Tff Meet Up In The Chenango Valley, Ny

[Jeffrey P]

Last Saturday, 5/23/15, a group of Fossil Forum members from five different northeastern states gathered at a quarry off Deep Springs Road in Lebanon, NY. to hunt for Middle Devonian marine fossils in shale from the Moscow Formation. This writer first visited the site, featured on Karl Wilson's website, in late spring of 2013 and since has returned six times. Last fall I introduced Tim (Fossildude19) to the site and we came up with the idea that this would be an excellent location for a TFF meet up. Tim made the connections and plans with other TFF members, a date was finally agreed upon, and this writer went to the site on the weekend of 5/3-5/4/15 to check out the parking situation and to gain permission from the owner, a local farmer.

Primary features of the site are the sheer abundance of fossils (There are fossils on just about every rock.) and biodiversity, just about every type of marine fossil from the Middle Devonian can be found there. The site differs from others further west, especially those in the Finger Lakes/Buffalo region in that it was much closer to the Catskill Delta to the east, therefore the waters were probably cloudier and the fossil assemblage different from those further west. Corals are rare and bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods more abundant than those other sites in Western New York.

The site is located amidst lovely rolling hills, and fields of corn and cows grazing. Many Amish live in the area. Weather that day; cloudless blue sky, temperatures in the low sixties, was perfect for collecting. Tim, from Connecticut was the first to arrive. Then I showed up, then Mike (Pagurus) and his wife, Leila from Massachusetts, then Rob (snakebite 6769) and his family from Vermont, Carmine (xonenine) from Buffalo, NY., and finally Dave (Shamalama) from the Philadelphia area. Here's a group shot taken by this writer.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Jeffrey P

[Jeffrey P]

Here's some of my better finds of the day; one of a pair of three inch Tornoceras goniatites:

And a Greeenops trilobite with nice ornamentation preserved:

[Jeffrey P]

Also, a spiny brachiopod; Elita fimbriata:

[Jeffrey P]

And a couple bivalves; Cimitaria recurva and Prothyris larceoleta:

[Malcolmt]

Very nice.... wish I could have been there...

[JimB88]

Good stuff, glad you guys had a good trip!

[ZiggieCie]

[Fossildude19]

Well, it was a great trip to central New York to meet up and collect with the various members.

I was up at 3:45 am, got ready, made my coffee, and was off by 4:15 am. I made good time in the pre-dawn darkness, and was able to shave 15 minutes off of the 4.5 hour trip.

Central New York is rolling hills, farmland, forests, and beautiful small towns. It is a wonderful area for driving, - wonderfully scenic.

I also saw some deer, turkey, and many Red winged Blackbirds, flying or roosting near the numerous fields

I was the first to arrive at the site, at 8:30 am. It was turning into a lovely day, with slight breezes and sunny skies.

I got geared up, and poked around the site near my car until the others arrived.

Jeff got there shortly after I did, and we greeted each other, and talked a bit. I showed him the partial ammonoid I found:

It wasn't long before Mike and Leila showed up. More greetings! Everyone started arriving, at this point, and we got settled and started hunting, in earnest.

One of the great things about this site, besides the numerous fossils, is that the shale is fairly weathered, and splits easily. There is alot lying about, so there isn't a real need to remove overburden, as such. Just grab some shale and split. This can be a bit of a double edged sword, however - in that the shale is also kind of crossbedded, and as a result, the fossils split just as easily as the shale!

The fossils here can sometimes be preserved as 3 dimensional casts, that can be found weathered out and just lying around.

Large Spinocyrtia brachiopods and other fossils, such as pelecypods, are found this way at times as well.

We spent much of the day splitting, looking and conversing with one another - many great finds were made by all.

Having been to this site before, and knowing the potential, I had a pretty specific list of things that I wanted to find.

My list consisted of ammonoids,... a phyllocarid, and some gastropods. As it turned out, I was able to find the things on my list and then some - Deep Springs Road Quarry did not disappoint!

Here are some of my finds:

Zoophycus trace fossil:

A partial Dipleura dekayi trilobite:

another ammonoid - Tornoceras?

Grammysoidea pelecypod?

Greenops boothi imprint:

and the counterpart:

Continued....

Edited May 31, 2015 by Fossildude19

[jcbshark]

What a great get together and beautiful finds as well!

[Fossildude19]

Continuation...

More finds....

Glyptotomaria capillaria?

