Placoderms from the Devonian period

[Quail]

Last Sunday we had a trip to the sandy quarry near St. Petersburg.

Near of the sandy quarry there is a small village called "Novinka" (coordinates of this place on Google maps: 59.161362, 30.380684)

Quarry near Novinka is a fairly large quarry, developed in the sands, introduced here in the Devonian (about 400 million years ago).

The quarry is very picturesque and extremely interesting, there are mottled sands with a great variety of sedimentary textures deposited in various water conditions.

 

During most of the Devonian Period, North America, Greenland, and Europe were united into a single Northern Hemisphere landmass, a minor supercontinent called Laurussia or Euramerica. 

We can say that the North America, Greenland and the north-western part of Russia were one territory.

 

Here you can find many fossils of armoured prehistoric fish, as well as their teeth. A lot of paleo tourists from different countries come here in search of placoderms. We have a friend-professor of geology at the University of St. Petersburg. He said that last year a student from Japan went home with a necklace from the teeth of a armoured prehistoric fish. It was a very big paleontological luck. 

Next to the sand quarry are special designs for sifting sand. Large parts go in one direction, and fine sand in another.

 

On photo few pieces of the shell of the fish (Asterolepis), which we found in 1 hour, and rock layers in sandy quarry.

(Asterolepis is an extinct genus of antiarch placoderms from the Devonian of North and South America and Europe.  They were heavily armored flat-headed benthic detritivores with distinctive jointed limb-like pectoral fins and hollow spine. The armor plate gives the Asterolepis a box-like shape. Its pectoral fins are also armored but the caudal and dorsal fin are not. The first fossils were named after M. Eichwald in 1840 after not star-like markings on the fossils.)

[Quail]

Friends, tell me, please, how can I add more photos to my post?

[Quail]

[Quail]

[Quail]

[Quail]

[Fruitbat]

That looks like a fascinating collecting locale!  I've always been fascinated by the placoderms and their kin.  Nice finds!

 

-Joe

[Quail]

18 minutes ago, Fruitbat said:

That looks like a fascinating collecting locale!  I've always been fascinated by the placoderms and their kin.  Nice finds!

 

-Joe

Thank you! Unfortunately we had very little time to search. But even if you have only one hour you can find parts of the Devonian fish in this sandy quarry.

[FranzBernhard]

Very interesting! This sediment is 400 Ma old and still loose sand!? But it reminds a little bit of the Flösserkogel-formation of the Graz Palaeozoic in Austria, ecactly of the same age. Also known als Dolomite-Sandstone-Formation, a very hard rock. And - some placoderm remains were also found there, but very, very rare. And not much else. Are there any other fossils besides the placoderms in this sand? And you are lucky, its much easier to search in loose sand than in hard rock!

Franz Bernhard

[Quail]

28 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Very interesting! This sediment is 400 Ma old and still loose sand!? But it reminds a little bit of the Flösserkogel-formation of the Graz Palaeozoic in Austria, ecactly of the same age. Also known als Dolomite-Sandstone-Formation, a very hard rock. And - some placoderm remains were also found there, but very, very rare. And not much else. Are there any other fossils besides the placoderms in this sand? And you are lucky, its much easier to search in loose sand than in hard rock!

Franz Bernhard

Yes, there is still loose sand. In this sandy quarry was a sea shore in Devon This is the so-called "cone of river discharge". 

(I don't khow what does it right in English, in the photo, I marked the "cone of river discharge" in red)
This layers of sand that were created by the tide from the sea side and the river on the other side. 

 

Near this place (1-2 km to the north-east) were found schizophoria, bivalvia, schizodus and other inhabitants of that time.

(on photos these are not my findings- this fossils was finded other people. This photos from Web) 

 

Trilobites also lived here, but their fossils is not preserved in this breed: carbonate skeletons are not preserved in such terrigene.

Everything goes into solution with diagenesis. Phosphate skeletal formations under such geochemical conditions remain better.
 

[fossilcrazy]

Hi Quail, Nice to see your posts far from USA. Your strata is same age as places in the US but the lithography is so different. I thought I'd share some Devonian teeth that come from Pennsylvania out of green shale. Enjoy your post. Happy Hunting!

