Lagerstatten trips

[aek]

Last week, I made some incredible trips with my kids to the middle Cambrian U-Dig site, the Fossil Lake lagerstatte in Wyoming, and a muddy, rained-out attempt at the Late Cretaceous in Colorado. This was our first time visiting all of these sites - such amazing times! Here are some pics starting with Utah.

 

 

My best find, a triple carcass Elrathia kingii

 

Fossil Lake, first started splitting slabs in the Green River formation. This is where we were working.

 

A large plate with three Knightias and a Diplomystus. Later we cut the plate down so could transport home.

 

18 Inch Layer:

 

 

My son made the best discoveries at the 18 Inch Layer: a fly and a bee

 

Bee under magnification.

 

 

Incredible preservation detail! Some fish under scope

 

 

We made it to the Cretaceous locality but it began raining. You can see the storm clouds approaching on the left. The roads were too muddy to continue and we were running out of time as we had a plane to catch unfortunately...another time perhaps! A beautiful drive.

 

 

When we returned home it appeared the TSA searched my checked luggage! Luckily nothing was missing or destroyed.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fossilnut]

Thanks for posting. The kids and you made some great finds. Liked the magnified pics of the fish. The 18 inch fish will be a fun project. The fly and bee what great finds.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Great trip report! Those fossils you and your kids found are really neat  Especially love the triple Elrathia!

Congrats on a very nice haul

-Christian

[aek]

@fossilnut @The Amateur Paleontologist  Thanks!! 

[doushantuo]

Nice! 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Very nice! I love your bug finds both Cambrian and Cenozoic!

[Nimravis]

Great post, pics and finds.

[Al Tahan]

Very cool trip!! I say this every time but I can’t wait till I get my chance out there someday 

[goatinformationist]

Those bugs are awesome!  Do you think that they might require further clean up?

[Ludwigia]

Great finds and luck with the inspection team  Love to get out there someday.

[aek]

@doushantuo @UtahFossilHunter @Nimravis @Al Tahan @Ludwigia @goatinformationist Thanks! I highly recommend it! I am now in the process of cleaning up some of the bugs. For the triple Elrathia I used my Ken Mannion to remove matrix, but since I don't have my blast cabinet quite functional yet, I used a brass brush to finish it off. Some of you might shudder at this old-timey tactic, but I think the brassy gold makes a nice contrast against the dark matrix. In any event, it can easily be removed if necessary.

 

 

[Ludwigia]

OMG! Fool’s pyrite!

[deutscheben]

Those prepped out real nice!

[Jeffrey P]

Great finds! Congratulations. At U-Dig were you splitting already excavated rock or breaking out fresh material from the bedrock? I plan to visit there this September.  

[Sagebrush Steve]

Nice finds!  And I haven’t seen that kind of prep on U-Dig fossils before but it came out great!  I will have to try it.  Were you using a powered rotary tool with the brass brush or doing it by hand?

[aek]

@Ludwigia @deutscheben Thanks!  

 

 @Jeffrey P  The rock was already excavated and spread throughout the quarry, but yes there is the option to work your own bench and they have the tools for you, crobars, shovels, hammers, etc.. very helpful people!

@Sagebrush Steve I just used water and a handheld brush. It also helped smooth out the matrix.

[goatinformationist]

Wow!  Those bugs really pop now.. what a great brassy finish.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

16 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

Great finds! Congratulations. At U-Dig were you splitting already excavated rock or breaking out fresh material from the bedrock? I plan to visit there this September.  

There are areas for both. Just depends on what you would like to do. 

[Monica]

Great finds!  I especially love the insects that your son found - they're really cute! 

[DaveCO]

Nice finds and prep work. I have not yet figured out prep! What is the Cretaceous site in Colorado?