A return: Tales of my uncle's truck travels

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Again, it's been a while. Today I've been at my Mom's memorial service, as she passed away in the past week, effectively leaving me without parents. It's been really hard for me to feel good about much anything recently, so here's something else to think about for a change:

 

 

After the service, my uncle Austin came to me to say he found a fossil. Usually he just jokingly comes to me with a chunk of basalt, saying it's an "alien bone"

 

This time was different, though. He presented me with this:

 

There's a good number of bryozoans, I think a few crinoid sections, and a piece of brachiopod or two on all sides of this piece. What I'm wondering is what formation/age it would be. Austin said he'd found it at a truck stop somewhere in Utah or California, so that could be a clue. Anyone from that area know what formation this may be from?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

My deepest condolences, it must be very hard for you.

Nice fenestellid bryozoa. 

Looks like Mahantango formation, Devonian to me, but that doesn't occur in the states you mentioned, i don't think, so i'm probably wrong. 

[Darktooth]

I am truly sorry for the loss of your Mother, especially so soon after your Father. God bless.

 

Sincerly Dave

[jcbshark]

It’s a tough road you’re on right now but It will get easier..... you have my sincere condolences. 

[Peat Burns]

Terribly sorry to learn of your loss.  

[Nimravis]

I am really sorry for your loss.

[Innocentx]

That's a sweet rock you uncle has given you. 

 

Your mother's love lives inside you now. Take a deep breath and feel her there. 

I'm a mother and I know she wouldn't want you to suffer for long.

My own mother is inching towards the exit at this time. I'm sure I will cry as you do.

[DPS Ammonite]

Wow, both parents are gone. We are so sorry that it happened. We can never substitute for your parents, but we are always here for you and hope that you continue to share your fossils and journeys.

 

Stay strong.

 

John

[bcfossilcollector]

My heartfelt condolences to you. 

[abyssunder]

My condolences to you. I can imagine how you feel, considering I was in similar unwanted state a few years ago, when my father passed away and two years later my mother. It's very hard to accept, but that's the way to our final destination, unfortunately.

There are pretty nice bryozoans in your finds. Brachiopods might be there also, but I can't see crinoid remains.

[ynot]

My condolences for Your loss.

[Miocene_Mason]

Reminds me of the Red Wall FM and other Carboniferous formations of the south west. Of course the red wall is more Arizona, but something similar.

 

I am not sure I have any words that can express my condolences, or help much how you feel. No words seem quite enough. For what it is worth, I am truly sorry. Keep doing what you love, you deserve to. 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Got back from Austin with a more specific location: St. Joseph, Texas. What formations are from there?

[MeargleSchmeargl]

1 hour ago, abyssunder said:

I can't see crinoid remains.

I was referring to these, thinking along the lines of stems. Probably wrong though:

 

[Rockwood]

4 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

I was referring to these, thinking along the lines of stems. Probably wrong though:

 

It's conceivable that there could be stems under there, but I don't think it's likely. 

I made it a practice to bring one of my latest finds to show my mother when she was bedridden. A small piece of tabulate coral is buried with her.  

[Miocene_Mason]

9 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Got back from Austin with a more specific location: St. Joseph, Texas. What formations are from there?

I couldn’t find Saint Joseph, Texas, but Saint Jo, Texas is Cretaceous according to the Geologic Map

[KimTexan]

I am so very sorry to hear of the loss of your mother! I lost mine in 2012. I sat by her side almost non-stop the last 10 days of her life. It was the most heart wrenching experience of my life. It was horrible to watch her die the way she did.

I’ve lost a lot of loved ones in my life. I think with her loss I finally learned to grieve a better, healthier way. Each time the sense of loss would hit me I would immediately seek to remember what I had been blessed to experience as a result of her in my life. I learned to grieve with a sense of gratitude and thankfulness for all the good memories and all the love and care she gave to me. I’m Christian, so for me I’d send up a prayer of thankfulness and gratitude to God for how I was blessed by her and all the good things I learned from her. Then I would ask for comfort in my grieving. That way of grieving made all the difference for me. Before, with the death of others I’d grieve the loss so heavily and be pulled into a very dark and low place that overwhelmed and incapacitated me. But grieving with gratitude made all the difference in the world. It didn’t mean I wasn’t sad or didn’t cry or feel down, but it kept me from being sucked into the dark abyss that I would go into before.

May I ask how old you are? I think you’re quite a bit younger than I. I sincerely would like to encourage and support you through this process. It’s actually one of my gifts or strengths. So if there is anything I can do to help lift you up and encourage you it would be my honor to do so. I’ve helped a lot of people through their dark times.

If you were here in Texas I’d take you out fossil hunting.

 

I couldn’t find St. Joseph either. The Carboniferous stuff in Texas runs in a fairly narrow band around the longitude of 98 to 99 with a latitude from 31-34 I think, if you know those kinds of things in your head. It might be slightly more, but close to that. That’s west of Ft. Worth and Temple a bit. 

I think the Pennsylvanian was pushed up to the surface in Texas by the Ouchita uplift that built the Ouchita mountains in Arkansas and created the Ouchita fold here in Texas and Oklahoma, pushing the Carboniferous to the surface. That event is responsible for all the natural gas being where it is in Texas so that it’s close enough to the surface to be drilled for.

Brownwood, Mineral Wells and Jacksboro are all along that longitude and are Pennsylvanian.

 

[KimTexan]

Oh!!!! It just hit me. There is a St. Joseph formation, Mississippian, in Northwest Arkansas that looks exactly like that. Is there any possibility it could be from NW Arkansas?

Compare these pics with what you have. Mine have bryozoa that looks like yours. There are also brachiopods, crinoids and some horn coral in mine.

These are from the St. Joseph in NW Arkansas that I have sitting on my back patio. The rock is a very hard, silica based rock. The white parts are often much lighter weight that it seems it should be. The orange is heavy.

 

[Rockwood]

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

St. Joseph formation

It might be a good idea to check geological records for the type locality of this formation. It need not be in that area, and other exposures would likely contain similar fossils.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

9 hours ago, KimTexan said:

May I ask how old you are?

Just recently turned 18.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Bless you, young man.