Permian Conifer

[paleoflor]

Hi all,

It has been ages since my last post here. While I generally find it pleasant to just read and enjoy the contributions of others, it is about time I post some pictures of my own again (only polite, don't you agree?). Hope you enjoy these long overdue photographs.

The attached images show one of the acquisitions I made during the several months of radio-silence. The specimens shows large Walchian conifer fronds, of the Hermitia germanica-type. Given the size, it is easily one of the more remarkable plant fossils in my collection. The site was discovered, collected and closed, all around 25-30 years ago. More information on the Walchian Conifers from the Permian of the Saar-Nahe Basin can be found in the Dissertation of Sunia Lausberg 2002 (in German).

Cheers,

Tim

Hermitia germanica Kerp and Clement-Westerhof 1984

Locality: Steinbruch Juchem, Niederwörresbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Age: Rotliegend / Asselian (Lower Permian)

Stratigraphy: Donnersberg Formation, Rhyolithic Tuffseries III or IV

(tuff matrix 60 x 35 cm)

(detail of twigs and branches)

[Auspex]

Good to hear from you, Tim!

You came bearing beautiful gifts, too

I like anything Permian, and these are wonderful specimens

[RomanK]

Great specimen Tim! I like it.

[paleoflor]

Thanks, guys.

[piranha]

Hi Tim,

Congrats on the fantastic fossil!

[astron]

Museum quality plant stuff!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!

[Missourian]

Really nice piece.

Some day, I hope to collect some similar Walchia from a Pennsylvanian site close to me.

[Ludwigia]

Highly interesting! I wasn't aware that fossils were found at that quarry, which is actually world famous for its magnificent agates and amethyst and smokey quarz druses.

[paleoflor]

Really nice piece.

Some day, I hope to collect some similar Walchia from a Pennsylvanian site close to me.

A Pennsylvanian site that produces Walchian conifer fossils; sounds like a very interesting locality. Good luck collecting there!

Highly interesting! I wasn't aware that fossils were found at that quarry, which is actually world famous for its magnificent agates and amethyst and smokey quarz druses.

Apparently, the fossil remains where found in a relatively small-scale Tuff layer/lens. If you are interested, I recommend downloading Lausberg (2002), and reading Kapitel 4, Fortsetsung 7 (dealing specifically with the Juchem locality). Nice detail: one of the photographs of the locality, presented in this chapter of the dissertation, actually depicts exactly my specimen, I strongly believe. What are the odds of finding a photograph of an "old collection" specimen, still embedded in the rock face, back in the late 1980s?

Modified from Lausberg 2002 (Figure 45, p. 239)

[FossilDudeCO]

very nice find!

[Plantguy]

A Pennsylvanian site that produces Walchian conifer fossils; sounds like a very interesting locality. Good luck collecting there!

Apparently, the fossil remains where found in a relatively small-scale Tuff layer/lens. If you are interested, I recommend downloading Lausberg (2002), and reading Kapitel 4, Fortsetsung 7 (dealing specifically with the Juchem locality). Nice detail: one of the photographs of the locality, presented in this chapter of the dissertation, actually depicts exactly my specimen, I strongly believe. What are the odds of finding a photograph of an "old collection" specimen, still embedded in the rock face, back in the late 1980s?

Hermitia.jpg

Hermitiab.jpg

Modified from Lausberg 2002 (Figure 45, p. 239)

Hi Tim, what a super specimen--Congrats. It is really intriguing to see a field picture of what you now have in your collection. I do got to say though that I feel really old when you talk about an old collection from the late 1980's.. I am just teasing--could be that the first fossil that I ever found was in the late 60's and thats really what makes me think I'm getting old...

Great post! Regards, Chris

I'm glad to see this fossil plant and see your posts again! Regards,Chris

[paleoflor]

Hi Tim, what a super specimen--Congrats. It is really intriguing to see a field picture of what you now have in your collection. I do got to say though that I feel really old when you talk about an old collection from the late 1980's.. I am just teasing--could be that the first fossil that I ever found was in the late 60's and thats really what makes me think I'm getting old...

Great post! Regards, Chris

I'm glad to see this fossil plant and see your posts again! Regards,Chris

Ha ha, oh my apologies! I have this nasty habit of referring to material from any closed site as "old" material, simply because you can no longer get any "new" material (which is, if you think about it, not very logic usage, actually). On the other hand, you are lucky to have been able to collect in the 60s-80s, for many of the coal mining operations were still active back then (in Europe, at least). Many of the "old" (sensu lato, he he...) localities are gone now...

Kind regards, Tim

[Ludwigia]

Apparently, the fossil remains where found in a relatively small-scale Tuff layer/lens. If you are interested, I recommend downloading Lausberg (2002), and reading Kapitel 4, Fortsetsung 7 (dealing specifically with the Juchem locality).

Thanks for the info, Tim.

[Wrangellian]

Interesting material, Tim. How did you end up with a specimen that was used in a paper?

[paleoflor]

I obtained the specimen in trade from a Dutch fossil dealer, who in turn obtained it from a German collector. This was probably one of the rather few pieces in private collection (the fact that some pieces were in private hands, is in fact mentioned in the manuscript) and was probably collected early on by a local collector (perhaps the one who discovered the site, I don't know). The figure in which the specimen can be seen still in the rock face was obtained from a local museum (see reference in text). Whether the specimen itself was used, however, is not clear from the text. It is not figured elsewhere in the thesis as an actual study specimen, only as "outcrop".

[Wrangellian]

Hmmmm.. Well at least the fossil pictured in the paper is not lost!

[Stocksdale]

I was just reading this paper about Walchian conifers being found in the paleosols underlying the baker coal of Illinois. I found it very interesting. The thinking is that there would have been 10,000 years of dryer conifer forests during the time of lowest ocean levels. Then as the water was rising, the forests returned to a typical coal forest with lycopods, horsetails and tree ferns for another 10-20,000 years until the sea finally rose to cover the coal forests.

The paper was freely available through the Smithsonian website so I'll post it here.

paleo_2009-Falcon-LangEtAl_ConiferPennIllinois_Geology(1).pdf