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Paulding Fossil Community Garden - LaFarge Quarry (Cecil, OH)


Fossil-Hound

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Well I'm on my way to Utah for a new career opportunity and looked up the LaFarge quarry in Paulding Co. last night. This quarry is supplied with dump trucks worth of shale from the LaFarge quarry that pulls directly from the Silica Shale formation Devonian era. The location is in the middle of nowhere and my wife gave me one hour to look around. Soon I had my five month old daughter, Clara, strapped to my chest in a baby carrier and I was quickly scrounging around looking for fossils. I can tell you that I was not disappointed though I did not locate a complete Eldredgeops roller I did walk away with some very large brachiopods and the largest horned coral I've ever collected. To anyone seeking to collect fossils in the mid-west or Ohio, this location is a must. All this came out in under an hour of searching and some of these pieces could look good after some light preparation.

 

See descriptions below:

 

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This place is in the middle-of-nowhere Ohio. The parking lot was gravel with a portable outhouse. The nearest gas station was about twenty minutes away.

 

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I was talking to @Kane about conglomerates of fossil bits and he noted similar compositions at both Penn Dixie and Arkona. I know there's a scientific term for what this occurrence is but I can't seem to recall the word at this time. Regardless I find these settings interesting as they don't seem to preserve anything exceptional, certainly not a complete trilobite but it's neat to see so much life in one piece of sedimentary rock. This particular rock is full of pieces of bryozoans, crinoids, trilobites, and brachiopods. Someday I'll invest in an expensive microscope to examine these different pieces.

 

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I usually don't keep horned coral but I couldn't resist keeping this one. The interior calcium based structures have crystalized and it is by far the largest horned coral I've ever picked up or seen in person though they can get bigger.

 

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There were Eldredgeop cephalons and pygidiums everywhere. Similar to Penn Dixie this is a really good sign that potential complete pieces, particularly rollers are present. I believe the terms of the site are that tools such as hammers and chisels are not allowed as the shale pieces are small and brittle enough to break in hand. I believe that a few years ago access to the official LaFarge quarry was granted but that was recently retracted and a number of amateur paleontologists wrote letters to the company requesting something be done to continue to provide access to the site. I'm really glad LaFarge goes out of their way to dump some scraps for people to pick through. Site admission is free and you can keep whatever you find.

 

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Large piece of an Eldredgeops segment sticking out of the matrix surrounded by brachiopod pieces. What a scene this must have been during the Devonian.

 

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The camera doesn't do this pyritized piece of shale justice. Hopefully I'll be able to take some micro pictures later of the square crystals.

 

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One of the larger Eldredgeops pygidiums I've ever seen and I read some sources last night that the trilobites in the Silica Shale can be very large. Almost every trilobite piece I came across at the site was very large. This pygidium is almost an inch wide.

 

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There were many spiriferid strewn throughout the site. Most had both halves and exhibited excellent color.

 

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Large cephalon.

 

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More pyrite.

 

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The large horn coral.

 

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More pyrite amidst a conglomerate of fossil pieces.

 

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A complete brachiopod out of the matrix.

 

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Front view of the brachiopod. I'll have to ID this one after some cleanup and polish.

 

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I really like the color on the corals and fossils at the site. This is a light tan.

 

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Another large complete brachiopod.

 

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A long spiriferid with what appears to be both halves. This one should prep out nicely.

 

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The desert of farms and trees of western Ohio.

 

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Corn, trees, and farms all around.

 

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Another good sized Eldredgeops cephalon.

 

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Yet another horn.

 

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Large Eldredgeops cephalon poking out. Not complete but gives me hope that there might be some complete specimens at the site.

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Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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18 minutes ago, Fossil-Hound said:

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Looks like there may be more under the matrix on this one.

 

Looks like You did pretty good for just an hour!

Safe journey and good luck in Utah!

Tony

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Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, ynot said:

Looks like there may be more under the matrix on this one.

 

Looks like You did pretty good for just an hour!

Safe journey and good luck in Utah!

Tony

 

@ynot (Tony) you are so fast and responding! I just added captions to each image. It does look like there might be more under the hood (at least I hope so). In fact some of my best trilobites have come from those specimens that I thought were incomplete. That's the beauty of fossiling. The fun never stops! After digging out the fossil then it needs to get prepped and further prepped. Unfortunately I'm more of a seeker than a preparer so I may need to hand this one off to a friend until I can invest in some tools. The site was really neat though and I sure hope LaFarge never closes it. In my haste to get back to the car so my wife wasn't going to kill me I forgot to sign the site waiver and sign in sheet. I would like to send LaFarge a hand written letter thanking them for keeping the park open as it means a lot to me and others.

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Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Some amazing stuff there, good job picking out the good ones!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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By that sign in the first pic, that place looks like a good model for the owners of the St Clair site in PA to consider for the fern site.....

 

I like that long spiriferid... Just how long could those get??

