Stansbury Island Fossil Hunting Research

[Earth Chemistry]

Longtime lurker here. As my first post, this will be a trip report about mine and @UtahFossilHunter 's attempt to find the rumored fossils on Stansbury Island in the

middle of the Great Salt Lake. The island isn't quite known for having fossils but the rocks are the right ages for this area. First, we consulted a geologic map of the

area we wanted to look through. We used this map from a dissertation of a student at the University of Utah.  We decided to go to the undifferentiated

Mississippian this time. We had gone out to the area a few times. We had gotten skunked on the Ordovician Garden City Formation and undifferentiated

Cambrian in early February. Although, it had a nice view so the hike wasn't for nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both of those formations were empty of macrofossils. (Microfossil analysis coming soon!) So we went to an adjacent valley where a grassy hill sat where the

undifferentiated Mississippian would outcrop. We saw a outcrop of phyllite but staying hopeful, we hiked to it looking for any fossils.

At the outcrop, I flipped over a rock from one of the beds.

 

 

Lo and behold, at last, some fossils, albeit slightly metamorphosed. This layer and only this layer is filled with bivalves and brachiopods.

We grabbed some sizeable chunks and made are way out. Stay tuned for more progress on research here.

 

[Raggedy Man]

I love posts like this!!!

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

10 minutes ago, Raggedy Man said:

I love posts like this!!!

This is just the start so stick around for more.

[Earth Chemistry]

44 minutes ago, Raggedy Man said:

I love posts like this!!!

Thanks

Here is some bonus photos

[ynot]

Nice!

[Earth Chemistry]

12 minutes ago, ynot said:

Nice!

Why thank you. extra bonus pic for you

[Earth Chemistry]

[Earth Chemistry]

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Fantastic stuff  Thanks for sharing!!

-Christian

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[caldigger]

8 hours ago, Earth Chemistry said:

OK, we have seen coins, pop cans, lighters, ball point pens, hands, phones and numerous other objects used to show scale. But what is that?

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

43 minutes ago, caldigger said:

OK, we have seen coins, pop cans, lighters, ball point pens, hands, phones and numerous other objects used to show scale. But what is that?

A jeweler's loupe. 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jeweler's+loupe&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images

[caldigger]

Ah, I thought it was some kind of climbing apparatus. Thanks.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

20 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Ah, I thought it was some kind of climbing apparatus. Thanks.

It's not the normal shape for a jeweler's loupe so I'll give you that. 

[ynot]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

But what is that?

And You call Yourself a rockhound?

Can't even recognize a loop?

 

15 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

It's not the normal shape for a jeweler's loupe so I'll give you that. 

I would also give it to caldigger, so he can remember what a loop looks like.

[jpc]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

And You call Yourself a rockhound?

Can't even recognize a loop?

 

I would also give it to caldigger, so he can remember what a loop looks like.

It has knobby treads... like a souped up Hot Wheels tire.....  I had to look twice also to ID it as a loupe.  

 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

12 minutes ago, jpc said:

 like a souped up Hot Wheels tire

 

Makes it easy to hold. 

[Earth Chemistry]

On 11/14/2018 at 2:39 AM, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Fantastic stuff  Thanks for sharing!!

-Christian

 

On 11/14/2018 at 4:40 AM, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very interesting. 

Thanks for sharing. 

Thank you!!

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

While Earth Chemistry was busy today, I went for a short trip to the Madison Limestone on that map and found this and many other things.

I will post a separate thread as the trip and finds are worth a separate thread.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

For book-keeping purposes:

Recent thread 

 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Recent thread

updated strat column