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Fresh Picks at the St. Leon roadcut - better luck next time!


FossilSniper

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On Sunday, my family and I decided to head out for a fossil excursion to spend out day.@Uncle Siphuncle pointed out a good fossil site for me to find trilobites at a road cut in St. Leon, Indiana. Thanks a ton!! Unfortunately, as it had rained for quite a while that day, we had to wait until well after noon to reassure ourselves that we would not need to fossil hunt in the rain. Luckily, this also meant we got fresh picks before the other collectors! Here is the haul from the day: (I hope to bring back more over the course of the week!)
 
 
 
 
Top to bottom:
 
 
(1) Random pieces of the trilobite Isotelus (sp.).
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(2) The largest piece of trilobite that was found that day at the site. Although the piece is large, this is just a tiny, tiny fragment of the real trilobite! It is included at the bottom of image #1.
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(3) The best find of the day.
It is a piece of the rear-half of the trilobite Flexicalymene (sp.). I do not know the specific specie, but the most abundant trilobite found at the site is Flexicalymene meeki, so it is safe to assume that the trilobite is F. meeki. After staring at the trilobite piece for some time, I extrapolate that it is approximately ~2/5ths of the trilobite which it once was. It is indeed very small!
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(4) Fossilized gastropods:
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(5) Fragments of orthoceras.
      These tend to be larger!
(5E014EFF-51EB-4EE3-A10E-5B1896BC0B7A.thumb.jpeg.6e44d67ddba4f95491a49b531aa82f5b.jpeg
 
 
 
(6) A handful of associated crinoid stem segments. The 2.4 cm one is quite long for a piece found detached from a matrix. I like it!
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Overall, I think that our trip to the site had not met its maximum potential. We thoroughly examined every foot of ground that we covered- but this was only a short strip of land roughly
 20 * 60 feet. Time was not available for a longer hunt. I estimate that we covered less than 5% (!) of the total fossiliferous area available to us that day— next time, I hope to find more than just ~1/3rd of a trilobite! 
 
-FS
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A very good start. :)

The more you return to the same location, the more you 'get your eye in' and it will become easier to find specimens. 

I hope very much that you find even better material on your next visit and please continue to share with us here. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Great site.  Wish I had access to it 40 years ago.  Most of the Flexis are BB to marble sized rollers.  I’ve had best success with gloves and knee pads, with eyes 18 inches above the exposure.  Your success will steadily climb with experience.  Feel free to PM me for more details.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Trilobites also tend to evade me in my local hunting area so I'm thrilled whenever I find any evidence of them, too - congrats to you for finding some bits and pieces - as the others have said, I'm sure you'll find a whole one if you keep on looking! 

 

I love the gastropods, by the way :wub:

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5 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

...  I’ve had best success with gloves and knee pads, with eyes 18 inches above the exposure...

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing! Glad to be on the right track! 

 :yay-smiley-1:

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Not bad for your first visit to an exposure. I do say, the gastropods are looking mighty fine! Probably the best stuff this trip IMO:dinothumb:

Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such.

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4 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Not bad for your first visit to an exposure. I do say, the gastropods are looking mighty fine! Probably the best stuff this trip IMO:dinothumb:

I’m off to another fossil site at the Caesar Creek spillway today (I think it’s my 7th time going there aha). I hope to find some fossils of more interest! 

 

I will bring back more gastropods! :hammer01:

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2 hours ago, FossilSniper said:

I’m off to another fossil site at the Caesar Creek spillway today (I think it’s my 7th time going there aha). I hope to find some fossils of more interest! 

 

I will bring back more gastropods! :hammer01:

Pics or it didn't happen :)

 

:popcorn:

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Alright, I went yesterday to the Caesar creek spillway and am off to the site again today! I will combine the two trips into one long post later in the evening. 

 

Glad to be of service @Peat Burns :D

 

 

Spoiler: I found some partially pyritized orthoceras! :wub:

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9 minutes ago, FossilSniper said:

Alright, I went yesterday to the Caesar creek spillway and am off to the site again today! I will combine the two trips into one long post later in the evening. 

 

Glad to be of service @Peat Burns :D

 

 

Spoiler: I found some partially pyritized orthoceras! :wub:

Looking forward to seeing your spoils! :popcorn:

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