Coon Creek Formation Preliminary Survey 4/25/14

[Tennessees Pride]

On this day, a survey of the said formation was made by myself and the property owners. The potential of what is there is as vast as acreage. Many glorious and illustrious items are there waiting for the right time to be shown to the world! The property is so vast that no where near a 1/4 was inspected, and during which the actual outcrops were passed up for the most part,while trying to get an idea of "where to start." This truely is a geologist's paradise! briefly while @ one exposure, these specimens were recovered, i presume the small one to be a "baby" Baculites....sweet little dude. It's find zone was in the upper part of CC near the contact. In that area is siderite,and it appears this Baculites has been completely replaced by Siderite. I've found one of these before, it was donated to UT Martin on the same day....this looks like it's twin. The other item that i will post on this thread, i'm not exactly sure what is....it certainly has the characteristic bubble shapes on it's surface like a ghost crab burrow....but i've just never saw a burrow of that type animal that large. Perhaps it could be a fine specimen of coprolite???? This specimen appears to be phosphatized, so i don't know....

[Tennessees Pride]

Meet my friends! A father and son tag team w/ Tennessees Pride. This young man is a fossil finding machine! That might be his calling, he's good! As soon as his hands touched an outcrop, he started pulling out the crab parts like snapping ye fingers!...it was "crab-night" @ their house!

[Tennessees Pride]

The probable "baby" Baculites. The outside surface has actually been replaced w/ siderite! Very cool. As you can see from one view, it got crushed on one side. I actually saw a rather large baculites jaw laying @ the base of one out crop, but it didn't hit me @ the time that that's really what it was until later...

Edited April 26, 2014 by Tennessees Pride

[Tennessees Pride]

Another view of the knob shape on the end. There are a few things i must do now, be back to the Forum asap.

[Auspex]

The Baculites I am familiar with are strongly laterally-compressed (oval cross-section), with bold and complex sutures.

[lordpiney]

The top pics are a Ghost shrimp burrow, but the second set, i don't know. it looks more like an Orthoceras than a Baculite.

[fossilized6s]

The Baculites I am familiar with are strongly laterally-compressed (oval cross-section), with bold and complex sutures.

+1 it's too perfectly round to be a Baculites also. It almost looks like a Cephalopod.

[Auspex]

+1 it's too perfectly round to be a Baculites also. It almost looks like a Cephalopod.

Or a phragmocone from a large belemnite.

[Tennessees Pride]

The Baculites I am familiar with are strongly laterally-compressed (oval cross-section), with bold and complex sutures.

I know you're right there sir!....me too. The only reason i asserted the specimen to be a probable Baculites was because that first one i found and donated was identified (best i remember, and i'm pretty sure i remember right) as Baculites species by one of the professors on hand. It doesn't really look like Baculites to me either, but i was thinking maybe the original outside surface had been replaced by Siderite, and that was why one couldn't make out the complex ways the segments interlocked??? But i don't know....perhaps the first one i found was misidentified??? I know that first one was exactly like this one, even from the same layer(@ a different location) in the CC.....it even had that strange little knob shape on it. So there is a good chance the i.d. on the first specimen i found was probably not correct right? And sorry i don't have a pic of the specimen i donated, i have searched....i only have it on video, but it was the same type material.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Tennessees Pride

[Tennessees Pride]

The top pics are a Ghost shrimp burrow, but the second set, i don't know. it looks more like an Orthoceras than a Baculite.

Thank you for that input lordpiney, i didn't know the ghost shrimp burrows could reach sizes like that, do you think it might be a above average specimen for what it is?

[Auspex]

>LINK<

[Tennessees Pride]

Or a phragmocone from a large belemnite.

Man you hit the bulls-eye on that i.d.!!!! I was just researching what you'd said too, and you must be right according to the pics i'm seeing! That is a bizarre find indeed!!!!!! It might be hard to see in the photos, but i've just compared it in hand, to pics of phragmocones, and it perfectly agrees w/ the ones that are ringed....as this one, when you study it real close, is "ringed" from top to bottom! Thank you so much for your intellectual prowess!....i would have probably never figured that out. In your opinion, are those things somewhat rare to find?

[lordpiney]

Thank you for that input lordpiney, i didn't know the ghost shrimp burrows could reach sizes like that, do you think it might be a above average specimen for what it is?

