Peat Burns Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 I recently went on a collecting trip ending in the Triassic of New Mexico. I collected in four states and covered 6 geologic time periods. I have a number of trip reports to do, and I usually like to have everything identified before I post. However, I am waiting on some brachiopod identification resources (productids), and I want to get this out while I have time (more reports coming as I work on the specimens from each site). This report is on the Mineral Wells Fossil Park. It was four hours out of my way, but I was determined to get there on this trip (my first to the site) and managed to get in two hours of collecting. This is a great site, and kudos (and THANKS) to the Dallas Palaeontological Society, Mineral Wells Parks and Recreation Department and all others who helped make this great park possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Apologies, my text editor on my phone does not have ITALICS for the scientific names. Scale is in mm throughout. "Marginifera" (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Exterior of a concretion. The tiny slivers might be productid brachiopod spines Inside the concretion showing what may be productid brachiopod spines. Possibly crinoid arms or pinnules? "Archaeocidaris" echinoid test plate (I think the name has changed, but this will have to do for now ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Gastropod Unidentified gastropod Unidentified gastropod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 The brachiopods at this site are extremely fragile, and to get really good ones, I had to do some gluing and consolidation on site. Although I had never been to Mineral Wells before, and only for two hours, I am fairly confident I got rather lucky with this beautiful Neospirifer. That's all folks. Thanks for looking and HH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Very nice finds and presentation! I wish I knew which strata that correlates with in my area! Thank you for posting these! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Great trip report Tony and some great finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Man Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Great finds and wonderful presentation! ...I'm back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 What beautiful (if fragile) preservation!!! I love ALL of it!!! Such an amazing variety of inverts at one place!!! Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 magnificent,great report,even greater fossils. So why am i gritting my teeth then? Collecting the same amount in the Netherlands would probably take 1018 years Could be wrong by an order of magnitude edit: some brachs u got there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 I wish there were more open sites like this in the West. Very nice report and photo journal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Looks like you had a very productive trip! Thanks for sharing your report. -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 11 hours ago, Bullsnake said: Very nice finds and presentation! I wish I knew which strata that correlates with in my area! According to these charts, it correlates with the Swope Formation: It's interesting how the fossils found at both locations are so similar in some ways, and quite different in others. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 9 hours ago, Missourian said: According to these charts, it correlates with the Swope Formation: Thank you, Mitch! I was way off! I was thinking it seemed Plattsburg-y. I searched, but my researching skills are sad. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Looks like You had fun and found some good pieces for the collection. Congrats and 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...
Echinoid Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Thanks for taking us to this site. Very impressive fauna, congratulations to your finds! Btw, is this an artificial outcroup, something like a former quarry? Thanks! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 51 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said: Btw, is this an artificial outcroup, something like a former quarry? Thanks! Franz Bernhard It was a quarry. For an excellent book on fossils from this site and several other North Texas sites (including Jacksboro) buy: "Color Guide to Pennsylvanian Fossils of North Texas" by McKinzie and McLeod. It is $60. My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Thanks, DPS Ammonite! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Great finds and great photos. Mineral Wells is great place to hunt. Jacksboro to the north is good also. I haven't hunted up there in a couple of years. I really need to go back up there this fall. Glad you had a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 @Bullsnake, @Nimravis, @Raggedy Man, @Monica, @doushantuo, @caldigger, @Fruitbat, @ynot, @Echinoid, @FranzBernhard, @RyanNREMTP, Thanks all 7 hours ago, FranzBernhard said: Btw, is this an artificial outcroup, something like a former quarry? Yes, this is a former "borrow pit" turned into a great place to collect Pennsylvanian marine fossils. I think it may have been the first time I've collected marine fossils from the Pennsylvanian, so each find was a new treasure for me. 5 hours ago, RyanNREMTP said: Jacksboro to the north is good also. If I had known about places there, I might have gone there instead. It would have been less out of my way a bit, but no regrets 7 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said: buy: "Color Guide to Pennsylvanian Fossils of North Texas" by McKinzie and McLeod. I've ordered this as well as this one : Texas Pennsylvanian Brachiopods, 1990. Paleontology Section, Houston Gem and Mineral Society, Texas Paleontology Series, Publication Number 4: 242 pages with illustrations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Very neat finds, and awesome presentation. Similar to what @Missourian said, it is fascinating to see how these resemble and differ from what I find in the Pennsylvanian marine deposits in Illinois. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 You did great. I have never found even a fragment of a trilobite there. If you like that site I think you’d really like the Lost Creek Dam site. It has a greater diversity of fossils although some very different ones. The site isn’t the dam. It is actually where they removed all the rock and dirt to make the dam. It gets traffic, but I think probably less than Mineral Wells. Mineral Wells you just drive up to and get out and walk out into the quarry. Lost Creek you have to drive pretty far off the beaten path. Then you have to walk a half mile it so then cross a fence to get to the site. It also seems a lot bigger to me. @BobWill May be able to help with ID since he is very much into Pennsylvanian fossils. I don’t know if any of these links will help with ID, but they may. The Dallas Paleontological Society has a number of links to Pennsylvanian fossils. https://www.dallaspaleo.org/Jacksboro-Study-Group I also like this digital atlas of Penn. fossils. http://pennsylvanianatlas.org/species/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Excellent diversity for MWFP. I tend to find lots of the same common fossils there I will try to help with some of the questions but I have trouble with the brachiopods especially. The one you labeled Cleiothyridina may be right but the apical angle (wrong term?) seems too acute and it may be Condrathyris perplexa even though it doesn't appear to be on the fauna list for the site. You are correct about the productid spines but I don't know how to tell on the echinoid spine. Could that one be a scaphopod? The first gastropod after the Strobeus may me Phymatopleura nodoasa and the next one probably one of the Pseudozygopleura species. The next one is Shansiella carbonaria. Hope this helps and I will keep trying on some of the other brachiopods. I also now have some possible names for the crinoid stems but not the crowns they go with so I'll have a look and post what I find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 9, 2018 Author Share Posted July 9, 2018 4 hours ago, BobWill said: Excellent diversity for MWFP. I tend to find lots of the same common fossils there I will try to help with some of the questions but I have trouble with the brachiopods especially. The one you labeled Cleiothyridina may be right but the apical angle (wrong term?) seems too acute and it may be Condrathyris perplexa even though it doesn't appear to be on the fauna list for the site. You are correct about the productid spines but I don't know how to tell on the echinoid spine. Could that one be a scaphopod? The first gastropod after the Strobeus may me Phymatopleura nodoasa and the next one probably one of the Pseudozygopleura species. The next one is Shansiella carbonaria. Hope this helps and I will keep trying on some of the other brachiopods. I also now have some possible names for the crinoid stems but not the crowns they go with so I'll have a look and post what I find out. Thank you, Bob. That's very helpful. I just got this in the mail. I hope it can steer me in the general direction and then I can confirm with the primary literature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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