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Pleistocene bog iron track


MarcoSr

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I'll look forward to the paper.:)

Tracks in bog iron? 

Well, well, well, how intriguing. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Never in my wildest fever-dreams would I have imagined such a thing as a 'bog iron track'!

I am fascinated. This is the most interesting thing I have learned in I-don't-know-how-long!

 

I've spun it around, for a more recognizable orientation:

~~.jpg

"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!

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1 hour ago, Xiphactinus said:

Interesting. This is a new one for me. Learn something on TFF all the time.

 

It was new for me also.  If I wasn't with Dr. Weems when he found a bog iron track, I wouldn't have known about them either.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I'll look forward to the paper.:)

Tracks in bog iron? 

Well, well, well, how intriguing. 

 

 

So far we have found ichnotaxa representing one fish, one amphibian, three kinds of turtle, an alligator, four kinds of bird, and seventeen kinds of non-marine mammals.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

Cool!

Looks like it will be an interesting read!

Regards,

 

After I read the draft paper, my first comment to Dr. Weems was that the paper was interesting.  Lots of papers that I read are not interesting.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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1 hour ago, Auspex said:

Never in my wildest fever-dreams would I have imagined such a thing as a 'bog iron track'!

I am fascinated. This is the most interesting thing I have learned in I-don't-know-how-long!

 

I've spun it around, for a more recognizable orientation:

 

 

Chas

 

The discolorations on the track somewhat distort it.  The discolorations are a little larger than the impressions of front pads 1-3 and the back pad.  Front pad 4 is hard to see in the picture because there isn't  any discoloration.  I've labeled the below picture to show the two claw impressions, four front pad impressions and back pad impression of the track.

 

5af4969249e45_CanidfootprintPleistoceneVirginia.jpg.9c21ab79aa76d4e22a05d9f94457b056.jpg

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 minute ago, MarcoSr said:

The discolorations on the track somewhat distort it

That's what I figured. The diagenesis must be fascinating!

"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!

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9 minutes ago, Auspex said:

That's what I figured. The diagenesis must be fascinating!

 

From the draft paper:

 

"These bog iron deposits formed in shallow waters rich in iron compounds, some of which became densely lithified soon after their formation.  ......  The early lithification of this facies also preserved footprints of animals that were living in and around the bogs ......"

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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Below are pictures of a beaver pond on my property that dries out during times of below average rainfall.  It has dried out 3 or 4 times in the 18 years that I owned my property.  As the pond shrinks in size, the animals get drawn closer and closer to the remaining water and leave their prints in the mud of the drying pond.  We find the Pleistocene prints in clusters.   So I think a lot of the prints that we are finding could have formed in times of drought or lowering water levels.  I took these pictures for Dr. Weems to show print clusters in a modern setting.

 

Distant pictures of part of my dried pond.  The marks in the sand are prints of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians from my property:

 

IMG_1626.jpg.ae81e9c2cfbf6a694bf3b3674ae216a3.jpg

IMG_1629.jpg.3ba65ca8b53a08a14d36729b53956605.jpg

 

Some close-up pictures of the prints:

 

IMG_1630.jpg.96ef17aeaa39eaff36e11edfd8dc2ed9.jpgIMG_1634.jpg.5a5cf117fb9627078ee68e3ff7fff4b6.jpgIMG_1635.jpg.bb40f1eca1160c18646a5cb6547d94d3.jpgIMG_1636.jpg.04d14724241de4f5bbcef1145277f79b.jpgIMG_1639.jpg.1755a78adaf13f35659220dc30b9ad5b.jpg

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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  • 5 months later...

As an update to this post the paper by Dr. Robert Weems on these Pleistocene bog iron tracks,  "AN EARLY PLEISTOCENE (EARLY IRVINGTONIAN) FOOTPRINT FAUNA FROM THE BACONS CASTLE FORMATION, WESTMORELAND COUNTY, VIRGINIA", was just recently published.  Below is the first page of the paper:

 

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My son, Marco Jr., was honored in the paper with a new ichnospecies, Pavoformipes gulottai, named after him.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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The alligator is particularly interesting. I've seen those cut off fresh water valleys along Drum Cliffs in what may be a modern analog to the environment in the paper. Thanks for posting this!

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22 hours ago, Plax said:

The alligator is particularly interesting. I've seen those cut off fresh water valleys along Drum Cliffs in what may be a modern analog to the environment in the paper. Thanks for posting this!

 

I'm still amazed by the diversity of bog iron tracks that we have found so far.  Each time we go back to the site we find additional tracks.  I've already asked Rob if he is thinking about a part II update to his paper.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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