like these. Be prepared for the need of multiple small chisels and pry bars if better specimens are wanted.

The first leaf is similar to Quercus petros.

 

 

 

 

 

The next leaf is suggestive of a legume.

 

 

Finally Eugenia americana??

 

 

Next are a few Florissant leaves. The middle one possibly Populus heeri.

 

 

Next up is Astronium truncatum. Notice the matrix is NOT flat and the leaf conforms to the undulations. This is common with leaves from Florissant.

 

 

Dinner time!! I will finish this post when my after dinner nap concludes!  

 

[minnbuckeye]

I decided to skip my nap in order to finish this trip report. So please enjoy it!! On to a few more fossil leaves.

 

Rhus lesquereuxi

 

 

 

Cedrelospermum nervosum:

 

 

 

The next leaves mimic the multi lobed Cardiospermum coloradensis but unfortunately a complete specimen was never encountered, so their identification will be questionable.

 

 

Up next are a couple Athyana balli leaves.

 

 

Leguminosites lesquereuxiana:

 

 

 

A few unknowns:

 

 

Now some of the larger leaves. Prunus stewarti:

 

Two Allophylus flexifolia:

 

 

 

And now my favorite. I remembered to take the time to capture pictures as this leaf was extracted!!!! It is Allophylus flexifolia:

 

 

 

 

It was hard to leave this location, but my return trip to Minnesota was the next day. So I departed early afternoon allowing me time to enjoy the road trip from Utah to Denver. As I reached the tree line at the Continental Divide, a sparkling lake appeared and had a waterfalls entering it. 

 

 

Upon investigating this site closer, I discovered an abandoned gold mine upstream of the falls. If only I had more time for exploration!!

 

 

But alas, time was ticking and it was necessary to move on. Interesting enough, the highway took me through Alma, Colorado, famous for being the highest incorperated town in North America!!! 10,578 feet. 

 

 

The following morning provided me with an opportunity to make a SHORT visit to Baclurite Mesa just outside of Pueblo, Co. before my plane departed. As I approached the mesa, a sign along the road created some concerns. 

 

 

Instructions found online said to stop at the house, seen in the distance. I was a bit nervous to proceed and elected to make a phone call instead. After a long talk with the owner, who had moved to town to better take care of his ailing wife, I was granted access. Actually the OK to hunt fossils was given early in our conversation. The majority of our conversation was just chit chat! The owner obviously enjoys visitors like me and wants to share what the mesa has to offer!!!  My time was very limited  and I never made it to the mesa slopes. My fossils were found as I left the parking spot and headed towards the hill which was a quarter mile away. My next visit to Colorado will definately include enough time to explore this Mesa.

 

First up, Nymphalucina occidentalis bivalves, many of which sported epibionts. I am not sure if they are coral, sponges,  or bryozoa. 

 

 

 

I came to Baculite Mesa for the purpose of finding, you guessed it, a baculite! This site did not disappoint. Baculites were frequently seen sitting on top of the soil. Only a few were collected. These are Baculites scotti:

 

 

 

Unfortunately, that concludes my trip! Hope this wasn't too long for TFF members! If not, here is a parting shot of the Western beauty this country offers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHY do these pictures add on to my post after finishing? AND HOW do I remove them?????? This has frustrated me in many of my trip reports. Thanks for any advice, but remember speak MY language. I am virtually computer illiterate.

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Nice insects! And leaves

[Top Trilo]

Wonderful trip report Mike! You found lots of great fossils.

 

I think the reason for the extra photos at the end of your posts is because when you upload photos, and then place the photos within your report, any photo you didn't manually place will fill in at the end.

To get rid of it you should be able to click the trash can icon on the photo and it will go away.

 

[deutscheben]

Excellent report! Beautiful fossils and beautiful landscapes, you had it all. 

[minnbuckeye]

@Top Trilo, thanks for the suggestion. Many of the  extra pictures ARE in my post and I have tried to just delete those then hit trash on the others with NO success.

