Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 I was in the Republic of Ireland at the end of May ostensibly for a professional conference, but as soon as that was over, I spent the first week of June being a tourist and amateur hobby collector. It was my first visit to that country and I loved every minute of it. I'd done some research beforehand, so I knew where to go and it was just a matter of finding some interesting things. That wasn't always as simple as you may think. On one day I had a walk (and sometimes a climb) along a 3 kilometer stretch of beach without finding even one of the supposedly abundant silurian Graptolites which should have been lying there. I suppose they were, but my eyes obviously weren't tuned up properly. Sometimes I had to deal with typically wet Irish weather, which was particularly the case at Hook Head, but that was to be expected. It did pan out in the end however, particularly at two of the sites I visited. I've held back on writing this report until I'd finished preparing and identifying the finds, so now that that's more or less accomplished I can start. I spent a couple of days on the Hook Peninsula in the southeast of County Wexford and that's where I made most of my finds at sites near Churchtown and at Hook Head. Lower Carboniferous Tournasian layers of the Hook Head Formation are exposed there. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Abundant corals, brachiopods, bryozoa and crinoids were to be found there along with the odd gastropod and trilobite exhuviae. Caninia cornucopiae. The first shown is attached to Unispirifer sp.? and has a bryozoa attached to it. Caninophyllum patulum? Not at all sure about the ID on this one. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Michelinia favosa 7cm. with Syringopora sp. growing on its backside. An M.favosa measuring 13cm. across. Michelinia tenuisepta 5cm. long. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Lamellosathyris lamellosa Rugosochonetes sp. Cleiothyridina glabristria Unispirifer sp.? Even the authors aren't sure about this one. Not particularly well-preserved, but nevertheless worth keeping. Syringothyris cf. elongata 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masonboro37 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Stunning pictures of the area! Your specimens are wonderful and thank you for sharing! Process of identification "mistakes create wisdom". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) Fenestella sp. and Fistulipora sp. Platyceras sp. Phillipsia ornata. Pygidium I haven't been able to identify the following crinoids yet, but I'll soon be getting help from Scott in the form of an article on this fauna. Thanks to him also for helping with the other things as well. They make great hash plates at any rate. Postscript on July 11th: Thanks again to Scott for sending along the article. I've worked through it now and have at least managed to get the IDs down to the genus level, but still with big question marks. It's actually almost impossible for me to differentiate the species just on hand of a few bits and pieces. Even some of the genus IDs are just guesswork, so please take it all with a pinch of salt. Platycrinites sp.? Edited July 11, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) These could all be from Dialutocrinus sp. Edited July 11, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) Bottom right: Poteriocrinites sp.? The others: Dialutocrinus sp.? Edited July 11, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 After my bad luck looking for graptolites I decided to visit a place called Malahide just north of Dublin for the remaining part of the day. There were only a couple of hours left, but it turned out to be the right decision. These layers are also lower Tournasian and for some unknown reason it's called the Malahide Limestone Formation. It's just on the edge of town, and while I was there people kept driving up in their cars, got changed into their bathing suits (in 15°C. and rainy weather), jumped into the waves for a few minutes and then drove off again. What a priviledge to witness such an exhilarating sportive activity...brrrrrr! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) Stunning pictures of the area! Your specimens are wonderful and thank you for sharing! Oh, hi! Thanks. I was so busy posting that I didn't noticed that you'd popped in. Still more to come... Edited June 22, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 There is not a huge variety of fauna at this site, but as you can see from the above photos, they're not to be overseen. The stone is extremely hard, so it took a bit of time before I could find a few spots where wind, weather and water had done their work. The corals attached themselves to the bivalves. Interesting symbiosis. Syringopora geniculata? 25x20cm. Hippocardia herculea. 15cm. long. You can see the attached Syringopora in the photo on the right. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) I visited one site on the Hook Peninsula out of particular interest: Booley Bay. This Formation has been studied intensively for the last 30 years and is still being so, particularly because of forms in the turbidite Cambrian strata which were until recently believed to be the youngest Ediacarian fauna in the world. It was however recently recommended that they no longer be viewed as such, but the possibility is still being kept open that they have a biological origin which has as yet to be correlated with some other existing fauna. They may also be Ichnofauna or even just plain old sedimentary structures. It's also still debatable as to the exact age of the strata. Anyways, it was interesting to have a glimpse at this world-reknowned site, so I'll afford you a few glimpses as well, also of some extant fauna which was lurking there. Here's a link that may be of interest: http://www.sepmstrata.org/page.aspx?pageid=511 Edited June 23, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Last but not least...there's a lot more to Ireland than fossils, so I spent some time with my wife exploring some of that country's past. Going back 5000 years. Older than Stonehenge and the pyramids! Fascinating! 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Outstanding trip you had there Roger. Congrats on the finds and what beautiful scenery photos too! -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 There's more than one kind of magic in Eire! Lovely fossils, and great photography "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...
Kosmoceras Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Very nice specimens and locality photos. Fantastic prep (as always)! Best regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Outstanding trip you had there Roger. Congrats on the finds and what beautiful scenery photos too! I'm certainly going back there again, and not only for the fossils. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 There's more than one kind of magic in Eire! Lovely fossils, and great photography Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Very nice specimens and locality photos. Fantastic prep (as always)! Best regards, tankyou Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nala Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Stunning report and fossils!thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Stunning report and fossils!thanks for sharing! You're welcome. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Excellent finds, pictures and prep, Roger! Thanks for the trip to the Emerald Isle. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Excellent finds, pictures and prep, Roger! Thanks for the trip to the Emerald Isle. Regards, 'Twas a pleasure Milad! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 I've just had a go at identifying the crinoids on the previous page and have therefore edited the posts. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torben Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 Hi Ludwigia Beautiful photos of your very nice fossils from Hook peninsula. How do you clean the fossils? A lot of the fossils I collected there have a grey layer on top. How did you take that away. And can you recommend a book or a homepage to identify carboniferous marine fossils. Thank you Torben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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