Southern Indiana Ordovician Weekend Fossil Hunt

[digit]

10 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

If the fossils there are so abundant, do you or others collect extras for other collectors (ahem) who are too far away to ever make it there themselves?

I did. And they have been either part of my forum auctions or extras that I've packed the flat-rate boxes with for the last two years. With the last forum auction that I proxied for I've now given away the last of the hash plates I collected at the St. Leon roadcut. This site is amazingly prolific and it is a well known site that is not endanger of being exploited by those who collect there (unlike so many others including slow producing 'honey holes'). My wife Tammy has (finally) decided to retire (today!)--yay!!! We will now be free to travel this great land to participate in a variety of fossil hunts. I still have blastoids in my sights and a trip to the Midwest to collect these and other Ordovician goodies may just replenish my stocks so that they are up for offer on future forum-benefiting auctions. Stay tuned.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Wrangellian]

Yeah, I can never afford those auctions, they always go beyond my budget especially when people pile on so many extra items when it reaches a certain threshold and then goes even higher. But I applaud those who are willing to put stuff up to support TFF.

[digit]

Sounds like we need to run a few concurrent auctions with more affordable auction lots. I cleared out my fossil stocks with the last auction but I keep going out on fossil collecting trips so maybe there will be an affordable auction in the near future.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

12 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I'd like to see larger pics of the ones that seem to be piles of small things that I can't quite make out. #7675 looks like a pile of loose brachs, did you find that as is?

If the fossils there are so abundant, do you or others collect extras for other collectors (ahem) who are too far away to ever make it there themselves?

Sorry, I did not see you reply until now- here are a couple pics, and yes, bryozoan are everywhere. What are you interested in?

 

 

 

[digit]

Hah! An embarrassment of riches, indeed!

 

If you had a passion for bryos or were studying them, you'd be over the moon at this locality. I really like the more unusual hemispherical bryozoan--quite different from the branching ones.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

53 minutes ago, digit said:

Hah! An embarrassment of riches, indeed!

 

If you had a passion for bryos or were studying them, you'd be over the moon at this locality. I really like the more unusual hemispherical bryozoan--quite different from the branching ones.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Ken, when I was out there I was thinking the same thing, there are a few different types.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Aha! 

Found the report. 

Thanks, Ralph, this is a simply cracking Ordovician locality, the preservation of these specimens is often astounding! 

I like to imagine what this would have looked like when the community was alive and thriving 450 million years ago. 

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Aha! 

Found the report. 

Thanks, Ralph, this is a simply cracking Ordovician locality, the preservation of these specimens is often astounding! 

I like to imagine what this would have looked like when the community was alive and thriving 450 million years ago. 

I agree Adam, it must have been a very busy place.

[erose]

The entire tri-state region of SW Ohio, SE Indiana and North Central Kentucky is indeed Ordovician Heaven. St Leon is one of the larger and better sites but there are others. You could put a hundred collectors for a day on some of these sites and there would still be plenty left even before the next rain. Because it is so productive (at least a 1000 or more named species) it has been explored and studied since the 1800's. In North America the Upper Ordovician Series is named the Cincinnatian.  Lots of good reference material available to anyone who collects there as well.  I grew up in Dayton, Ohio and still jones for those prolific layers....

[Wrangellian]

9 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Sorry, I did not see you reply until now- here are a couple pics, and yes, bryozoan are everywhere. What are you interested in?

 

 

 

I'm interested in everything, there is such a high diversity at that site... 1000+ species? wow. I guess most of those are pretty rare.

Where are the hemispherical bryo's that Ken mentions - are they the flat pieces in this pic?

I think I see a couple snails in your earlier pics, can you show larger pics? How common are those?

[digit]

3 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Where are the hemispherical bryo's that Ken mentions - are they the flat pieces in this pic?

It's shown in this other related topic:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86657-southern-indiana-ordovician-id/

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

[Wrangellian]

Oh that - I saw it but assumed it was something else!

[Nimravis]

3 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

think I see a couple snails in your earlier pics, can you show larger pics? How common are those?

 

I do not find Gastropods very often - here are pics per your request. I also added additional pics of the Prasopora bryozoan that I found, I found the smaller one about 2 feet from the larger one, this is the first time I have found them.

 

[Nimravis]

Prasopora

 

[Nimravis]

4 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I'm interested in everything

If you PM your address, I can throw some stuff into and envelope and mail it to you.

[Mediospirifer]

Nice pieces! I love the roadcuts in that area; there's always and amazing variety to find. I get out to Ohio with my husband for vacation every year, and we always visit the sites.

 

You found quite a nice bunch this trip. I'd also like to see closer photos.

 

[Wrangellian]

Thanks, I love that snail (and the bryos and everything else). This site reminds me of the Pennsylvanian one in Texas where you can just walk along and pick up loose goodies, but this one is Ordovician. Nothing quite like that in my neck of the woods.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice Prasopora and gastropod. 

Another nice trip report.