Marjum Formation Dig

[Fossil-Hound]

Went out on a dig near Utah for Modocia typicalis with Gene Boardman one of the site managers at U-Dig. Gene is a really nice guy. He gifted the first trilobite of the day to me (I asked if he was sure and he said he had a few more). We split a lot of rock. A lot of work for a few beautiful bugs. Each image is captioned. Some are out of order.

 

This is the great Gene Boardman. What I admire the most besides his genuine personality and big grin, is that he's a tenacious fossil digger. He kept reminding me to check every rock and to keep splitting it down as far as it would go. Here he has a thin slab of Marjum shale but he was able to find the first trilobite of the day with this fine split method. Really nice guy.

 

 

The Marjum was not easy to split. It kept fracturing in multiple spots. The overburden was very brittle so we had to get down into the good, red layers. Here we are letting the rock "sweat" as Gene calls it. That means you set your chisels in the rock and let it naturally split and come back later to open up the bench. Lots of hard work.

 

 

Gene helps run the U-Dig site and is known around the area for his enthusiasm for hunting trilobites and other fossils.

 

 

The first Modocia typicalis was recovered 2.5 hrs. into the dig. It's small but complete and has some decent features.

 

 

This is Gene's finest Modocia typicalus in his shop. He did an excellent preparation job.

 

 

This big Modocia (over an inch) probably isn't a full specimen but has some great features.

 

 

This smaller Modocia popped out of the same slab as the larger one. You can see it's impression on the left side.

 

 

Another of Gene's Modocias.

 

 

Gene gifted this M. typicalis after our days labors. Boy was I happy!

 

 

 

 

[Fossil-Hound]

 

Gene is hard at work splitting the slabs down as far as they will go with the chisel edge of his trusty geologic hammer.

 

 

We drove around for a while scouting out some different holes. The red is where the trilobites are. That's all Marjum formation shale and is from the early Cambrian when more complex life forms mainly the trilobites came into existence from earlier *Precambrian worms and basal arthropods. Source: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Evolution/TrilobiteArmsRace.htm

 

 

If you look closely in the center you'll see a bull dozer. This heavy machinery was used to cut out chunks from the Marjum by the U-Dig team.

 

 

This is a very fine Modocia specimen from the Museum of Ancient Life were I volunteer at. I used this all day for a reference.

 

 

Another fine Modocia specimen from the Museum of Ancient Life.

 

 

In Gene's shop he had this gorgeous Asaphiscus wheeleri with pyrite encrusted on it.

 

 

Closeup of the first Modocia. I have recorded two new entries for M. typicalus in Collections.

[doushantuo]

some nice reporting here,FH

[Tidgy's Dad]

And some really beautiful finds! 

[cltschirhart]

I visited U-Dig a few years ago and had a great time.   The Modocias in the white matrix look really nice, I didn't find any of those when I was there!  

 

The trilobites there prep out really nicely.  This is my favorite one I found- I was amazed by how dense the fossils were, I found multiple trilobites in several rocks I cracked, although this was the only one I found with three nice ones.  

[Fossil-Hound]

FYI @Kittenmittens @Malcolmt @UtahFossilHunter

[Monica]

Nice trilo-finds - congrats! 

[Malcolmt]

Wow... another bucket list fossil adventure that I will probably never get to do except through the fine reporting of Fossil Forum Members

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Thanks for the tag. Some very nice finds! I haven’t hunted a lot in the Marjum but it’s definitely a little higher on my list of rock layers I need to collect in. Looks like it was good weather. 

[Al Tahan]

Ha. I just realized we follow each other on IG. I just saw your post yesterday! Lol. 

 

Awesome finds! I really want to spend time in Utah someday. 

[Fossil-Hound]

Just now, Al Tahan said:

Ha. I just realized we follow each other on IG. I just saw your post yesterday! Lol. 

 

Awesome finds! I really want to spend time in Utah someday. 

Cool. Whats your IG handle? If you ever head out here let me know.

[Fossil-Hound]

1 hour ago, Malcolmt said:

Wow... another bucket list fossil adventure that I will probably never get to do except through the fine reporting of Fossil Forum Members

 

@Malcolmt tell your wife you're going on a trip for the sake of paleontology and the furthering of science and fly out to Salt Lake. I'll pick you up and put you up in our bed and breakfast then we can go on a dig the next day with Gene. 

[Malcolmt]

Very tempting!!!!

[Fossil-Hound]

23 minutes ago, Malcolmt said:

Very tempting!!!!

I use Google Flights to track deals. Looks like it will be $440. Don't worry about gas or a car. I got you. We'll have plenty of food and water to. I need to head back to New York sometime soon. Lots of digging to do this fossil season.

 

[ynot]

Nice finds!

Sounds like a fun trip.