Mazon Creek Collecting or the Joy of Instant Gratification- Choose Wisely

[Nimravis]

So as the titles states "Mazon Creek Collecting or the Joy of Instant Gratification- Choose Wisely", that was my choice today, and I choose instant gratification. Even though I have not been out to Pit 11 this year, I wanted to find some fossils and not just concretions with the hope of finding something, plus I still have a lot of buckets to crack open, so I decided to collect some other Pennsylvanian fossils. I decided to stop by a road cut that exposes the LaSalle Limestone member of the Bond Formation and had a great day collecting in near 40 degree weather. It was very sketchy collecting today since the ground is not frozen, but it is also not thawed, so it is very slick in the none snow covered area and it can send you sliding to the bottom of the road cut as it did to me today- a nice controlled slide of about 20 feet. 

 

 

 

Here are only a few of my finds from today, after a short time I stopped taking pics.

 

Here is a nice partial Peripristis Shark Tooth, I believe I found a couple other possible partial teeth, but I will check those out tomorrow.

 

 

A few large Echinaria brachiopods-

 

 

Many big Composita argentia brachiopods-

 

 

A little Orthoconic nautiloid-

 

 

Spirifer brachiopod-

 

 

Linoproductus cora brachiopods-

 

 

Juresania nebrascensis an Spirifer brachiopods-

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Juresania nebrascensis brachiopods-

 

[caldigger]

I think you made out much better than you would have at Mazonia. 

[Nimravis]

3 minutes ago, caldigger said:

I think you made out much better than you would have at Mazonia. 

I agree

[Miocene_Mason]

Love the shark tooth! Thanks for sharing!

[Ludwigia]

That appears to be quite a productive site! Nice finds!

[rebu]

Very nice finds 

[Scylla]

I hope those other shark teeth are complete  . 

[Fossildude19]

Nice report, Ralph.  

Glad you found some great items. 

Looking forward to seeing more of the teeth.

[Monica]

Those Echinaria are massive - WOW!!!   Adam @Tidgy's Dad has to come over to have a look-see...

 

I'm still a big fan of those Juresania - they have such beautiful shells! 

[Auspex]

Man, some of those brachiopods are YUGE!

When it isn't snowing or raining and one has a shed full of deferred gratification, hit the shale.

[smt126]

Great find there with the tooth. Glad to hear your fall wasn’t worse, always a risk this time of year.

[minnbuckeye]

Are you telling me these were truly instant gratification or did you cheat and take your rock hammer to the matrix to find these (as you could to the mazon nodules). Remember, there is a rock hammer in one of your pictures. LOL. 

Anyways, great finds. Impressive specimens.

 

Mike

[DevonianDigger]

What an awesome haul!

[Nimravis]

3 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

That appears to be quite a productive site! Nice finds!

Yes it is since I believe the State brought down tons of rock from that area. Unfortunately they also hauled away tons and who know what was lost in that stuff.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Scylla said:

I hope those other shark teeth are complete  . 

If they are shark teeth, they will not be complete unfortunately.

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, Monica said:

Those Echinaria are massive - WOW!!!   Adam @Tidgy's Dad has to come over to have a look-see...

 

I'm still a big fan of those Juresania - they have such beautiful shells! 

Thanks Monica, Sometimes they just pop out like that.

[Nimravis]

33 minutes ago, smt126 said:

Great find there with the tooth. Glad to hear your fall wasn’t worse, always a risk this time of year.

Correct, plus the area is still not very stable, but if you watch yourself and don’t play with the head wall it is okay.

[Nimravis]

26 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Are you telling me these were truly instant gratification or did you cheat and take your rock hammer to the matrix to find these (as you could to the mazon nodules). Remember, there is a rock hammer in one of your pictures. LOL. 

Anyways, great finds. Impressive specimens.

 

Mike

Well I do have and use a hammer, but it is still a little more “instant” that whacking Mazon Creek concretions and more likely that you will find stuff. I really use the hammer to make the slabs into a more manageable size for transporting down the slope.

[Auspex]

2 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Well I do have and use a hammer, but it is still a little more “instant” that whacking Mazon Creek concretions and more likely that you will find stuff. I really use the hammer to make the slabs into a more manageable size for transporting down the slope.

A natural history library where all the books are laying open at an interesting page.

[minnbuckeye]

@NimravisI must be in one of those moods where I need to tease someone. I just joked about Mazon jellyfish on another post. I had better quit typing today or I may create some enemies!

[caldigger]

45 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Remember, there is a rock hammer in one of your pictures. LOL. 

He just uses that as an ice pick to get up the side of that glacier he hunts fossils on. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Amazing finds, Ralph, a lovely range of brachiopods and the shark's tooth and nautiloid are also rather yummy. 

But golly, some of those brachiopods are wonderful. 

[deutscheben]

Another beautiful Peripristis!  I love the nautiloid too, it is more complete than any of the ones I have found there. I think you made a good choice in destination. 

[Missourian]

Nice specimens.

 

It looks as if the Argentine Limestone (Penn.) of the Kansas City area was dropped into Illinois. The lithology and fossils are very similar: