MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 Yesterday, my folks and I decided to head to Ooltewah to get access to property with Missisipian (I think, don't know the formations there by name) marine fauna. It was only a slightly longer drive than it took to get to Chatsworth or Dalton, being maybe 1000 feet north of the GA-TN border. We parked in a big gravelly lot. The first impressions upon arriving were promising: As I expected, we saw this sign on one of the logs leading into the place: With this, the first order of business was clear: finding the owner to ask permission (as always (couldn't find contact info on the internet)). There was a house that was right next to the parking area, so we tried knocking. Nobody home. We then spotted the sign of a taxidermist that was either the owner or their neighbor. So we walked up the road and then up the taxidermist's driveway to go talk to him, and found him prepping some deer skulls. We explained to him that we had heard that the quarry he was next to was a fossil hotspot according to you guys on the forum. He told us that this wasn't new to him or his uncle, who owned the quarry in question. He called his uncle to tell him about us and was very generous to let us in. Before we started, the uncle showed up in his white truck and we had a nice long conversation, with him telling us about university classes coming through the area to hunt the quarry quite regularly, and that a certain group of people had even discovered a few 300 or so year-old native graves with glass lids. All in all, both were very polite and I recommend getting to know them if you do drop by the area. With permissions out of the way, it was time to get to the good part: the hunt. The area was huge, and in the biggest cliff I saw what looked like 5 distinct formations exposed (names/ages pls?). The uncle told us that the best stuff was at the top of the cliff up a shirt dirt road that led to the top, so after a minute or two of looking at what I believe were concretions, I ventured up the road while my step-grandfather stayed below to search. On my way to the top, I saw what I thought at first were a large industrial screws or bolts that had severely. After I saw a few more, I decided to pick a few up: It was only upon looking at the end of these "bolts" that I realized they were bits of Crinoid stem, and then I picked up the one on the far right (is it a bryozoan? I remember seeing a piece like it on FOTM). After seeing 1, I couldn't help but see what must have been thousands of columnals Covering the ground. There were so many of these columnals that you would've needed to be a ninja to not inadvertently step on some while walking around. After We had collected a good amount of marine material, I explored an area where a darker formation was exposed, but didn't find anything in it. 4 Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 Area in question: Now time to show some finds! Here's the family photo of what we took: To start, the 4 Horn corals I found: Next, the surprisingly (at least to me) lone Brachiopod: Not entirely sure what this is, but it looks like it has a little bit of a stem on it, so something to do with a Crinoid is my first guess: 2 Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 Another unknown: I remember something like this on FOTM was a bryozoan. Not sure though: And of course, brought home quite a few Crinoid columnals, as well! A piece that kinda reminds me of an engine: Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 Also unknown. Came from a lower formation, not sure if it's fossil or some form of concretion (the circular bits). Will try to take better pictures at my usual desk: 1 Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Your unknown looks like an internal mold of a rugose coral. The last item look like inarticulate brachiopods. Glad you got permission and were able to hunt there. 3 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Good trip! I don't see any bryozoans - everything appears to be crinoid stems aside from the horn corals and brachiopods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Glad you were able to get out and hunt that site. Do you know the formation? Large crinoid columnals like the ones you found are typical of the Fort Payne formation (Mississippian) which I think occurs in the area, so that is one possibility. Don 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Nice finds, glad You got permission to hunt there. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 I agree with Tim - that last photo looks to be some inarticulate brachiopods - they kind of look like the Orbiculoidea that I sometimes find at Penn Dixie, although I've never found a rock with so many in it! Great find! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Great finds and pics, those Crinoid pieces look ginormous lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 1 hour ago, Nimravis said: Great finds and pics, those Crinoid pieces look ginormous lol. I know! I thought they were rusty bolts at first! 1 Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Nice finds! The inarticulates are positively yummy, so many together like that is pretty unusual. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 13 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Nice finds! The inarticulates are positively yummy, so many together like that is pretty unusual. On 3/19/2019 at 6:05 AM, Monica said: I agree with Tim - that last photo looks to be some inarticulate brachiopods - they kind of look like the Orbiculoidea that I sometimes find at Penn Dixie, although I've never found a rock with so many in it! Great find! So are inarticulates usually found by themselves? I found a lot of bits of shale with at least 5, if not more in them. I kept seeing them from this particularly flaky shale at the bottom of the hill that kind of looked greenish-gray, which may be an older formation (Late Devonian, maybe...?). Another thing I'm wondering about is the species of the 4 horn coral individuals I found while I was there. I found a website called Tennessee Fossils that had a horn coral mentioned, but only one, and It was put under the Early Devonian Ross formation (Of course, It may have also survived into the earliest Missisipian, which falls into the Fort Payne age range): http://tennesseefossils.com/FossilList/Streptelasma_strictum.php As far as finding a useful publication relating to the locality itself (I know it's Fort Payne, but no mention of the specific area we went to), I haven't found much. Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 'Inarticulate' brachiopods are much rarer than 'articulates' in most formations and when they are found are usually alone. You don't see a lot of hash plates of inarticulates. But of course there are exceptions. 1 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 I think I may have found out a closer ID for my Horn corals from this Georgia Geological Survey report that talks about the Fort Payne. Saw 1 horn coral, called Triplophyllum cliffordanum. Any second opinions? https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://epd.georgia.gov/sites/epd.georgia.gov/files/related_files/site_page/B-62.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj7rrOv6ZjhAhWqneAKHWobDZcQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw33V0_1OdxTsop_Dm47K7rh Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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