a very succesful Devonian cephalopod hunt

[FossilDAWG]

Incredible!      I didn't realize Devonian ammonoids got such a size.  I've never seen one bigger than a few cm.  

 

Don

[Archie]

Fantastic specimens and really interesting report   looks like a great site to hunt!

[Jeffrey P]

I know people who don't think goniatites are that impressive. Boy you've proven them wrong. Congratulations on both your finds and the wonderful prep work. That site is producing some amazing specimens. Love to check it out someday.

[Wrangellian]

What everyone else said!

[Manticocerasman]

9 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Incredible!      I didn't realize Devonian ammonoids got such a size.  I've never seen one bigger than a few cm.  

 

Don

Until a few years ago I didn't know either, they used to be realy elusive here in Belgium until  they expanded this quarry. Ant the more they get to the upper parts of the matagne formatio, the bigger they get.

A friend found a specimen of 40cm diameter this sunday.

 

7 hours ago, Archie said:

Fantastic specimens and really interesting report   looks like a great site to hunt!

Thx Archie

 

7 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

I know people who don't think goniatites are that impressive. Boy you've proven them wrong. Congratulations on both your finds and the wonderful prep work. That site is producing some amazing specimens. Love to check it out someday.

Thx Jeffery, goniatites are indeed an underrated species  even here, there are only a fey people interested in them.

 

You are always welcome to come pay us a visit, I'd gladly show you around

 

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

What everyone else said!

 

Thx

 

 

 

next up is an other big Nautiloid that was found this weekend

 

 

[Manticocerasman]

Natalie found this strange specimen

 

A big and wide nautiloid. ( something simmilar to poteroceras sp. ) still looking for the right genus

 

 

 

[Monica]

WOW.

Amazing stuff - congrats!!!!!

[Manticocerasman]

a last update on the preppwork of the finds from this weekend:

 

before prepp:

 

 

after prepp:

[Wrangellian]

17 hours ago, Manticocerasman said:

Thx Jeffery, goniatites are indeed an underrated species  even here, there are only a fey people interested in them.

Why would this be? What are they interested in instead?

Over here where there's nothing but Mesozoic (and some Ceno-), ammonites are the most exciting thing that everyone is after. I guess you've got a lot of other interesting things in the Paleozoic that didn't survive into the Meso, like trilobites, oddball echinoderms, etc. Bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids survived but are much less common.

[Manticocerasman]

6 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Why would this be? What are they interested in instead?

Over here where there's nothing but Mesozoic (and some Ceno-), ammonites are the most exciting thing that everyone is after. I guess you've got a lot of other interesting things in the Paleozoic that didn't survive into the Meso, like trilobites, oddball echinoderms, etc. Bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids survived but are much less common.

 

Well, I think there are multiple reasons.

 

first of all, we got multiple interesting geological deposits, the most popular are the Miocene - Pliocene and Eocene layers. those are relatively easy to acces and deliver a lot of shark teeth and other fossils, so we have a lot of shark teeth collectors in Belgium.

We also have Maastrichtian deposits that are quite popular, again with shark teeth and sea urchins and in rare cases mosasaur material.

In the North of France just over the border we got Cenomanian deposits easily accessible on the cliffs on the beach, mostly for ammonites.

the south of Belgium is Paleozoic with Carboniferous and Devonian deposits. they are both rich in fossils, but mostly corals and brachiopods. although there is a huge variety on those fossils here, somehow they are not appealing to most of the collectors. trilobites here are very rare.

 

There is only one location that delivers goniatites, and only in specific layers. It is also only relatively recently that they can be found there, 4 years ago they weren't excavating those deposits yet.

So perhaps in the future more people will be looking for them, but for now a lot of them specialize in shark teeth.

 

The location itself is also quite challenging, and the fossil finds are heavily depending on the industrial activity in the quarry. sometimes when they work in a different spot we don’t find anything, and ( like this Saturday ) when they just dug right through a cephalopod rich layer you hit the jackpot. 

 

 

[Wrangellian]

Well you are doing your part to make them more popular, I'm sure!

I don't know why shark teeth are more popular than goniatites or nautiloids. I guess because they were the business end of a vicious predator. I like finding shark teeth, especially as they are rare over here (I have found a total of 3 in my life, the one I found as a kid I broke as soon as I found it), but to me they are just one of many types of fossil.

[Manticocerasman]

The prepp is done on a juvenile Crickites sp.

 

[doushantuo]

[FossilDAWG]

Amazing! .

 

Don

[nala]

Wow!