Two Hour Soak at Hungry Hollow

[FossilDAWG]

Don't get me wrong, I have great appreciation for the coral beds and the Widder as well as the Arkona Shale.  I am well aware that fantastic fossils can be found at any level, though they are widely distributed in the upper part of the Arkona Shale.  Certainly the crinoid nests are more common lower in the Arkona.

 

I once "wasted" pretty much a whole collecting trip on that hard crinoidal limestone layer you mentioned.  There was a large (probably 2 meters by 2 meters) slab of it sitting right beside the river where it had slid down from the cliff.  Smack in the middle was the largest, most complete placoderm armor plate I have ever seen.  I spent 3 hours trying to trench around that thing with a hammer and chisel, and barely made a 4-5 mm deep dent.  That is some hard rock! I had to leave it behind, and because of the time wasted did not get to look for anything else either.  Lesson learned: bring a rock saw, or don't bother wasting your time.

 

I also have not had much luck with blastoids.  I collected one (a nice Nucleocrinus) when I was able to look at the coral beds at the old lumber yard in Thedford, before it was all posted.  I don't know if that site even exists any more.  Blastoids are always on my wish list at Arkona, but they and certain other things such as edrioasteroids, brittle stars, and starfish have remained elusive (I do have 1 partial starfish though).

 

Don

[JohnBrewer]

What a great variety of finds @Kane. Personally wet weather doesn't bother me (otherwise I wouldn't live in Manchester). It's cold I don't like being a soft Brit. 

[Kane]

@FossilDAWG I really hope you at least took a picture of that big placo-plate! If we can't collect them physically, we can at least have a digital memory!

 

Such a large slab is extremely difficult to work with. When presented with a similar scenario, I've had to adjust my approach (whether to slice or to even consider a top-down bust with the sledge-wedge combo to make for more manageable pieces, and possibly consider gluing anything that split through). But the bigger the slab, the harder it is to apply the right amount of force to get a cleaner "slice" without just getting jagged chunks. At that point, a long-handled ten-pound sledge is necessary - not elegant, but it can sometimes get the job done! 

 

Nigh impossible would be trying to hack out any of the crinoidal limestone layer from the cliff face - Any attempt I've made would best be captured in a cartoon where the character delivers a mighty hammer blow only for the hammer to spring back and wobble (and it makes an ugly sound).

 

My most "wasted" trips have actually been in digging into the Arkona shale. I've chopped out a fair share only to be rewarded with blanks, a few very poorly preserved bits, or false leads of crinoid stems that go nowhere. Although one is not rewarded with starfish or gorgeous crinoids through surface collecting, the occasional little gem weathers out.

 

@JohnBrewer Aye, I would never think you couldn't handle the rain. Doesn't your area have the most annual precipitation in the UK? To be honest, I thought it would bother me to collect in the rain, but it was not a big deal after all. As the old saying goes, "I ain't made of salt or sugar."  And I hardly doubt anyone would have the audacity to call you a soft brit - even if you were caught in public washing your smalls.  

[JohnBrewer]

21 hours ago, Kane said:

 Aye, I would never think you couldn't handle the rain. Doesn't your area have the most annual precipitation in the UK? To be honest, I thought it would bother me to collect in the rain, but it was not a big deal after all. As the old saying goes, "I ain't made of salt or sugar."  And I hardly doubt anyone would have the audacity to call you a soft brit - even if you were caught in public washing your smalls.  

Manchester does have a very high amount of precipitation. 

 

Im originally from the South East, The Home Counties, Sussex actually. The northern folk call us 'soft southerners' for some reason!

[Fossil-Hound]

@Kane that roller looks like it's a decent size. Congratulations!

[caldigger]

On 7/23/2017 at 7:35 AM, Kane said:

I've certainly found my share of large and fulsome Platyceras at this site in the past, but only a few presented themselves on this day. The one on the far left still has evidence of stubby spines, while the one in the centre is a juvenile rooted to some other creature that pyrite disease has pretty much made unidentifiable.

 

Given that Platyceras basically feed on the output from the anus of crinoid caylexs, could it be attached to one? I have one that died while feeding (still attached) as well as two that are attached to themselves ( face to face if you will).

[Kane]

1 minute ago, caldigger said:

 

Given that Platyceras basically feed on the output from the anus of crinoid caylexs, could it be attached to one? I have one that died while feeding (still attached) as well as two that are attached to themselves ( face to face if you will).

They generally do, which would be highly likely. Although I've also found the odd one attached to a coral: 

[caldigger]

Your pictures are a bit dark in the questioning shot, so I really can't tell what it is.

[Kane]

16 hours ago, caldigger said:

Your pictures are a bit dark in the questioning shot, so I really can't tell what it is.

I brightened the original image (page one) for easier viewing.  

 

Pursuant to Platyceras' penchant for parasitism, a cute cartoon from Kesling and Chilman's Strata and Megafossils of the Middle Devonian Silica Formation.