hitekmastr Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) Triassic Lockatong - Plant or Root Fragments? Saturday I spent 2 hours looking over a Lockatong formation (Triassic) in Montgomery County, PA. I'm sort of testing my ability to spot some fossil patterns in this formation where fossils are very scarce. I found this interesting piece with lots of organic fossils and impressions - assume they are plant fossils. It's so difficult to find Lockatong fossils in PA, anything we find is interesting. I've included a piece of the large rock (about 10 inches) and several closeups. These look to me like some sort of vine-like plant stems with rootlets and also cross-sections of stems. Also on Saturday, Nan and I visited a second nearby Lockatong site and saw what appear to be reptile tracks on a piece of rock about 4 or 5 feet long - although the impressions were round and not track shaped except for one of the round impressions had a thin pointed tip. We did not photograph or collect this, mostly admired it and count it as a "weak signal" that there are better fossils to be found. Edited March 4, 2013 by hitekmastr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
araucaria1959 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I don't think they are plants (or roots). They are three-dimensionally preserved which argues in favour of trace fossils. Plant fossils are usually compression fossils and three-dimensional preservation occurs only under very special conditions. I also miss carbonaceous matter which is usually present in plant fossils, especially in the rare cases of three-dimensional preservation. araucaria1959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 I am still inclined to think they are stems and fragments since there are several that appear to have rootlets attached. Also, they are both longitudinal on the fossil surface, and there is also a mix of about half a dozen round fossils which suggests those would be cross-sections of stems. I'm not inclined to think that these are the fossil remains of a creature although I guess that's possible - still thinking in terms of roots or stems but not familiar enough with Triassic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Root casts could preserve the same 3-D way burrows do; at least they sure did in the Upper Carboniferous coal swamps. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) Appreciate your input and opinion...need all the help I can get on my Triassic finds. I'm inclined to think root fragments... Edited March 4, 2013 by hitekmastr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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