Jeffrey P Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 sLast weekend I took a four day trip to Kentucky to see family; parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. While there arranged to get together with Herb from the Forum to collect Mississippian Age fossils which I hadn't done before. There are no fossiliferous Mississippian Age deposits in New York and the nearest are in Western Pennsylvania hours away, so this looked like a good opportunity to add some marine fossils from that age to my collection. Fortunately where my family lives is in an area of marine Mississippian deposits. On the way to our rendezvous with Herb in E-Town (Elizabethtown) my nephew and I stopped at a road cut in Leitchfield that he knew about and had seen other collectors collecting at. Fossils were eroding out of the hillside by the score and could be picked up right off the ground free of the matrix. Collected a number crinoid stems, bryozoans, and small brachiopods. After an hour, we continued on to our meet up with Herb. My nephew had already met Herb at a collecting site. We continued on to another road cut collecting site about forty minutes away. Again, fossils were eroding out of the hillside and could be picked right up free of the matrix. Prior to this I had no blastoids in my collection but in just an hour and a half I'd collected fifteen plus more brachiopods, crinoid stems, and some more bryozoan specimens. We then returned to the first place in Leitchfield where my nephew and I visited earlier. Found more specimens including a number of crinoid calyxes, a couple blastoids, and a few more brachiopods and bryozoans. I'll have to study to learn the IDs of these specimens. All in all a great day and Herb was wonderful to collect with and very generous and knowledgeable besides. Hope we get to do this again next year. Oh, and by the way, the family visit went well too. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Blastoids and brachiopods. 4 Link to post Share on other sites
doushantuo Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Nice report,Jeff.Looks like a day that could do with a repeat. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Crinoid stems and calyxes. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Bryozoans, crinoid stems with bryozoam coating, and a rugose coral. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
doushantuo Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 NIIIIIIIICEEEEEEEEEE bryozoans.I think that's Archimedes in there. And the rugosan seems to be encrusted as well Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 1 hour ago, doushantuo said: NIIIIIIIICEEEEEEEEEE bryozoans.I think that's Archimedes in there. And the rugosan seems to be encrusted as well Thanks. Yes, that's Archimedes, probably the most distinctive fossil from the Mississippian. Glad to add it to my collection. A lot of the crinoids, brachiopods, and corals were encrusted with bryozoans. I've seen quite a few bryozoans in Devonian and Ordovician sites near where I live, but not nearly so many as were present here. Link to post Share on other sites
Stingray Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Really nice report Jeff and the fossils are Great! Glad you had such a productive trip can't wait to see some of those in person..... I really like the Blastoids very cool. Link to post Share on other sites
Ludwigia Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Nice finds, Jeff! It's always nice to venture into the unknown and to come up with some new stuff for the collection, isn't it? Aren't we lucky to have Herb here? Link to post Share on other sites
Fossildude19 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Jeff, Glad you had a nice trip meeting up with family, and hunting the Mississippian! Thanks for posting this report! Regards, Link to post Share on other sites
Fallingfossils Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Jeff, Great stuff! I always love reading your reports. Nothing like getting in some collecting while traveling. Greg Link to post Share on other sites
ynot Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Very nice report and finds! Tony Link to post Share on other sites
Herb Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Jeff, I enjoyed collecting with you and your nephew. Great company, great weather and great collecting. Looking forward to your next visit to hit some Ordovician sites. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
JimB88 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Welcome to the Mississippian! Looks like you had a good trip! Link to post Share on other sites
Shamalama Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Great Report Jeff and I agree that Herb is a great guy to collect with. You found a lot of little stuff so you must have been on your hands and knees all day! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
JustPlainPetrified Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Nice bryozoans. I'll have to find some, somewhere, someday. Link to post Share on other sites
Herb Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 JPP, if you would like some let me know Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted November 2, 2016 Author Share Posted November 2, 2016 20 hours ago, JustPlainPetrified said: Nice bryozoans. I'll have to find some, somewhere, someday. If you visit that first site you would find some within 10 seconds. See the picture above of them all over the ground. I've never seen bryozoans that plentiful. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Thanks Chris, Roger, Tim, Greg, Tony, Herb, Jim, Dave, and JPP for the nice comments and support. Herb, definitely want to check out some Ordovician sites next time. Best wishes all. Link to post Share on other sites
Pagurus Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 A bit of fossil hunting, especially with another forum member, always makes a good trip even better. Thanks for posting your terrific finds, Jeff. Those blastoids are wonderful. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Shamalama Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 20 hours ago, Jeffrey P said: If you visit that first site you would find some within 10 seconds. See the picture above of them all over the ground. I've never seen bryozoans that plentiful. Then you need to go explore some Fairview formation in Kentucky or Ohio. Ordovician aged bryozoan garden! Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 On 11/2/2016 at 10:39 PM, Pagurus said: A bit of fossil hunting, especially with another forum member, always makes a good trip even better. Thanks for posting your terrific finds, Jeff. Those blastoids are wonderful. Thanks Mike. Very true. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 On 11/3/2016 at 7:53 AM, Shamalama said: Then you need to go explore some Fairview formation in Kentucky or Ohio. Ordovician aged bryozoan garden! Dave, you're giving me more reasons to return. I already have plenty, but thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
FossilDAWG Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 The crinoid calyxes arrayed around a coin are Agassizocrinus. Although this crinoid had a tiny stem in its early development, as it grew the stem broke off and the basals fused into a solid mass that acted as a weight to keep the crinoid anchored to the sea floor. Your specimens are all the fused basal part, which is how these fossils are most commonly found. Specimens with the redials and the arms are rarely seen. Don 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeffrey P Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 On 11/5/2016 at 11:05 PM, FossilDAWG said: The crinoid calyxes arrayed around a coin are Agassizocrinus. Although this crinoid had a tiny stem in its early development, as it grew the stem broke off and the basals fused into a solid mass that acted as a weight to keep the crinoid anchored to the sea floor. Your specimens are all the fused basal part, which is how these fossils are most commonly found. Specimens with the redials and the arms are rarely seen. Don Thanks Don for the ID help. These new additions to the collection will take some time and effort to properly ID them all. Also appreciated the information about their natural history. Link to post Share on other sites
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