Jim's Trips

[JimB88]

Thanks..yeah, its just a matter of time.

[Ludwigia]

Those cuts are certainly worth another visit. Maybe you'll find a crinoid crown, but that calyx is nice anyway for starters.

[Auspex]

Thanks! You'd see a guy at the side of the road having a problem keeping his pants up (gotta put the fossils somewhere!)

OK, that would be hard to unsee...

[TNCollector]

That Syringothyris is awesome! I have never seen one even remotely that large!

I was looking at the TN geological map yesterday and it appears that there is some Bangor Limestone around Crab Orchard (close to Crossville). I might stop by sometime to see if I can find a road cut or something!

[JimB88]

Those cuts are certainly worth another visit. Maybe you'll find a crinoid crown, but that calyx is nice anyway for starters.

I have a lot of that area to explore yet so Im hoping for one eventually. I like it too!

OK, that would be hard to unsee...

rofl...

That Syringothyris is awesome! I have never seen one even remotely that large!

I was looking at the TN geological map yesterday and it appears that there is some Bangor Limestone around Crab Orchard (close to Crossville). I might stop by sometime to see if I can find a road cut or something!

most of the cuts around there are unproductive from what Ive seen in my exploration of the area.

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

Ok, went back out this Friday morning, left early to avoid the heat, and returned to the cut with the big brachiopods. I checked that cut and the surrounding ones (which all seem to be from the same formation) and did pretty well.

First up is some more of the large brachiopods:

brachs.jpg

These are Vinlandostrophia ponderosa (Foerste,1909.) The small one in the front is the average I had been finding at my usual stops.

next up, some well preserved strophomenid brachiopods

rafin.jpgrafin_int.jpg

The bigger one is Rafinesquina ponderosa. I am unsure as to the id on the other one.

Here is a large encrusting sponge

spo.jpg

Dermatostroma scabra

And also some nice gastropods as well

cyclo.jpg

Cyclonema mediale

This one needs cleaning , Im hoping its Leptaena but I'll have to use the air eraser on it to find out.

lep.jpg

cont....

Really admiring those huge brachiopods.... Congrats on the fantastic finds! I enjoy seeing other Ordovician fossils from elsewhere.

[JimB88]

Thank you! Im currently studying how they look in situ..with only the bottom portion in one layer and covered by the layer on top as if they were buried in life position! Its neat!

You find some cool stuff up there too btw!

[JimB88]

Okay, time for another trip report. This time I continued my exploration of the Lower Mississippian Ft.Payne formation. I was only able to make two stops do to the heat but they were productive!

Both stops were unusual in that they were both shale; which I rarely get to hunt in (Ive collected in agrilaceous limestone, but never shale.) This led to a quandary, as the Ft.Payne is listed as having 'minor' shale; yet the second cut had 50ft of shale. So I'm not entirely convinced the second stop was Ft.Payne.

But anyway, on to the finds:

The first stop was a dark shale that contained no fossils per se, but did have abundant trace fossils. My knowledge of ichno fossils is woefully lacking I'm afraid, so identification of these will have to wait. Ive sent pics to Rockin' Ric as he seems quite knowledgeable concerning those, hopefully he can help.

and some close ups of this plate

next plate

and some close ups

oops ran out of room, cont.

[JimB88]

cont..

second close up of the above plate

third plate

After this stop I continued along the road to the west and came across a large exposure of shale, this spot yielded some fossils so I was there for a while longer.

Some fossils were free of the matrix but the shale itself had some too.

like this brachiopod for example...

crinoid stems were everywhere, including some big ones like these

cont...

[JimB88]

cont..

top of previous stem section

some crinoid bits

Uperocrinus sp (thanks to Archimedes for iding this for me)

an as of yet identified crinoid cup

unidentified plate

a strange stem with thin internodals

cont...

[JimB88]

Many of the crinoids seem to have been 'over geodized' to the point where the plates were not recognizable. So complete calyxes were hard to find.

this one needs more prep, but I'm hoping its close

Agaricocrinus sp. ( Thanks again to Achimedes )

Im thinking this is a calyx with arms folded in, but Im going to need a more aggressive media for my air eraser before I find out.

top, side, bottom as far as I can tell.

this may or may not be salvagable

cont...

[JimB88]

cont..

another over geodized with stem going into it

not sure about this one could be an over geodized hold-fast...

some non - crinoid fossils

theese large platyceras gastropods were present but it was hard to find intact ones, this was the most intact I found.

cont...

Edited August 14, 2015 by JimB88

[JimB88]

cont..

more shots of the previous snail

this is more typical of how they were found

the shell was usually missing most of it or cracked.

this is a nice Neozephrentis sp. Horn coral

Ill update when I finish cleaning them and all of the geodes I collected as well.

Thanks for looking!

[Auspex]

Those Lower Mississippian ichnofossils are way cool!

[Fossildude19]

Awesome finds, Jim!

Good luck with the crinoid calyces.

Thanks for continuing to post here.

Regards,

[JimB88]

Those Lower Mississippian ichnofossils are way cool!

Thanks; they're unusual aren't they..I would like to find out what made them

Awesome finds, Jim!

Good luck with the crinoid calyces.

Thanks for continuing to post here.

Regards,

Thanks Tim!

[Archimedes]

Okay, time for another trip report. This time I continued my exploration of the Lower Mississippian Ft.Payne formation. I was only able to make two stops do to the heat but they were productive!

Both stops were unusual in that they were both shale; which I rarely get to hunt in (Ive collected in agrilaceous limestone, but never shale.) This led to a quandary, as the Ft.Payne is listed as having 'minor' shale; yet the second cut had 50ft of shale. So I'm not entirely convinced the second stop was Ft.Payne.

You are collecting in the New Provodence Formation I think

[JimB88]

You are collecting in the New Provodence Formation I think

that makes more sense, as it is primarily shale in the southern part of Kentucky. I believe they are both of Kinderhook age.

[Archimedes]

Osagean age - Burlington/Keokuk Formation equivalent

[JimB88]

Heres some of my find from this past Fri. I went to the same spot as before and worked my way west. All finds are Lower Mississippian.

A nice little calyx

Alloprosallocrinus (thanks Rich )

A huge Platyceras gastropod!

It has nice growth lines

A large horn coral

Zepherentis sp.; the top is a little crushed, but that seems to be the norm for this site

Heres a pic of the shale face..lotsa geodes and fossils!

cont.

[JimB88]

Osagean age - Burlington/Keokuk Formation equivalent

Ah, ok thanks!

[JimB88]

this post has a large pic of where they initially blasted the rock face. Note the criniod stems in the bore-hole cut.

after an hour I decided to check further west down the road. There were numerous road cut (all huge) for many miles to the west but most seemed to be barren. The shale dips below ground level and all but the last cut were very hard limestone that didn't contain much. The last cut in the series exposed a green shale which was much more fossiliferous. Crinoid stems were abundant, as were brachiopods (unlike they other shale exposure.)

I collected many kinds of brachs as well as some bryozoans which also were absent from the previous stop.

I havent completed taking pics so I have only one brach to share......

a productid (not sure on genus yet.)

more when I take the pics...

[fossilized6s]

Nice finds as usual, Jim. I love those huge Crinoid stems and your most recent calyx.

[JimB88]

Nice finds as usual, Jim. I love those huge Crinoid stems and your most recent calyx.

Thanks, I actually have some of the sections of the pinules I need to glue back on one of them.

[Ludwigia]

Nice finds, Jim!

more when I take the pics...