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I have collected from the Dundee formation, which is stratigraphically similar to the Silica formation although I am not completely sure exactly how close they are. I have some Eldredgeops rana bits that are similar to yours, although in my experience I have not come across the same spiriferids, and in fact brachiopods are some of the fossils that I find less frequently from the Dundee formation. Perhaps @Kane could verify whether or not spiriferid brachiopods can be found in the Dundee formation. Your finds have just reminded me how curious I am about this specific bit of Devonian stratigraphy, so thanks a lot for sharing

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2 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

 

I would like to send LaFarge a hand written letter thanking them for keeping the park open as it means a lot to me and others.

 

I would encourage you to do that. For Lafarge, being the large global player that it is, their public image is important. I just wish they would open up more such opportunities, instead of closing more and more of their gates to amateur collectors.

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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42 minutes ago, Pumpkinhead said:

I have collected from the Dundee formation, which is stratigraphically similar to the Silica formation although I am not completely sure exactly how close they are. I have some Eldredgeops rana bits that are similar to yours, although in my experience I have not come across the same spiriferids, and in fact brachiopods are some of the fossils that I find less frequently from the Dundee formation. Perhaps @Kane could verify whether or not spiriferid brachiopods can be found in the Dundee formation. Your finds have just reminded me how curious I am about this specific bit of Devonian stratigraphy, so thanks a lot for sharing

They are close, but have some pretty large differences in terms of biota. In the Dundee, there are spirifers in brach mix that is largely dominated by inarticulate brachs and large Stophodonta - like sp. There are some very busy brach layers in the Dundee, but also ones where they are almost entirely rugose corals. The trouble, of course, is that the limestone is pretty dense (which makes it somewhat ideal for building decorative retaining walls or other landscaping features). There are at least six reported species of trilobites in the Dundee, of which E. rana is one. It is more common in the Dundee to find trilo-bits.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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7 hours ago, Kane said:

They are close, but have some pretty large differences in terms of biota. In the Dundee, there are spirifers in brach mix that is largely dominated by inarticulate brachs and large Stophodonta - like sp. There are some very busy brach layers in the Dundee, but also ones where they are almost entirely rugose corals. The trouble, of course, is that the limestone is pretty dense (which makes it somewhat ideal for building decorative retaining walls or other landscaping features). There are at least six reported species of trilobites in the Dundee, of which E. rana is one. It is more common in the Dundee to find trilo-bits.

 

Thanks for the info, seems to me as though I usually come across the rugose dominated layers, although I have a few putative fragments of the larger brachiopods you mentioned

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Thanks for the report! I've always wanted to hit this site on my way to NY. 

...I'm back.

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This site is the result of the efforts of local fossil clubs and the "then" quarry manager.  I am sure that at some point someone at corporate was involved but I do not know to what degree.  If you are going to write a thank you letter I would limit it to the local quarry manager.  I am always afraid that some corporate lawyer could get involved and who knows what could happen.

 

The quarry is suppose to replenish the rock at the site once a years.  however, there are issues with that.  This past spring they tried to do it but the ground was too wet for their equipment.  The county refused permission to use the "roads" without lots of cash.  Quarry refused.  By the time it dried up the farm field was planted so no new rock till the fall.  One person in our club keeps in contact with the manager and we are suppose to be given a time when a new dump occurs.   When there is new rock it is quite good.  I visited last year when it first opened.  Several complete trilobites were found and lots of other stuff.

 

The trilobites are Eldredgeops crassituberculata.  Eldredgeops milleri is suppose to occur but very rare.  Most are crassituberculata.  No rana at this site.

 

If you like to look for small stuff, now is the time to hits the site.  Very small blastoids can be found with lots of staring at the ground.  I have a friend that goes there just for the blastoids.

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Congrats! Thank you @Fossil-Hound for such a great an informative report! I had hoped to visit there this summer so I very much appreciate the pics of your finds!! Best wishes for you and your family in Utah! :) 

 

Thank you @crinus for the updated information on the site! Hopefully, the replenishment plan for the fall goes as planned.  :) 

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I am glad you chose this site over Sylvania. By the looks of it, you had a successful hour. Now we will wait for pics from out west.

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  • 2 years later...

Any update on the Paulding Fossil public site for 2019?  Was thinking of making a trip from eastern PA

Collecting Microfossils - a hobby concerning much about many of the little

paraphrased from Dr. Robert Kesling's book

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12 hours ago, Acryzona said:

Any update on the Paulding Fossil public site for 2019?  Was thinking of making a trip from eastern PA

Still there and still productive. I wouldn’t expect to find any complete trilobites, but there are plenty of brachiopods, various corals, and trilo bits everywhere.

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Thanks connorp   I’m hunting microfossils so I was just hoping that the field hadn’t been abandoned since it’s been two years since the last post on this thread.

Collecting Microfossils - a hobby concerning much about many of the little

paraphrased from Dr. Robert Kesling's book

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14 hours ago, Acryzona said:

Thanks connorp   I’m hunting microfossils so I was just hoping that the field hadn’t been abandoned since it’s been two years since the last post on this thread.

 

Not at all. Here’s a picture I took back in April.

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There’s 5-6 rows of material that each extend a couple hundred feet.

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