Id say it's a little larger than most of the ones I find here, but it's def not too large to be a ghost shrimp burrow. As far as the other object being a Belemnite, it would have to be a steinkern of the inside of the Belemnite phragmacone, not the actual Belemnite itself. As far as I know, they are only made of Aragonite

[jpevahouse]

I grew up in Tennessee not far from Coon Creek fossil site. I explored the site during the early 1960s when few went there. Neither my brother or I had our drivers licenses so my mom would take us with our sister. The whole family would be down in the gully picking up sea shells and fossil crabs. Fossils were plentiful, the entire creek bed covered with exotic shells and plenty of crabs.

The area generally west of the Tennessee River and southward into North Mississippi had numerous outcroppings of Cretaecous fossils. The road cuts south of Coon Creek often revealed countless exogyra shells. I have a mososaur vertebrae my brother found in a road cut south of Coon Creek.

The original Coon Creek site is now a protected nature preserve managed by the Memphis Museum with restricted hunting sort of like Big Brook in NJ.

[Tennessees Pride]

I grew up in Tennessee not far from Coon Creek fossil site. I explored the site during the early 1960s when few went there. Neither my brother or I had our drivers licenses so my mom would take us with our sister. The whole family would be down in the gully picking up sea shells and fossil crabs. Fossils were plentiful, the entire creek bed covered with exotic shells and plenty of crabs.

The area generally west of the Tennessee River and southward into North Mississippi had numerous outcroppings of Cretaecous fossils. The road cuts south of Coon Creek often revealed countless exogyra shells. I have a mososaur vertebrae my brother found in a road cut south of Coon Creek.

The original Coon Creek site is now a protected nature preserve managed by the Memphis Museum with restricted hunting sort of like Big Brook in NJ.

Sir, that is a very interesting story you have told. your family must have known the Weeks family, no? Or perhaps you are kin to the Weeks family? Where did you live at around here? I'd love to view you'r vertebra, could you post it please. Also, i'm completely unaware of a CC out crop beside the road just south of the Science Center...though i don't doubt it a bit.....it must be a real good'un!....& yes sir, the Science Center is now on the old Weeks family farm, owned and overseen by the Pink Palace Museum, but that is the only CC beside a single other which is controled.....but there's other good locations for the same around too. Edited April 29, 2014 by Tennessees Pride

[jpevahouse]

My older brother read an article in a magazine about the site. That's how we learned about Coon Creek. We lived in Perry County just on the other side of the Tennessee River. The site is located about maybe 15 or 20 miles south. I remember the people who lived in the house by the road near the site who I assume owned the property. Back then we hunted Indian relics and fossils. The only time we ever had a problem going on someones property is when there was a moonshine still which were relatively common at the time. Once we had shots fired over our heads hunting fossils on a hillside too near some local guys still.

But people in Tennessee during that time were very friendly, accomodating and usually there were no objections to parking in someones front yard and going to the field by their house to pick up Indian relics.

My older brother still has a few fossils and knows more about other potential locations though the road cuts he says are very over grown now and not accessible for fossil hunting.

A small creek at Whiteville, TN Hardeman County cut right through a large fossil tree. It's in a field near the main road, probably still accessible. There is a location in Decatur County where some fossil stumps are to be seen still standing in a guys pasture by the road. I have a piece of fossil wood I picked up there when I was about 15 years old.

I'll post a picture of the mosasaur vertebrae my brother found. Most of our Coon Creek fossils were lost when my folks divorced in 1963 and I moved from Perry to Hardeman County, TN.

[Tennessees Pride]

My older brother read an article in a magazine about the site. That's how we learned about Coon Creek. We lived in Perry County just on the other side of the Tennessee River. The site is located about maybe 15 or 20 miles south. I remember the people who lived in the house by the road near the site who I assume owned the property. Back then we hunted Indian relics and fossils. The only time we ever had a problem going on someones property is when there was a moonshine still which were relatively common at the time. Once we had shots fired over our heads hunting fossils on a hillside too near some local guys still.

But people in Tennessee during that time were very friendly, accomodating and usually there were no objections to parking in someones front yard and going to the field by their house to pick up Indian relics.

My older brother still has a few fossils and knows more about other potential locations though the road cuts he says are very over grown now and not accessible for fossil hunting.

A small creek at Whiteville, TN Hardeman County cut right through a large fossil tree. It's in a field near the main road, probably still accessible. There is a location in Decatur County where some fossil stumps are to be seen still standing in a guys pasture by the road. I have a piece of fossil wood I picked up there when I was about 15 years old.

I'll post a picture of the mosasaur vertebrae my brother found. Most of our Coon Creek fossils were lost when my folks divorced in 1963 and I moved from Perry to Hardeman County, TN.

A good'ol Perry countian huh! that's heaven's whole acre over there! I have family over on Bunker Hill/Standing Rock rd. They live by Cave Spring just on the other side of the holler. Is Pevahouse your surname sir, cause i'm not familiar w/ that Perry co family. Members of my family have a long friendship w/ certain of the Weeks family who use to own the property which the CC Science Center is now on. Also, the dec. co petrified wood, didn't know actual tree stumps were sticking were there to be saw still sticking above the ground in original places, but i bet your speaking of the Eutaw formation of southern dec. co. I likewise have excellent connections there too. If there are trees sticking above the ground still insitu in place.....i'd be supremely interested in inspecting that for sedimentological annalysis!!! That area i have entertained in the past as evidence of a sudden deep water transgression in which a forrest was buried, but never established concrete proof for such an assertion. Pet wood is also to be found in other layers there too. Never have jumped into anything in Hardeman co yet. (Off subject, but i do directly descend from the Hardeman's...my gggrandfather was one, they were a noble family) and i hear ya bout geting shot @ around here...several yr ago i was on a real good Native American site across the river from Clifton, and a guy unloaded a pistol on me from across the river!!!...think he was trying to scare me off his hunt site or something i never quit the area! U could hear them bullets zinging through the trees on both sides of me, but it would have been pure luck to be shot by a pistol @ that range!......awhaha...i did keep a close eye out for that vehicle to leave and come back w/ a rifle though! ....it wouldve been time to jump in a hole then! ....ive had guns pulled on me before, but that's the only time anybody ever left a pile of brass @ their feet after it was over! Sir, sounds like you and i have ran over the same areas hunting...i run all over these counties right here close too. Very sorry to hear about ya'll loosing your fossil collections in the move....gotta build'em back up again... Edited April 29, 2014 by Tennessees Pride

[jpevahouse]

Perry County was a wonderful place to grow up, especially for someone with an interest in fossils and Indian relics. There was and probably still is a great abundance of both. Along the Buffalo and Tennessee Rivers were countless Indian sites, the hills Devonian and Silurian limestone. We dug Indian relics in caves as well as picking them up in fields adjacent the river. Back them we pretty much had it to ourselves and good artifacts were fairly easy to find.

Edited April 30, 2014 by jpevahouse

[Plax]

I know it seems like I'm always seeing clam burrows but...the baby baculite looks like a straight clam burrow, something like gastrochaena or such, if so it's the biggest ones I've seen, you can sometimes see a small clam steinkern in the end of these things just under the knob

the other possibility would be a straight worm burrow/tube of some sort but again the scale is too big from my experience

[Tennessees Pride]

I know it seems like I'm always seeing clam burrows but...the baby baculite looks like a straight clam burrow, something like gastrochaena or such, if so it's the biggest ones I've seen, you can sometimes see a small clam steinkern in the end of these things just under the knob

the other possibility would be a straight worm burrow/tube of some sort but again the scale is too big from my experience

Hey Plax!, no worries, if you think a specimen is something, post it without regrets sir, and thank you for taking the time to help w/ identifications! here in a bit i'll do some researching in the subject and see where it leads.

[jpevahouse]

A good'ol Perry countian huh! that's heaven's whole acre over there! I have family over on Bunker Hill/Standing Rock rd. They live by Cave Spring just on the other side of the holler. Is Pevahouse your surname sir, cause i'm not familiar w/ that Perry co family. Members of my family have a long friendship w/ certain of the Weeks family who use to own the property which the CC Science Center is now on. Also, the dec. co petrified wood, didn't know actual tree stumps were sticking were there to be saw still sticking above the ground in original places, but i bet your speaking of the Eutaw formation of southern dec. co. I likewise have excellent connections there too. If there are trees sticking above the ground still insitu in place.....i'd be supremely interested in inspecting that for sedimentological annalysis!!! That area i have entertained in the past as evidence of a sudden deep water transgression in which a forrest was buried, but never established concrete proof for such an assertion. Pet wood is also to be found in other layers there too. Never have jumped into anything in Hardeman co yet. (Off subject, but i do directly descend from the Hardeman's...my gggrandfather was one, they were a noble family) and i hear ya bout geting shot @ around here...several yr ago i was on a real good Native American site across the river from Clifton, and a guy unloaded a pistol on me from across the river!!!...think he was trying to scare me off his hunt site or something i never quit hunting! U could hear them bullets zinging through the trees on both sides of me, but it would have been pure luck to be shot by a pistol @ that range!......awhaha...i did keep a close eye out for that vehicle to leave and come back w/ a rifle though! ....it wouldve been time to jump in a hole then! ....ive had guns pulled on me before, but that's the only time anybody ever left a pile of brass @ their feet after it was over! Sir, sounds like you and i have ran over the same areas hunting...i run all over these counties right here close too. Very sorry to hear about ya'll loosing your fossil collections in the move....gotta build'em back up again...

