A Quick Visit To A Couple Road Cuts Near Oglesby, Illinois (Part 2)

[Nimravis]

Today I decided to drive about 150 miles round trip to go to an auction that sometimes has fossils. This time there was only a Riker mount of composite Spinosaurus teeth and a huge ammonite that hardly fit into a banana box. I believe that the ammonite might have come from Texas and it looked like it weighed +120 lbs.

 

 

Neither of these items sparked my interest, and since it was a sunny, 55 degree day, I decided to stop at a couple road cuts that I had visited earlier in the year. 

 

The first road cut (Site 1) is near Oglesby, Illinois and is located right next to the former Lonestar Quarry, that contains limestone from the Pennsylvanian Bond and Mattoon formations. The second (site  2)  is about 5 minutes away and appears to contain the same type of fossils, just in better shape, since I have yet to find any loose fossils here. On my way back home I drove by Site 1 again and met Fossil Forum member @Siwash and his family collecting.

 

 

Composita argentia Brachiopod

 

 

Juresania nebrascensis Brachiopod

 

 

Punctospirifer kentuckyensis Brachiopod (?)

 

 

 

 

 

[coled18]

That's really cool. We get a lot of similar brachiopods by where I live in Kansas. Tons of Composita and Neospirifer here! 

[Nimravis]

Site 2

 

 

Juresania nebrascensis Brachiopods

 

 

Composita argentia Brachiopod

 

 

Lindoproductus cora Brachiopod

 

 

Spirifer Brachiopods

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, coled18 said:

That's really cool. We get a lot of similar brachiopods by where I live in Kansas. Tons of Composita and Neospirifer here! 

That's nice- the ones that I find at Site 2 (above) are the ones that I like.

[coled18]

Yea you got some pretty nice specimens there it looks like!

[Wrangellian]

I love that first Juresania from Site 2!

[Nimravis]

@coled18 and @Wrangellian Thanks for the comments.

[Wrangellian]

BTW I wonder if that ammonite is from Morocco too, given that the Spinosaurus teeth are.

[ynot]

Nice finds.

[Nimravis]

28 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

BTW I wonder if that ammonite is from Morocco too, given that the Spinosaurus teeth are.

I think that it was Texas, but that is just a guess, I did not see any identifiers with it.

11 minutes ago, ynot said:

Nice finds.

Thanks Tony

[Shamalama]

That site 2 is a special place to have all those cool fossils. The Juresania that "looks" like it's in life position is awesome.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Shamalama said:

That site 2 is a special place to have all those cool fossils. The Juresania that "looks" like it's in life position is awesome.

Yes I agree and it must have just recently fallen off of the wall.

[deutscheben]

I'm a big fan of that one in "profile" too. Nice brachiopods, I hope to make it out to the site over the holidays if the weather obliges. 

[Nimravis]

30 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

I'm a big fan of that one in "profile" too. Nice brachiopods, I hope to make it out to the site over the holidays if the weather obliges. 

Nice- the second site is better, just watch out for the over hanging ledges. There is a lot of matrix that is on the ground that has fallen. Look at those, if you see nothing in a piece, break it up with a hammer and you will be surprised as to what is inside some of the slabs. Good Luck.

[belemniten]

16 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

BTW I wonder if that ammonite is from Morocco too, given that the Spinosaurus teeth are.

I also think that the ammonite is from Morocco ....

Some nice finds @Nimravis ! Seems that you found a big variety of specimen !

[Captain America]

My family and I were glad to visit with Nimravis on Sunday. He pulled over on Rt. 71 and we had a nice chat about local fossil stuff. Got to see some neat specimens.

 

We chomped at the road cut on Rt. 71 just east of the Vermillion River. The north part of the cut is adjacent or on state forest preserve property. . . so I was afraid to even pee on a tree over there and there's no way on God's green earth I'd check anything over there: there are very zealous IDNR cops in the area, and even if the rock was on IDOT property I doubt that would prevent any hassle from happening. IDNR cops have an exceptional range of police powers.

 

We found crinoid bits for the most part:

 

 

[Captain America]

. . . so we talked a bit about Brachiopod Heaven, over on Orlando Smith Road. It's not far from where we bounced our hammers. . . follow Rt. 71 to Jonesville and pick up old 51 over a bit, to just before the Illinois River and a mondo hillside intersection with Orlando Smith Road. It's the turn to IVCC, the local community college.

 

If you find a leather gardening glove over there, just let me know, my son dropped it last August when we were running out of there being chased by wasps. Best.

 

 

[Nimravis]

3 hours ago, Siwash said:

. . . so we talked a bit about Brachiopod Heaven, over on Orlando Smith Road. It's not far from where we bounced our hammers. . . follow Rt. 71 to Jonesville and pick up old 51 over a bit, to just before the Illinois River and a mondo hillside intersection with Orlando Smith Road. It's the turn to IVCC, the local community college.

 

If you find a leather gardening glove over there, just let me know, my son dropped it last August when we were running out of there being chased by wasps. Best.

 

 

Wow, you got some nice fossils and I love the way they look against the matrix.

[Shamalama]

16 hours ago, Siwash said:

. . . so we talked a bit about Brachiopod Heaven, over on Orlando Smith Road. It's not far from where we bounced our hammers. . . follow Rt. 71 to Jonesville and pick up old 51 over a bit, to just before the Illinois River and a mondo hillside intersection with Orlando Smith Road. It's the turn to IVCC, the local community college.

 

If you find a leather gardening glove over there, just let me know, my son dropped it last August when we were running out of there being chased by wasps. Best.

 

 

Those are beauties! Found while splitting or lying on the surface of the skree?

[Nimravis]

That is how mine were found and I believe there’s were found the same way.

[Captain America]

Skree; it's possible to chunk out stuff as well.

[smt126]

You guys ever find shark teeth or ammonite material in there? I read in old geology book that those have been found in that area. I thought about making the drive down there with the family one of these days. Do you guys break open a lot not matrix or mostly look around? My daughter and I are happy to just look or dig\break, but my boys are all about demolition.

[Monica]

Nice brachiopods, guys!  The ornamentation on some is quite stunning!!! 

 

[thair]

Neat finds, Remind me where you get your size reference cubes. I know I have seen them on here before.

[oldtimer]

Those are some real nice finds.  I am getting ideas from you guys on what to be looking for on outings.

Thanks for posting such valuable information and pics.

[Nimravis]

19 hours ago, thair said:

Neat finds, Remind me where you get your size reference cubes. I know I have seen them on here before.

You can contact Forum member @aerogrower and he makes them.