First visit to Penn-Dixie

[FossilDAWG]

After stopping at the Aurora Fossil Festival Saturday morning and attending a friends retirement festivities in Winston-Salem NC that evening, on Sunday I was up and on the road by 7 in an attempt to make it to Penn-Dixie near Buffalo NY before they closed at 5 so I could meet up with Devoniandigger (Jay).  The GPS said it would be a 9 1/2 hr drive so it would be close, and as it happens construction on I-77 and elsewhere extended the drive so I arrived at 7 PM, too late to meet anybody.  Fortunately Jay had helped me get a membership, so I felt comfortable walking around and getting the lay of the land before heading to a nearby motel.  I was back at the gate by 6:30, and by the time I left around 11 (as I had to get to my parents place in Ontario that day) I was pretty worn out by digging up and splitting blocks of shale.  Actually, I pulled the plug on that by 10 so I could wander around and score some nice brachiopods from the piles.

The find of the day was a nice "piggy pile" (Kane's term, thanks!) of Eldredgeops, at least 5 and maybe more.  I also grabbed a potential pair of nice side-by-side rollers, a couple of flattened rollers, what is possibly a piece of wood with lycopodish leaf scars, a smorgasboard of brachiopods, a nice Platyceras, and a small pile of solitary rugose corals.  I will definitely be a return customer!

 

Don

[ynot]

Nice finds, congratulations on the first visit, it looks like it was a successful hunt!

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice! Love those trilos!

[Fruitbat]

Looks like you had a very successful trip, especially for only 4.5 hours!

 

-Joe

[Fossildude19]

Glad you got to stop and make some decent finds, Don. 
Congratulations.  

 

[Ludwigia]

Looks like it was worth the strain in the end. I bet you had a good night's sleep once you got to your parents' place.

[DevonianDigger]

Looks like you did fairly well, I'm really sorry that we weren't able to meet up. I didn't check the forum until late that night so I didn't even realize that you had messaged me about being late. Had I checked while I was at work I would've stayed late to meet up with you! At least you found some neat stuff! Maybe there will be a next time and we'll be able to meet up then.

[Malcolmt]

Glad you enjoyed yourself!!!!! Always a good day at Penn

 

[Darktooth]

Nice finds! Glad you had a decent hunt!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice finds! 

Great trilos and those brachiopods are delightful! 

[DevonianDigger]

6 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

 

If you're interested in IDs on these: (from upper left to lower right)

Platyceras sp. perhaps P. bucculentum; Pseudoatrypa devoniana; not actually sure about the next one, reminds me a little of Devonochonetes scitulus, but I've never found one at PD, Mucrospirifer sp. (maybe M. consobrinus); Spinatrypa spinosa; Rhipidomella penelope.

[fossilcrazy]

Here is a quick ID sheet for some of the Brachs. The other brach is Tropidoleptus carinatus. 

[Monica]

Great finds!!!  I especially like the Platyceras, and if that's a piece of wood then WOW!!! 

[DevonianDigger]

And yes, that piece is carbonized plant material. It's not common in the Windom at the site, but it is found there fairly regularly. In the part of the North Evans Ls that I opened up in the front of the site we have been pulling out plants and wood left and right, anyone interested in that material let me know and I will point you toward where the exposure is.

[Jeffrey P]

Some excellent finds, Don. That multiple Eldredgeops is definitely worth prepping.Tropidoleptus is a signature brachiopd in New York Middle Devonian. Common east of the Catskills as well as Central and Western parts of the state.

[aek]

23 hours ago, DevonianDigger said:

And yes, that piece is carbonized plant material. It's not common in the Windom at the site, but it is found there fairly regularly. In the part of the North Evans Ls that I opened up in the front of the site we have been pulling out plants and wood left and right, anyone interested in that material let me know and I will point you toward where the exposure is.

I'm wondering whether trilobites are ever found mixed in with the plant material.  Is the Penn Dixie site considered to be on the edge of a lagoonal swamp? 

[DevonianDigger]

First off, yes, sometimes the plant material is found in the Smoke Creek trilobite bed, but I have never actually seen a piece of plant material in association with trilobites from the site.

 

Second, the Smoke Creek material was deposited under about 100' (we believe) of water in the Appalachian Basin, not costal, and not lagoon. It was a semi-shallow tropical reef environment. What we find of plant material was likely material that drifted out with the tides and eventually became water-logged enough to sink and become deposited on the sea floor. It's more likely that in the period where the North Evans Ls was deposited at the site that it was closer to the coast at that time as we find much more wood and plant material. 

 

Hope that helps!

[Malcolmt]

I have never found a trilobite associated with plant material at Penn

[fossilcrazy]

I found this plant four feet below the Tichenor Limestone (Wanakah Shale),  near Penn-Dixie, on the other side of Big Tree Road, by the waterfalls of Eaglecrest Drive. It is slightly pyritized but has carbon in it too.  The plant branch was identified by Dr. Bill Stein as Iridopteris eriensis.  Very similar to the drawing of Devonian Pertica. A cross section determines species.