New spot with something new to me...

[BenK]

Walked to a spot near my property that I used to go to as a kid. It is a railroad cut about 50 feet high..really cool little spot hidden away. Anyway, I climbed up about 10 feed today on a ledge after finding some fossils on rock that had fallen and found a highly fossiliferous layer. Loaded with crinoids and bivalves. Hopefully some other stuff too as I investigate further. Here are a few pics. Also, there are a few little oval fossils with a median ridge. One was hanging loosely so I grabbed it. There is also a cluster of 3 imbedded in the rock. Probably some good potential here! Any idea on the small ovals?

[BenK]

[BenK]

Trying to add more pics that are under the supposed limit of 3.95 but it is telling me I can't.

[Raggedy Man]

You can resize the pictures by using windows paint or emailing them to your self. Most email platforms prompt a size reduction option after clicking send. Others you may have to manually select resize. I typically resize to 50%. I hope this helps.

 

This looks like an interesting site! 

 

Best regards

[BenK]

I tried it on paint and it worked once. Will try again later this eve. 

[Fossildude19]

The ovals pictured here are the individual columnals of the crinoid Platycrinites sp. 

 

 

 

Also, try refreshing your browser. That usually fixes the picture upload issue when they are sized properly.  

[Rockwood]

2 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

The ovals pictured here are the individual columnals of the crinoid

I really didn't want to get that book out anyway. 

[BenK]

Ok so morphologically, do you have any pics or links to show the entire organism? The other slab I posted is the "stem" of the crinoid right? 

[BenK]

Mississippian? I'm literally on the Ordovician/Mississippian border. You all may be answering lots of questions for me.  I'm a Native American artifact hunter first, but fossils are a close second! I just want to learn more. 

[Malone]

This jagged disc is interesting.

[BenK]

I'll have to take a second look at that tomorrow! 

[BenK]

Couple more pics...

[BenK]

I'd like to knock a couple pieces out. Any way to dissolve the stuff around it leaving the fossil intact? 

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, BenK said:

I'd like to knock a couple pieces out. Any way to dissolve the stuff around it leaving the fossil intact? 

By the looks of it, probably not. The solvent would affect the fossil just as strongly as the surrounding matrix, since they both appear to be made up of the same substance.

[Rockwood]

The last one is an oblique section of a crinoid stem with multiple columnals still articulated. Ligaments often hold them together in short segments long enough for them to preserve that way.

Complete specimens are relatively rare. Even whole plates from a caylx are uncommon in chaotic assemblages such as this.

You can use vinegar to clean up the appearance a little, just be sure to rinse it well afterward.  

[BenK]

Thanks for all the info on this. What do you figure the reason is for a "chaotic" assemblage like this? I'm hoping to find some good stuff here. Is this an Early Ordovician assemblage you think? Also, there is a spot lower down with a horn coral assemblage. I'm going to try and poke around a bit more here tomorrow if morel hunting is a bust. 

[BenK]

Since I'm on the border, I'm really wanting to know if this is Mississipian or Ordovician.

[Tidgy's Dad]

If this is Platycrinites sp, then it can't be Ordovician, this genus didn't appear until the Devonian. 

[Fossildude19]

11 hours ago, BenK said:

 What do you figure the reason is for a "chaotic" assemblage like this? 

 

Disarticulated fossils are often the result of high energy environments - strong currents, or wave action, can play a part in creating the chaos seen in plates like this.  

[Malone]

15 hours ago, BenK said:

Thanks for all the info on this. What do you figure the reason is for a "chaotic" assemblage like this? I'm hoping to find some good stuff here. Is this an Early Ordovician assemblage you think? Also, there is a spot lower down with a horn coral assemblage. I'm going to try and poke around a bit more here tomorrow if morel hunting is a bust. 

You might try the USGS website they usually have the layers and what fossils have been found in which layers.

[DPS Ammonite]

4 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

Disarticulated fossils are often the result of high energy environments - strong currents, or wave action, can play a part in creating the chaos seen in plates like this.  

Think hurricanes, storms, tsunamis, floods, landslides, underwater landslides, volcanos and meteor strikes: all the usual suspects that occur today.

[Rockwood]

2 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Think hurricanes, storms, tsunamis, floods, landslides, underwater landslides, volcanos and meteor strikes: all the usual suspects that occur today.

Then again all I have to do is look around the house to notice that entropy is sometimes just the norm. 

[BenK]

5 hours ago, Malone said:

You might try the USGS website they usually have the layers and what fossils have been found in which layers.

 

Thanks...you have a link to that particular section of the usgs site? 

[Fossildude19]

42 minutes ago, BenK said:

 

Thanks...you have a link to that particular section of the usgs site? 

 

Try starting HERE.   

 

[BenK]

I actually do my fossil hunting in Ste. Genevieve county, Missouri.