Tried a new spot this weekend!

[Fossildude19]

15 minutes ago, Al Tahan said:

@Fossildude19 wow...ha...thanks Tim 

 

[ynot]

Looks like You had a couple of fun days.

Thanks for sharing.

[thebluecatapilla]

Really excellent finds! What time period are these fossils from? 

[Jeffrey P]

I've never seen or heard of someone finding any fish remains at DSR, but given the wide biodiversity of the site I always considered it a possibility. Big congratulations. It seems like every year new species are added to the list of what has been found there. What will be next? Plant remains, by the way, are common both at DSR and Briggs Road, leading one to guess that probably both of these sites are comprised of sediments deposited not far offshore.

[Fossildude19]

1 hour ago, thebluecatapilla said:

Really excellent finds! What time period are these fossils from? 

Middle Devonian Hamilton Group, Moscow Formation, Windom Shale.

[Al Tahan]

3 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

I've never seen or heard of someone finding any fish remains at DSR, but given the wide biodiversity of the site I always considered it a possibility. Big congratulations. It seems like every year new species are added to the list of what has been found there. What will be next? Plant remains, by the way, are common both at DSR and Briggs Road, leading one to guess that probably both of these sites are comprised of sediments deposited not far offshore.

I agree. It’s definitely a near shore environment. What I find fascinating is the change in trilobite abundance’s between the sites. I know dipleura prefers more sandy environments. I don’t really know the greenops and Eldredgeops preferences....greenops are uncommon in the buffalo deposits but Eldredgeops are more common. I wonder if there are publications examining these questions? Greenops is more common st DSR and Eldredgeops is more common at Briggs rd. Both show evidence of near shore deposition so somthing else is controlling their preference. I’ve been stewing about it for a few days now. 

 

That one plant remain I found is pretty odd too. Seems like more than just a “stick” lol. Almost seems like a portion of a thicker plant almost like a tree branch. The gilboa deposits show trees were full grown by the middle Devonian....I wonder if I have the remains of somthing closer to a tree remain vs small plant. I’ll also add I did see plant remains with decent regularity from the wanakah shale in Buffalo but are more common at DSR

 

Makes me wonder 

[Al Tahan]

@ynot thanks!!

 

@thebluecatapilla Tim beat me to it! Yes Middle Devonian 

[Pagurus]

Very interesting, Al. Very interesting. Oh, and about that wedding-planning thing, you've got to get your priorities straight. What they ought to be, I can't say. 

[Darktooth]

Nice finds Al. Fyi, though I haven't found any complete ones yet, I have found some Dipleura partials at Briggs.

[DevonianDigger]

Dipleura have been found in the Windom, specifically at Penn DIxie, though they are exceedingly uncommon. I personally have never seen a shred of one at the site, but several friends who have been collecting the site far longer than I have shown me smaller examples that they have found. I've not seen anything to indicate that they reached the same sizes. This can also be said about the Eldredgeops rana. We have them in abundance, but not the sizes that are found at other locations less commonly. It is my personal belief, based on simple observation rather than empirical evidence, that the Windom represented at the PD site was almost like a nursery environment for certain species. Fewer predators represented, smaller sizes, and frequent, massive molt plates.

 

And yes, there are sticks, lol.

[Jeffrey P]

Recently I've seen more larger plant remains from DSR that look like tree branches. The presence of forests in the Catskill Delta to the  east of DSR is well documented. I have an imprint of a large tree stump in my collection I found at Gilboa many years ago.

[Malcolmt]

I have found quite a lot of plant material at Penn Dixie over the years but I have only ever found two small fragments of dipleura cephalon and that was many years ago when the main excavation area was vastly different than it is now. My opinion we found much more multiples and the productive layer was actually thicker.

[Al Tahan]

Wow thanks guys for sharing your experiences at these locations!  Very interesting insights . I really am fascinated by the similarities and differences In the fauna 

 

 @Darktooth @Jeffrey P @DevonianDigger @Malcolmt

[DevonianDigger]

2 hours ago, Malcolmt said:

I have found quite a lot of plant material at Penn Dixie over the years but I have only ever found two small fragments of dipleura cephalon and that was many years ago when the main excavation area was vastly different than it is now. My opinion we found much more multiples and the productive layer was actually thicker.

 

That is absolutely the case. The area we've been working into the past few years is definitely pinching out. Not nearly as much of the goodies as before. But... that being said, a little birdie told me that there might be better options this year