Paleozygopleura hamiltonae

and another, with a Bactrites cephalopod:

A possible phyllocarid - Rhinocaris columbia?

and a definite phyllocarid - Echinocaris punctata:

continued...

[Fossildude19]

And some people pics....

Pagurus:

Shamalama:

xonenine:

Snakebite, and his crew:

and JeffreyP:

Many other finds were made, I will let the others speak for themselves... and I will post a few more when the pictures are taken - still have a few mystery bits as well...

People started to disperse after about 4:00 pm... with Pagurus, Jeff, and myself staying til about 5:30 pm to hunt.

We said our goodbyes, and headed our separate ways.

After a 4.5 hour trip, I was home and satisfied with my day's finds...

Great meet up and hunt, to be sure.

Looking forward to the next meet up.

Enjoy!

Regards,

[Auspex]

Boy oh boy oh boy...from where I'm sitting, it just doesn't get much better than this!

Great weather, fossils galore, friable shale, and friends old and new!

[JimB88]

Man I wish I lived up there..looks like you did real good Tim!

[digit]

Thanks for the trip report. Looking forward to seeing the others' finds.

TFF once again proves itself a useful tool not just in the virtual world but in the real world. I love to see like-minded individuals get together like this for an outing. It's great fun when you can see what the others are finding and the social aspect can be as much fun as the fossils themselves.

Way to go gang!

-Ken

[Jeffrey P]

Tim,

Great trip report and excellent finds. Loved seeing the Palaeozygopleura and those trilobites. That bivalve is Grammysoidea. Thanks for posting. Hope the others show there's. That was a magnificent day. Glad to be a part of it.

[Pagurus]

Thanks for the great trip reports, Tim and Jeffrey, and thanks to both of you for the perfect weather. Oh, thanks for being the organizers of the meet-up too. It was so enjoyable to get together with old and new friends. I will post some of my finds soon, I haven't had a chance to take photos yet. Today I got to enjoy watching my year-old grandson, just barely able to walk, bending down to collect rocks on the driveway and carefully dropping them into a plastic drinking cup. Surely a budding paleontologist.

Mike

[Fossildude19]

Tim,

Great trip report and excellent finds. Loved seeing the Palaeozygopleura and those trilobites. That bivalve is Grammysoidea. Thanks for posting. Hope the others show there's. That was a magnificent day. Glad to be a part of it.

Thanks for the correction, Jeff. You certainly know your inverts better than I do!

I've changed the label on the pic.

Regards,

Thanks for the great trip reports, Tim and Jeffrey, and thanks to both of you for the perfect weather. Oh, thanks for being the organizers of the meet-up too. It was so enjoyable to get together with old and new friends. I will post some of my finds soon, I haven't had a chance to take photos yet. Today I got to enjoy watching my year-old grandson, just barely able to walk, bending down to collect rocks on the driveway and carefully dropping them into a plastic drinking cup. Surely a budding paleontologist.

Mike

Mike,

Good as always to see you and Leila. Thanks for making the trip up - it was fun hunting with you again.

I'd like to see the Dipleura pieces you found!

Regards,

[Bullsnake]

Great report, all.

I'm enjoying this!

[gregklepeis]

Looks like some awesome finds! I am hoping to join such fossil hunting meet ups such as this in the future!

[fossilized6s]

Looks like fun, guys! Congrats on all of your neat finds. It's always nice to put a face to the avatar. Thanks for sharing.

[kwilson]

Great reports all!!

[Shamalama]

Well Jeff and Tim pretty much summed up the trip pretty well. It was a great day to go collecting, cool weather, low humidity and no rain plus great company!

I've nothing really more to add except pics of some of the fossils I found.

Phestia rostellana

Pholadella radiata

Longispina mucronata

An odd, swirling trace fossil

An Athyris with the lophophore supports as seen in cross section.

Continued in next post....

[Shamalama]

Some of the Trilobites I found, mostly pieces...

Rusophycus

Grammysioidea arcuata

Goniophora

Lingulid brachiopod

Pair of Paleozygopleura

That is about it for me, I focused on finding the small, spiny Chonetid type brachiopods that are prolific as many seem to have their spins preserved.

Looking forward to the next trip!

[MrTrilobiteMan]

That's great that you were all able to get together for the day of fossil hunting. Looks like you had beautiful weather and some really nice finds. The Grammysoidea is probably my favorite of the bunch. very crisp and sharp detail. Great job and congrats to you all!

[JimB88]

wow, you did good Dave! That Goniophora is a rare one! And nice Lingulid too! Trilo bits and their resting trace! Neat stuff.