460 Million Year Old Original Material

[Guest solius symbiosus]

I hit several outcrops today. I started out at the one that has been producing the trilobites, but no luck today. Though, I did find a couple of bivalves that had some of the original material preserved. This outcrop is about a km west of where I have been pulling the Isotelus gigas, and in the same horizon. It appears that there are considerably more orthocerids here.

"Orthoceras" and bivalves with original material(white and bluish looking area).

Mag x10

Mag x20

As usual, there were I. gigas fragments everywhere. Check out the pygidium that the arrow is pointed at. That thing would have been 30cm.

This would have been a nice find 15 or 20 years ago.

I. gigas

I then stopped at another outcrop that is higher up in the column. It was a waste of time.

Trepostomates were plentiful

After this outcrop, I drove to the one that has been producing the crinoids, and it didn't disappoint. I found 3 more Reteocrinus sp. This is the best and it will prep out nice. It still has part of the stem attached.

I also pulled a nice holdfast, I think that it is from a different specie from what I have been finding. On one of my first trips to this outcrop, I found the pinnules from a crinoid that was clearly not Reteocrinus, or Iocrinus.

[MikeD]

cool stuff.

[jimmy1971]

nice finds! great pics too! thx

[Hawkeye]

Now you are really making me wish I was back in good ol' KY. Your reports are making me miss stomping through all those limestone bluffs. Unfortunately I was usually looking for snakes and not fossils. Who knows what I missed. Most of my KY fossil collection was give out to other inner-city grade-school teachers in Louisville by mother when she was teaching, so I guess they're being put to good use.

Keep the reports coming, I very much enjoy them.