Perry and Wayne Counties are just about the only place where you'd find the Pevahouse name. My ancestors were early settlers of Perry County and there are two or three spellings of the name;Peevyhouse being the most common. The hardware store at Parsons is or used to be owned by John Pevahouse. The weathered tree stumps were closer to you vicinity, somewhere south of Decaturville if I remember correctly back in the country. My brother will know. I think they were in a field along the road on the way to one of his girlfriends house. This was over fifty years ago. My memories of places are vague. My older brother remembers much more clearly and I'll talk with him.

I do have another vertebrae which I believe is mosasaur from Mississippi you can have if you're interested. It was found by a friend of my brother who lives in Memphis.

[Tennessees Pride]

Perry County was a wonderful place to grow up, especially for someone with an interest in fossils and Indian relics. There was and probably still is a great abundance of both. Along the Buffalo and Tennessee Rivers were countless Indian sites, the hills Devonian and Silurian limestone. We dug Indian relics in caves as well as picking them up in fields adjacent the river. Back them we pretty much had it to ourselves and good artifacts were fairly easy to find.

Perry county is still full to the brim in NA Artifacts! World Class ones! Have never really seen much NA sign in them caves though, in later time-periods, it seems the NA started going around them caves.....but them Paleo Americans, they didn't live that way (just my experience) the Paleo's were a Super advanced group of people....w/ incredible technology, believe that! You probably have you some of them good'ol Perry co paleo artifacts and may not know it. You being from Perry co, you might know this, but there is a mound there not like another in all of america! It's from a latr time period, but who is in it is incredible! Was a Cherokee burial mound, and early early colonists took up w/ them....first they buried their black slaves in the mound, then they themselves were eventually buried there on top of the Cherokee's and Slaves!!! 3 races of people in one mound! I have personally viewed this mound, most of the tombstones are completely growed over by tree trunks to the point ya cant even see them anymore! The earliest one i could see w/ a date on it said 1741!!!....the colonists were "Kirkpatricks"......that place outta be a National Monument! So many different cultures in a single spot. It's on private property, and the man is friendly, but if somebody ever did try to go around him and mess w/ that mound, i can personally guarantee that person would be shot dead! It is the property owners personal mission in life to keep that place sacred! Your native county has a very rich history and many things to be proud of.

[Tennessees Pride]

Perry and Wayne Counties are just about the only place where you'd find the Pevahouse name. My ancestors were early settlers of Perry County and there are two or three spellings of the name;Peevyhouse being the most common. The hardware store at Parsons is or used to be owned by John Pevahouse. The weathered tree stumps were closer to you vicinity, somewhere south of Decaturville if I remember correctly back in the country. My brother will know. I think they were in a field along the road on the way to one of his girlfriends house. This was over fifty years ago. My memories of places are vague. My older brother remembers much more clearly and I'll talk with him.

I do have another vertebrae which I believe is mosasaur from Mississippi you can have if you're interested. It was found by a friend of my brother who lives in Memphis.

Sir! I am very flattered by such a proposition! (Shocked really!) Thank you very kindly, but i could never accept such a wonderful specimen freely.....i would purchase from you if you are okay w/ that? Send a postal money order, and have the material sent to a family member's house....i couldn't give out my current living address for safety reasons. (Please, no offense). Edited April 29, 2014 by Tennessees Pride

[Plax]

Hey Plax!, no worries, if you think a specimen is something, post it without regrets sir, and thank you for taking the time to help w/ identifications! here in a bit i'll do some researching in the subject and see where it leads.

Here are some names you can research for this critter. Gastrochaena, Kummelia and Martesia. Here are pics of some from the Peedee of NC and the Vincentown of NJ. None as complete, large or well preserved as yours.

[Tennessees Pride]

Here are some names you can research for this critter. Gastrochaena, Kummelia and Martesia. Here are pics of some from the Peedee of NC and the Vincentown of NJ. None as complete, large or well preserved as yours.

Good morning Plax, after review of the subjects you pointed out, i am still more inclined to the notion of the specimen in this thread being more along the lines of a phragmocone.....because on the concentric banding on its outter surface, but i surely agree w/ you that the specimens you posted have a very real similarity to the specimen in this thread sir.