Show Us Your Rochester Shale Fossils

[piranha]

The Rochester Shale of Middleport New York has a magnificent Silurian fauna

Here are a few from my cabinet:

 

Arctinurus boltoni 6"

Apiocystites elegans 2"

Bumastus barriensis 1-1/2"

Trimerus delphinocephalus 2"

 

[fossisle]

Stunningly superb!!

[Auspex]

Superbly stunning!

[HeritageFossils]

Fantastic!

[pleecan]

First class collection Scott! Silurian era is one that is one of my favourite eras to hunt. If you got more Silurian Please continue to post .... images serve as a good guide as a reference material....

PL

[piranha]

First class collection Scott! Silurian era is one that is one of my favourite eras to hunt. If you got more Silurian Please continue to post .... images serve as a good guide as a reference material....

PL

Thank you Peter et al,

I started this thread for our new member Dalmanites14 from NY.

I have some bits and pieces of other various trilobites but I would

rather let everyone else post their Rochester fossils going forward.

Thanks again for the great compliments.

[RCFossils]

Dalmanites and a complete cystoid association from the Rochester Shale.

 

 

[Auspex]

Dalmanites and a complete cystoid association from the Rochester Shale.

Far greater than the sum of its parts!

[xonenine]

These are all the greatest, I am going to start looking up some spots to go to in Middleport this season, thanks!!!

[pleecan]

Dalmanites and a complete cystoid association from the Rochester Shale.

Very Nice RC !! .... there is also Rochester Shale in the Niagara Region... something to explore this summer....

[dalmanites14]

wow

do any of you guys know how to get to rochester shale

so i can go. :startle:

[xonenine]

In my area I believe Lockport is the best bet for the exposure...

Proof of the age of rock strata in Gulf Wilderness Park is found in the red sandstone surfaces of the Grimsby sandstone, where structures like intertwined ropes ("Arthrophycus") represent the fossil remains of worm burrows from the Silurian Period of about 430 million years ago. Fossils are also found in other rock layers in this park. One can look for crinoids, brachiopods, and corals. See displays in the Lockport Cyber Museum of Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils.

and

Fossils found in Rochester Shale formations near excavation material for the Lockport Locks. This material had been dumped near the Lockport Dry Dock along the north side of the canal in the Lowertown area between the two branches of 18-Mile Creek that come out of the canal at that point.

Edited January 11, 2011 by xonenine

[xonenine]

Guide Book to Western NY Field Trips, 1956 NYS Geological Society pdf

[Quarryman Dave]

Great fossil pics from the Rochester shale. I found a fossil a couple of days ago in St Catharines Ontario on burleigh Hill drive which has a rock cut of Rochester shale. Can anyone identify this for me? I think its a trimerus tail

regards

David

[Roz]

That cystoid is remarkable. I don't see many of those..

[pleecan]

Great fossil pics from the Rochester shale. I found a fossil a couple of days ago in St Catharines Ontario on burleigh Hill drive which has a rock cut of Rochester shale. Can anyone identify this for me? I think its a trimerus tail

regards

David

Nice find Dave! Does look like a Trimerus delphinocephalus

found in Rochester Formation, Niagara Peninusula ,

Tomczykowa (1975)

Thomas (1977)

excerpts fromFossil of Ontario Part 1: The Trilobites by Rolf Ludvigsen

ROM publication 1979.

Edited April 19, 2011 by pleecan

[nicasaur]

The Rochester Shale of Middleport New York has a magnificent Silurian fauna. LINK

Here are a few from my cabinet:

Arctinurus boltoni 6"

Apiocystites elegans 2"

Bumastus ioxus 1-1/2"

Trimerus delphinocephalus 2"

Piranha

Those are totally excellent. Did you do the prep work Yourself? If so great job

[piranha]

Piranha

Those are totally excellent. Did you do the prep work Yourself? If so great job

Thanks for the great compliment Nicasaur! I have cleaned up many a matrix and made countless simple repairs although sorry to say I have never prepped a trilobite. The prep on these fossils is spectacular especially on the Arctinurus. The exoskeleton is very delicate and often compromised except when those with the patience and skill with an air-abrasive unit come to the rescue. This one is about 99% complete from the prow of the cephalon to the pyrite encrusted pygidium. Funny you mention prep work as yesterday I had my first opportunity prepping at UO on an undescribed Miocene camel humerus from a plaster field jacket. Not very complicated actually and well suited to my beginner status as a "Junior Prepper". Dental picks and Butvar I can handle ... micro air-abrasives and microscopes - not so much!

[Quarryman Dave]

Nice find Dave! Does look like a Trimerus delphinocephalus

found in Rochester Formation, Niagara Peninusula ,

Tomczykowa (1975)

Thomas (1977)

excerpts fromFossil of Ontario Part 1: The Trilobites by Rolf Ludvigsen

ROM publication 1979.

Thanks peter I wonder why the tail looks malformed compared to a textbook picture, but I noticed scotts prized Trimerus above also has this anomoly on the pydium.

[piranha]

Thanks peter I wonder why the tail looks malformed compared to a textbook picture, but I noticed scotts prized Trimerus above also has this anomoly on the pydium.

The New York homalonotids (Dipleura & Trimerus) often exhibit this phenomenon of "listing" to one side. Finding one that has perfect 3D preservation is quite unusual and rare. Even the best of the best of these trilobites have one side tucked under in varying degrees hiding the pleurons more or less.

[crinus]

Just thought that you would be interested in the newest addition to my collection and the story about how it got there.

At the last MAPS show (2013) there was a gentleman at the hotel show selling 10 flats of Rochester Shale "fossils". I looked it over carefully and decided I did not want it. I had plenty of boxes of questionable material at home and did not need more. Most of it looked like rock and not much more and I thought the price was a bit high for very questionable material. This same gentleman had a cystoid from the Walcot-Rust locality that I was interested in but again thought it was pricey and passed on it. I think it was Friday afternoon of the show when this gentleman approached me and asked if I was interested in the 10 flats and I again passed. He was leaving and did not want to take the boxes home with him. He mentioned the Walcott-Rust cystoid and told me he would give me a deal on it. His price on it was very reasonable but it came with a hitch. I had to take the 10 boxes of Rochester Shale with it.

So I came home with 10 boxes of rock and left them in the garage. Eventually, I got to the boxes and most of it looked like what it was - ROCK. I did find a cystoid that was split with arms and calyx on both halves. I pieced the rock back together and left it on my work bench. Went through the rest of the boxes and only found a beautiful inarticulate brachiopod. The rest went on to the road as fill for the pot holes. (I live on a dirt road).

This past week I decided to work on the cystoid and this is what came out. Best deal I have ever made.

This is the brachiopod

This is a before and after of the cystoid rock.

[FossilDAWG]

So were you born with X-ray vision, or was this a superpower you somehow acquired later in life? Marvelous specimen and great prepping, as is usual from you.

Don

[MarleysGh0st]

Awesome, crinus!

Nice detail on that Lingula, too.

[trilobiteruss]

Wow very nice indeed! Some of the best I have ever seen from that deposit! Congrats!

[crinus]

So were you born with X-ray vision, or was this a superpower you somehow acquired later in life? Marvelous specimen and great prepping, as is usual from you.

Don

Doesn't every fossil collector wish they had x ray vision. Collecting would be so much easier. Unfortunately I don't. The left cystoid was the one that was split into top and bottom half so I knew it was there. I glued the two pieces back together and work my way down to it. The other were discovered by chance but there were lumps in the rock that made me suspicious.

crinus