A TFF Gathering in an Upstate New York Middle Devonian Paradise

[Jeffrey P]

Yesterday was a planned get together of TFF member friends at one of my favorite Middle Devonian localities- Deep Springs Road in Madison County southwest of Hamilton. It is the easternmost exposure of the Moscow Formation and the Windom Shale- the same formation exposed at Penn Dixie- but a very different faunal content. Biodiversity is the primary feature of this site and this outing added to an already long species list. This trip was actually a long time in planning. Frank (frank8147), a long time collector in New Jersey's Cretaceous streams, had been expressing to me a desire to visit Upstate New York and try his hand at Paleozoic collecting. He told me he and his girlfriend were planning a trip and once we were able to set a date- which was right on the heels of my own trip to Germany, I decided to invite a few other TFF friends. Tim (fossildude19), Dave (Darktooth), Diane (Mediospirifer), Dom (Dsailor), and Tony (njfossilhunter) were able to make it. Tony and I drove up together. Thanks Tony for all of that driving. Dom and Frank were new to the site. Tim and Dave brought family members and a good time was had by all. A rain shower in the middle of the afternoon drove some away, Diane and her husband, Tony, and I remained and I made most of my best finds late in the day. Here's a few pics: Here is (left to right) Dave, Tim, Tony, and Dave's older son.

[Jeffrey P]

Frank trying his hand at Paleozoic collecting- way different from collecting the streams of New Jersey. At least he's not getting his feet wet.

[Jeffrey P]

Dom and Dave examining one of Dave's finds:

[Jeffrey P]

Tim breaking rocks and making great finds- as usual!!!!

[Jeffrey P]

Diane and her husband checking out a scree pile while Dave's younger son climbs in the background.

[Jeffrey P]

Tim's son Aidan searching and finding some excellent material.

[Jeffrey P]

Dave and his younger son checking out some productive layers:

[Jeffrey P]

Dom, happy after his first trip to Deep Springs Road:

[Jeffrey P]

Now for some of my finds; A Rhinocaris columbina (top), Orthonata undulate (center)- I prefer the open ones, but a complete both valves individual out of the matrix is alright, Grammysia bisulcata(bottom)- a little damaged, but alright.

[Jeffrey P]

A gastropod (Palaeozygopleura hamiltoniae) (top) partially encrusted with a bryozoan. Usually these are completely enclosed:

Another gastropod (Retispira leda) (center) not the best preservation, but nearly complete.

Another bivalve (Cimitaria recurva). A while ago I saw at Deep Springs Road an imprint of a very large individual and always hoped to find one myself. This one is almost twice the size of the next largest one in my collection:

[Jeffrey P]

Crinoids parts are common at Deep Spings Road, but never a highlight. This long stem section, however blew my mind. Never saw one even a quarter the length of this:

[Darktooth]

My boys and I had a great time yesterday! Again thanks for the invite to the group hunt. I will post pics of our finds later tonight.

[FossilDudeCO]

Looks like a fantastic trip!

Thanks for bringing us all along for the adventure!

Congrats on the finds. That crinoid is quite impressive!

[Pagurus]

Terrific finds, Jeff. That crinoid is amazing for that site. Lots of really good finds. I'm so disappointed I couldn't make it. I had been looking forward to it for months but the doc thought it best for me to stay home. I did split open a few slabs still sitting in my garden from our trip to Little Falls a couple of years ago. That was fun, at least. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet all of you though. Hopefully next time. Thanks, as always, for posting the outing. Sigh.

[Darktooth]

Here's my 2 cents about yesterdays hunt.....AWESOME!!!! Even though I have been going to Deep Springs a lot lately, yesterday was one of the best times I have had in awhile. The weather was great, there were some good finds, but most of all it was nice to share the experience with a great bunch of people. I am glad I got to hunt with Jeff, Tim, and Aiden for the second time. Also it was great to meet some new faces. As far as the finds, from what I saw everbody did pretty well. My boys surprised me with some really nice specimens. My best of the day was a really nice Dipleura dekayi. Though not as big as others I have found, this guy is the most complete one. This was my trip maker.

Pics 1-4

Pic#5

Devin's favorite find of the day was an Eldredgeops rana pygidium,  attached to a few HUGE Dipleura thorax segments. The segments measure 3/8 inch wide! I have never seen anything like this. And I found the associated pygidium and that is huge as well. I will post pics of that after I clean it up. 

Pic#6 Dylans favorite find of the day was this bivalve. I think it is Grammysioidea alveata? It is absolutely beautiful with awesome detail, especially on the hinge.

There were plenty more good finds but I will post those later.

[Darktooth]

Here are some more of Devins finds.

#1 Greenops boothi, the most complete trilo he has ever found, just lying in some debris. He was pretty happy with this little guy.

#2 criniod segments

#3 Dipleura cephalon- not in great condition but he has seen enough of them that he knew what it was. Make Dad proud!

[Darktooth]

Here is more of Dylans finds. Some Brachs and bivaves not sure of species.

Last pic is partial cepholopod with imprint.

[RandyB]

Looks like a fun trip for all.  Hoping to get back up to that neck of the woods later this year

[Dsailor]

That was an awesome trip. It was great to meet new people and see everybody. I just need to upload my pics now

[jcbshark]

Great pics and finds folks, nice work

[Mediospirifer]

It was a lot of fun! I'm always happy to meet folks in the field; it was great to share the site and see what everyone else was finding. There were some really cool pieces found that day!

 

Carl and I brought back a lot of pieces, now we need to unpack, sort, and post some photos! That may take a little while...

 

[Fossil-Hound]

On 5/22/2017 at 11:08 AM, Jeffrey P said:

Tim breaking rocks and making great finds- as usual!!!!

 

@Fossildude19 there he is ladies and gentleman! The Man, the Myth, the Legend!   

[Fossildude19]

Flattery will get you no where, Jason.  

[njfossilhunter]

I had a great time and with some great people. Hope to do this again. Well this is my best find's of the day. Its  two Cephalopod's and I'm not sure of the species.  Maybe someone here can ID them for me.

 

The first one is nearly four inches long and how much more of the specimen is still under the matrix at the wider end  I don't know I did lose a flake of it at the front and about 1/8 of a inch at the very end ....other then that its a decent cephalopod.

 

 

 

The second one looks different from the first and its only 42mm long.

[Nimravis]

Great trip report and great finds by all.