Ludwigia Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Good to see that the paleozoic experts have narrowed your find down to the genus level. I wasn't even aware until now that the Agoniatida are a separate order. You learn something new every day! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squalicorax Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Hi your clam in post 24 is a brachiopod. A type of Spirifer. My Flickr Page of My Collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79424101@N00/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Hi your clam in post 24 is a brachiopod. A type of Spirifer. Regarding the "bivalve" in Post 24 - Any idea what kind of spirifer is 4.5 centimeters wide? That's the largest brachiopod I've seen so far in my collecting. It does confirm what I said about these fossils coming from a deeper marine environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Looking back I notice that Agoniatites is one of the suggestions Tim made way back in post #3. That'll teach me to look up pictures when someone with experience offers ideas. It would be great to see an edge view of this one to get a better idea of what the venter looks like. See the extra photos in my Post #21 to see the edge views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryK Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Regarding the "bivalve" in Post 24 - Any idea what kind of spirifer is 4.5 centimeters wide? That's the largest brachiopod I've seen so far in my collecting. It does confirm what I said about these fossils coming from a deeper marine environment. I believe it’s the pedicle valve of the brachiopod Spinocyrtia granulose. It’s one of the largest spirifers in the Hamilton Group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 I'm wondering if it was actually found in New York? This was from the Hamilton Group/Mahantango (from a site near Deer Lake, PA) - we have been looking at Mahantango formations in PA and NY for more than 2 years and the only place I have found ammonoids were at Tully, NY in a very deep marine strata and at this site near Deer Lake, PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) Given the interest in these finds and the site, I thought you might get a chuckle from seeing me at the site last weekend - this is what it looks like - as you can see, the boulders, concretions and rocks are very large and the slope is a bit treacherous since there is always the danger of a rockslide. I started at the top and worked horizontally along the very top, dislodging rocks wherever I could, then moved down and worked across again, then lower - this way the rocks were dislodged by working "top down" instead of starting at the bottom and risking something falling on my head. I did not let Nan work this part of the site because it's tricky and could be hazardous. You can see from the size of the rocks that there should be some opportunities to find something either large, or rare, or fossils of creatures that lived in deep marine environs - which my few finds confirm. It's rare that such large rocks and sections, concretions, are revealed. Normally, we're all hammering and chiseling smaller pieces that we find on the ground, or excavate and split with a small hammer and chisel. Hitekmastr on site near Deer Lake: Edited September 12, 2013 by hitekmastr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Great thread. Really enjoying the photos. Like the big brachs. That's an assemblage of large invertebrates. We think of Dino's as being big among vertebrates. Every so often over tens of millions of years invertebrates have gone through similar size competition. I collected giant brachs from a Permian assemblage...all the brach families had been super sized. Be safe on that slope but once fossil bug hits we are all a bit crazy. Hard to explain to others why we risk broken bones to find a piece if rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 I mentioned the safety precautions I was taking because we do a lot of climbing on rubble strewn slopes which can be tricky but we always are mindful of safety...especially at a site like this where there are large boulders that could break loose and tumble down at any time. Starting at the top and kicking the loose areas helped to show me the solid areas that I could inspect more closely from below however kicking some rocks loose from the top could also take me with them so this is a tricky site requiring more caution than most sites we've explored. We also wear heavy duty but lightweight shoes since rocks do have a habit of falling over on our feet as were scrambling around. Always best to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 (edited) Great information and observations... this fossil gets more and more intriguing...the examples referenced and those I've see online are fairly small. My specimen is 14 centimeters long. Edited September 13, 2013 by hitekmastr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g haines Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 Not sure if and when I would donate it, or to which institution - don't even know who would be interested in having it and studying it. I'm sure any university with a decent geology department would love to have any rare fossils. I know Colgate in Hamilton, NY (the namesake of the Hamilton Shale Group) has a great fossil collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 These are some additional fossils I found and left at the site: (note the size of the large white cephalopod section - the original ceph must be really large) Devonian Fossil Assortment_Deer Lake_Sep2013.jpg I missed this topic first time around, but why did you leave that nice bivalve to the right of the ceph piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennyT. Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 Nice cracker jack prize! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 Nice cracker jack prize! Haha - actually this was lying exposed on a rock right in front of me - one of the rare finds that didn't require any digging or rock cracking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 I'm wondering if it was actually found in New York? No not New York. I found this near Deer Lake while I was inspecting a portion of the highway construction that was dynamited to reveal what looked (to me) to be a very deep ocean floor formation since the associated fossils are mostly very large fossil clams and some shells but not very abundant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 I missed this topic first time around, but why did you leave that nice bivalve to the right of the ceph piece? The reason I left that bivalve is because I have quite a few of those, including some with both shells beautifully articulated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 That one seems to have both valves... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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