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Fossils on a Pedestal


Bullsnake

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There is a small road cut exposure I like to frequent in the Plattsburg fm. where the Hickory Creek shale is excavated at a relatively shallow angle.

The whole formation it extremely fossiliferous, but specimens with great preservation require diligent and persistent searching.

But, to the subject of this post, an interesting means of finding those great fossils is in timing a good rain with a day or two of drying and wind erosion.

The shale is very loose and it seems that what happens is fossils (and of course 'just rocks') of certain weights and sizes hold their ground while the shale erodes away underneath them.

I've affectionately, though probably not originally, coined them as being pedestaled.

Here are a few recent examples:

 

Orodus(?), Cladodont fragment, and Horn Coral

 

20170802_151206.jpg

20170802_153529.jpg

20170802_153111.jpg

Steve

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1 minute ago, Bullsnake said:

There is a small road cut exposure I like to frequent in the Plattsburg fm. where the Hickory Creek shale is excavated at a relatively shallow angle.

The whole formation it extremely fossiliferous, but specimens with great preservation require diligent and persistent searching.

But, to the subject of this post, an interesting means of finding those great fossils is in timing a good rain with a day or two of drying and wind erosion.

The shale is very loose and it seems that what happens is fossils (and of course 'just rocks') of certain weights and sizes hold their ground while the shale erodes away underneath them.

I've affectionately, though probably not originally, coined them as being pedestaled.

Here are a few recent examples:

 

Orodus(?), Cladodont fragment, and Horn Coral

 

20170802_151206.jpg

20170802_153529.jpg

20170802_153111.jpg

Beautiful little fossils! It's amazing what nature can do.

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Nice finds, especially that shark!

“...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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Ha! Neat....and easy! 

 

Nice to see you posting again. 

~Charlie~

"There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK
->Get your Mosasaur print
->How to spot a fake Trilobite
->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG

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10 hours ago, Chase_E said:

Beautiful little fossils! It's amazing what nature can do.

 

10 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Nice finds, especially that shark!

 

10 hours ago, fossilized6s said:

Ha! Neat....and easy! 

 

Nice to see you posting again. 

 

40 minutes ago, FossilDudeCO said:

Nice finds!

We see this out here in the Pierre Shale as well!

Thank you, guys!

@fossilized6s I've been lurking! The membership knowledge base and specimens are rapidly exceeding my limited input. That's a good thing!:D

Steve

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It's always cool to see fossils perched like that.  I see that here in Texas at the Waco Pit.  I just love it.  Makes it easy to find.

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1 hour ago, TNCollector said:

That is awesome! I wish my Paleozoic teeth were that easy to extract!

 

:DI just recently found these 'easy pickings'. Up until then all of the ones I found were locked in the hard limestones.

As hard as they are to find I'll take 'em however I can get 'em!

Steve

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34 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Nice. The corals at Hungry Hollow erode out like that as well as the pyritized ammonites on the clay hills of the Provence in France.

 

It's cool to see others have this luxury, also.

I've also found tiny pyritized goniatites in this shale.

 

Steve

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Neat photos-thanks for sharing them. I like the way the finds present themselves. Sometimes it makes it easier for us older folks who are crawling on our knees to make things out. I was terrorizing an old curled leaf the other day by mistake...but I did find a pedestaled tapir tooth. LOL. 

Regards, Chris

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2 hours ago, Plantguy said:

Neat photos-thanks for sharing them. I like the way the finds present themselves. Sometimes it makes it easier for us older folks who are crawling on our knees to make things out. I was terrorizing an old curled leaf the other day by mistake...but I did find a pedestaled tapir tooth. LOL. 

Regards, Chris

 

Ha! Yeah, I spent 5 minutes photograping a petalodus crown in situ before I figured out it was a spider shedding  'cocoon'!:(

Steve

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I can't recall the number of mesquite beans I've picked up thinking they are something fossilized.

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3 hours ago, RyanNREMTP said:

I can't recall the number of mesquite beans I've picked up thinking they are something fossilized.

:rofl:Yeah...rabbit pellets, beetle carapaces, hackberry seeds...

Steve

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