[JohnJ]

14 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

WHY do these pictures add on to my post after finishing? AND HOW do I remove them?????? This has frustrated me in many of my trip reports. Thanks for any advice, but remember speak MY language. I am virtually computer illiterate.

 

2 hours ago, Top Trilo said:

I think the reason for the extra photos at the end of your posts is because when you upload photos, and then place the photos within your report, any photo you didn't manually place will fill in at the end.

To get rid of it you should be able to click the trash can icon on the photo and it will go away.

 

In addition to Alex's good advice, you also need to delete the photos from the body of the post.

 

Mike, I removed the extra images.  Please double check that your posts are as you want them.  

[jpc]

Nice insects, Mike.  Third insect... I don't think so.  Nice leaves as well, but the legume pod is especially cool.  As for the flowers, paleobotanist Kirk Johnson once told me that unless  you actually see pistils and/or stamen, they are likely not flowers.  And there are a number of pseudo-flowers in those beds.    

[Crusty_Crab]

18 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Enough of this meditation stuff. You want to see fossils!! First up are the possible insects found. Again, pareidolia may be part of what I am seeing so forgive me if some are misidentified as insects.

 

 

 

Beetle for sure. Order Coleoptera. Not enough detail for me to make an opinion further, since so much detail has not been preserved or is out of focus (striations on the elytra, head, antennae, legs and tarsal segments, segments of the abdomen). Entomologists that work on modern specimens would need to see even more detail from different orientations, which is impossible, which is why its extremely difficult to work on compression insect fossils. I checked my copy of Scudder, 1890. Tertiary Insects of North America and Scudder, 1893. Tertiary Rhynchophorous Coleoptera and nothing jumped at me. There may or may not be more modern papers on the subject but I suspect the lack of preservation detail will leave this inconclusive.

 

 

 

18 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

The fossil on the right is most likely a weevil (Order Coleoptera, Family Curculionidae) since it seems to have a snout in my eyes (but is out of focus) and the general body shape  is consistent with that order. The fossil on the left is indeterminate to me, but my best guess is a Hemipteran (Order Hemiptera) due to the shape of the abdomen. The wings and legs do not appear to have been preserved and the head is not in focus. A better picture will probably not be sufficient for a better ID from me since these key features don't appear to be preserved, but a better entomologist may tell you differently.   

 

 

 

18 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

The above is not an insect fossil to me. Crane flies are quite common in that locality, but they have very distinct features:

 

Note the distinctive large, compound eyes, and general shape of the head and long segmented abdomen. In my experience from that locality, the tip of the abdomen will very frequently end in 2 lobes. 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Great report, Mike, and most fun to read.

Lovely photos and fossils, too. 

[FossilDAWG]

Excellent trip report!

Were those Florissant fossils collected from the pay quarry?  If so you did much better than I did last year.  It looks like you had decent-sized chunks of rock to split.  I was there at the very end of the season, and I was relegated to splitting small fragments.

 

Don

[fossilhunter21]

Very cool trip report, Mike! You found some pretty awesome specimens, And took some pretty awesome photos! 

 

Scenery like that just makes me happy. 

 

Thank you for sharing,

 

-Micah 

[minnbuckeye]

14 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Were those Florissant fossils collected from the pay quarry?

@FossilDAWG, yes the pay quarry. Actually my success was not good and I departed after a very short visit! The material was wet making the ability to split the matrix along seams nearly impossible. If I ever return and find a similar situation, I will exit even quicker. No fault of the owners. Just the monsoons.

[BobC]

Utah is ridiculously beautiful.

[Nimravis]

Mike- Great trip report- love the scenery pics and those leaves are beautiful.

[Jeffrey P]

Great trip and report. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. I'm glad you focused mostly on the flora which is amazing. You're giving me more reasons to go back. 

[RandyB]

Hey Mike - Always a fan of leaves and some of those are stellar.  Congratulations on rounding out another successful excursion.

[minnbuckeye]

@RandyB, I had a choice of visiting Northern Wyoming or Utah. I decided to stay in the warmer climate! Hopefully I can visit your site soon.

 

 Mike