Is It Possible To Find This In Western Md?

[MissusTodd]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site (signed-up-5-mins-ago new, lol), and I have a question. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture, because I wasn't thinking and sent it to school with my daughter, who is studying fossils in class. Anyway, my husband and I took our daughter fossil-hunting on a trail in Frostburg, MD (Allegany Co.). As a kid, I used to go through shale piles at my grandpa's farm and occasionally run across a fern fossil, and since this particular trail (down from the train depot, Allegany Highland trail, perhaps?) has lots of shale on the sides, I thought it would be a good place to look. Without much luck, we dug through fallen piles of the black shale. I finally stumbled across a piece of shale (right as I was ready to give up, lol!) that had an imprint that I'd never found before. The only way I can describe it is that it looked like a bunch of vertical lines, very even, and the prints (two side by side) were about 2-3 inches wide. I looked it up online, and the pictures of calamite fossils looked identical as far as I could tell. The question posed to you all, after all the long-winded explanations, is: Is it possible to find calamite fossils in Western MD? None of the websites I visited specifically stated what I would be able to find in Western MD, and I'd like to have a name to put to the fossil. After she's done showing it to her class, I will try to take a photo. For now, if anyone can confirm/deny/offer any other suggestion as to what I have found, I'd be so darn grateful!

Thanks!,

MissusTodd

[Acryzona]

Welcome to the Forum. You can check a geological map online or at a library to see rock formation (age and name) outcrops along the trail. Once you know the formation, you can search online or ask the Forum to identify what you found. Good luck!

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.

According to this Geological Map, western Allegany county has Permian and Pennsylvanian aged bedrock,(light blue areas) so yes, it would be possible that plant fossils could be found there.

Take a picture of it when it finds it's way back to you, and post it here for identification/confirmation.

Regards,

EDIT: After looking at this website, it specifically mentions plant fossils in Frostburg.

The formations to research appear to be the Allegany Formation and the Pottsville Formation.

Keep looking!

Edited April 25, 2014 by Fossildude19

[MissusTodd]

Thank you both very much. I will definitely get a picture when she brings it home. I was so exciting to find something other than ferns for once.

P.S. Tim, I am very excited about the link you shared. I'm going to print it off so we can look in some of the other places they've mentioned. Thanks again!

[Fossildude19]

Thank you both very much. I will definitely get a picture when she brings it home. I was so exciting to find something other than ferns for once.

P.S. Tim, I am very excited about the link you shared. I'm going to print it off so we can look in some of the other places they've mentioned. Thanks again!

You are welcome.

Just keep in mind, the info from that list is VERY old, and may no longer be accurate. Sites may have been built over, closed to collecting, or entirely gone/overgrown/ no longer accessable.

It is a good place to start your research from, however.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Regards,

EDIT: Just found this little article online, which may be of interest to you.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Fossildude19