[Fossildude19]

Wonderful pictures and finds!  

Thanks for "bringing us along".  

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks for the explanation and the additional fossils, Quail!

I think your setting is called delta(ic).

The Flösserkogel-formation I mentioned before here in my area is interpreted as lagoonal (dolomitization) with strong terrigenic input (high quartz content).

Franz Bernhard

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Thanks for sharing! I wish I could go on a placoderm hunt, but I will settle for seeing what others post

[Quail]

3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks for the explanation and the additional fossils, Quail!

I think your setting is called delta(ic).

The Flösserkogel-formation I mentioned before here in my area is interpreted as lagoonal (dolomitization) with strong terrigenic input (high quartz content).

Franz Bernhard

 

I think that "delta" is a little different word. For example, the Mississippi River has a very long territory "cone of river discharge", because this river is very strong and fast.

[Quail]

4 hours ago, fossilcrazy said:

Hi Quail, Nice to see your posts far from USA. Your strata is same age as places in the US but the lithography is so different. I thought I'd share some Devonian teeth that come from Pennsylvania out of green shale. Enjoy your post. Happy Hunting!

Wow that's nise! Are they covered by something or is it their natural shine? if these teeth are not covered in any way, then these are magnificent specimens! In Russia bring a lot of teeth from US of poor preservation. Usually the teeth of megalodone.  They are very popular, because in Russia there are almost no places where they can be found. Most of them are not covered and matte. Very rarely the tooth is good.

[FranzBernhard]

38 minutes ago, Quail said:

I think that "delta" is a little different word. For example, the Mississippi River has a very long territory "cone of river discharge", because this river is very strong and fast.

Yes, you are right! But there must be an english word for this, maybe someone else could help?
Franz Bernhard

[Quail]

4 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Wonderful pictures and finds!  

Thanks for "bringing us along".  

Thank you very much!

[fossilcrazy]

41 minutes ago, Quail said:

Wow that's nise! Are they covered by something or is it their natural shine? if these teeth are not covered in any way, then these are magnificent specimens! In Russia bring a lot of teeth from US of poor preservation. Usually the teeth of megalodone.  They are very popular, because in Russia there are almost no places where they can be found. Most of them are not covered and matte. Very rarely the tooth is good.

Quail, there is nothing coating the teeth. The Rhizodont teeth are very well preserved in a reduction Shale. Here is a close up of the enamel surface.

I have seen some mighty fine looking fish shields from Russia. You are lucky to be by such a great deposit. Happy Hunting! 

[Quail]

3 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Thanks for sharing! I wish I could go on a placoderm hunt, but I will settle for seeing what others post

in Russia, paleontologists who hunt on the plakcoderm say: "go fishing". it sounds very funny :-)

[fossilcrazy]

Quail, Have you found and fish shields like this one from Russia?

[Quail]

1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Yes, you are right! But there must be an english word for this, maybe someone else could help?
Franz Bernhard

 it's good that you understand what I'm writing about. it's so cool  in Russian geologists call this place "конус выноса реки". Уes, I think that we need help to find the name in English.

[Quail]

56 minutes ago, fossilcrazy said:

Quail, Have you found and fish shields like this one from Russia?

Teeth on your photo is very cool!  No, I did not find such, but I know the people who have found something like that. (I'm not very familiar with fish, but I know very well and love trilobites from the Ordovician) Tomorrow I'll send you a photo fossils that have been found in Russia (like fossil on your picture) if you are interested in seeing them

[Miocene_Mason]

52 minutes ago, Quail said:

 it's good that you understand what I'm writing about. it's so cool  in Russian geologists call this place "конус выноса реки". Уes, I think that we need help to find the name in English.

I know what your speaking of, and I’m not sure there is an English word for it. This National Geographic definition of a river mouth just calls it an alluvial build up at the end of a river. I would call it a sandbar at the mouth of a river.

[Miocene_Mason]

1 hour ago, fossilcrazy said:

Pretty shiny tooth