Manticocerasman Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Yesterday we went on a fieldtrip organised by my geology club in the area of Marche en Famenne. In the morning the first stop was the visit of the "Grottes de Hotton" but me and my girlfiend didn't do this visit, so we got around 11am at the grottes to wait for the rest of the group. the weather was sunny and the temperatures very pleasant, this was going to be a very nice spring day. When the group was complete we hit the road to the quarry a couple of kilometers further. first we got a quick lesson about the geology of the quarry and safety mesures ( the sediments in the quarry were of mid Devonian age: Givetian). After this we where free to prospect the area. In the screes a lot of very large corals could be found, but I passed on those until I would find a more managable specimen. but a few of our friends did make the effort to drag a few of those back to the cars. After a while I found a verry good spot where a fossiliferous clay layer was washed out. this is where I found most of the good stuf. Lots and lots of Atrypas (brachiopods ) and a multitude of different corals ( sociophyllum, favosites, scoliopora,.. ) most of these were extremely wel preserved. With further prospection of the site we found a few other fossiliferous spots, one notable one where fragments of large Stringocephalus brachiopods could be found. we even found a few more or less complete specimens. At 4 pm we gathered back to the car and the finds where compared and discussed, and of course we left for a local pub to finish this perfect day for a refreshing drink. Enjoy the pictures: One of the big corals: The memmorial at the pub: the turret of an "easy 8 " sherman tank. Some time to rest after the hard work 1 growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 15, 2018 Author Share Posted April 15, 2018 as for the fossils I dug up: The lovely Atrypas: A multitude of corals: and more... 1 growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Wow! Certainly a location worth visiting! Some of those corals were enormous and you're right, the quality of preservation is superb! Just adore those corals and brachiopods! Thanks for posting. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Cool stuff, thanks for sharing! “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Looks like you had a great day. The corals and brachiopods are truly impressive. I love the preservation on those. I'm guessing the large tabulate corals are Favosites. Congratulations and thanks for sharing them with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innocentx Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 The 6th picture down, center of photo, is a nice example of Aulopora. All great finds here. 1 "Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Great report and pics! Those corals are stunning and the brachiopods are very nice as well. I am glad you had a great time! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Thanks for the report, Kevin. The quality of the finds from that site is excellent! Can you please post some of them again when the prep is finished? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 nice report and finds. Thanks for sharing. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Wow! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Beautiful stuff! I take it this is Famennian in age? 1 hour ago, Ludwigia said: Thanks for the report, Kevin. The quality of the finds from that site is excellent! Can you please post some of them again when the prep is finished? What prep is needed? Looks like Ma Nature pretty much did it already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 Nice stuff! The Atrypa specimens are wonderful!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 6 hours ago, Wrangellian said: Beautiful stuff! I take it this is Famennian in age? What prep is needed? Looks like Ma Nature pretty much did it already! Abrading would improve them even more by freeing up the septa, etc. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Love those Atrypas! Looks like quite a productive devonian site! Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 Thank you for all the replies. growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 7 hours ago, Wrangellian said: Beautiful stuff! I take it this is Famennian in age? What prep is needed? Looks like Ma Nature pretty much did it already! It is not Famennian but Givetian. There are a lot more Devonian deposits in the Famenne area :-) growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 23 minutes ago, Ludwigia said: Abrading would improve them even more by freeing up the septa, etc. Sadly I got no abrader. But there are a couple of those fossils that could surely use one. I also got 2 complete Stringocephalus from here that I would like to abrade. growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 This is one of the Stringocephalus brachiopods: 1 growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Wow! What great finds! I love that giant coral head, and those Atrypas don't even need to be cleaned off. Lovely. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 18 hours ago, Manticocerasman said: It is not Famennian but Givetian. There are a lot more Devonian deposits in the Famenne area :-) I didn't consider that possibility. Seems Givetan fossils are more common all over... like in New York area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 17, 2018 Author Share Posted April 17, 2018 5 hours ago, Wrangellian said: I didn't consider that possibility. Seems Givetan fossils are more common all over... like in New York area. There is a lot of famennian deposits, but they are not as fossiliferous as the other deposits like frasnian and givetian. Note that there was a major mass extinction event at the end of the frasnian: the kellwaser event. After this al the large devonian reef systems are gone, and a lot of the biodiversity gone. Only from the carboniferous we get a lot of marine fossils again in our area. 2 growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belemniten Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 I love those corals ! Congrats Kevin Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils Regards Sebastian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Manticocerasman said: There is a lot of famennian deposits, but they are not as fossiliferous as the other deposits like frasnian and givetian. Note that there was a major mass extinction event at the end of the frasnian: the kellwaser event. After this al the large devonian reef systems are gone, and a lot of the biodiversity gone. Only from the carboniferous we get a lot of marine fossils again in our area. The diversity dwindled, but does that mean populations of what remained also dwindled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manticocerasman Posted April 17, 2018 Author Share Posted April 17, 2018 43 minutes ago, Wrangellian said: The diversity dwindled, but does that mean populations of what remained also dwindled? Not sure about this worldwide. But here we get less fossils in the deposits after the event. http://www.devoniantimes.org/opportunity/massExtinction.html 2 growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innocentx Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 On 4/17/2018 at 2:49 AM, Manticocerasman said: http://www.devoniantimes.org/opportunity/massExtinction.html This is very interesting article, with it's hypothesis that increase of plants may have led to anoxic bottomwaters. "Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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