Yearly Family Reunion

[minnbuckeye]

We just arrived back from my wife's family reunion held in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In the past, during such trips, my goal has always been to check out a few fossil spots while visiting kinfolk. This trip was no exception. Unfortunately, the weather was trying to be uncooperative so we visited a few museums and arboretums during some of our down time. The Delaware Museum of Natural History was average at best but was air conditioned!!! Just the right size for children (see the T Rex pic) but not truly stimulating for adults. 

 

 Longwood Garden was our next stop. It , on the other hand, was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! Beautiful landscapes, festive fireworks alternated with fountain displays at night. A strong recommendation to visit if in the area. My favorite area was the water gardens and some lovely pics have been added to the forum's "Nature Photography" post. Take a look if interested. Here is @snolly50's favorite.  

 

 

 

 

 One more floral picture that I liked.

 

  

 

  Next on the itinerary was Sunnybrook Creek. Due to the heat, I thought a wade in the water would be nice.  However, upon arrival, I found the creek to be dry!!! So my desire to cool off was shot down. I did spend about 30 minutes in the creek bed before it became uncomfortable. The creek has many minerals in it but botryoidal goethite is the common thing found. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FossilNerd]

1 hour ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

Love this pic! 

[minnbuckeye]

 

 Here are a couple of minerals that I am unsure of their IDs. Any help identifying is appreciated.

 

  

 I am an early riser, so on our second day, I decided to head to York County and hunt for trilobites in the Kinzer Formation before anyone woke up and more importantly before it heated up. After an hour of splitting shale, I returned to the motel hot and sweaty with nothing to show for my labor!! It still was fun and my expectations going into the hunt were low. This formation does not have a high density of trilobites. Family members were just coming down for breakfast when I arrived. So they wanted to hear about my excursion. Upon describing where I was and what I was looking for, a group of members decided they wanted to try fossil hunting again. @DevonianDigger had guided this crew 2 years ago when we met in Buffalo, NY and he planted the "bug" in many of my wife's family members!!! I explained the heat and humidity was a MAJOR issue and I preferred to sit in the pool instead. This excuse did not settle the desires of 3. So after relentless hounding, off we went into the mountains to find cooler temps and fossil ferns. As we approached the site in Schuylkill County, the thermometer on my dash said 99 degrees, and occasionally hitting the century mark. So already we failed on one of my goals, cooler temps!  Will we strike out on the second one?? Especially since I had never been to this location. It had been recommended to me by a forum member, Thank You!! Common sense did not prevail with my relatives, so we loaded up with water and headed on about a third of a mile walk to the site. The exposure was BLACK shale tipped directly at the sun beating down on us. As we approached, I could feel the heat radiating from these stones and it was 100 degrees away from the heated shale. Who knows on the shale what the temp was. It took awhile to find the location of the ferns at this site. They were on a slippery slope 30 ft down the hill. I quickly filled a bag with some nice specimens and said I had enough. I was already overheating after just 15 minutes on that black surface. But on attempting to scale the hill I slid down to begin with, for every step I took up the hill, I slid backwards 2 steps. After assessing the situation, I attempted to crawl on all fours. Let me say the heated shale made it IMPOSSIBLE to place my hands on the ground. Even my knees felt the burning sensation through my jeans. So a reevaluation of the situation was needed as I was beginning to get dizzy and dry mouthed. "Worry" is usually not a word in my vocabulary, but this was getting serious and I was worried. My plans were changed and I headed down the shale until I reached vegetation that allowed me to get the necessary footing to ascend the hill around the exposed shale. By the time I reached the top, I collapsed under a tree and wondered if I could make it back to the car. Thank goodness a 5 minute "cooldown" and I knew I could make it back. 

 

Now for the pictures of the fern fossils:

 

 

 

 

 

You don't see any. That is because every one else struck out (no one was dumb enough to follow me down) and I decided to let them have all but a couple of samples. So if someone can ID the two items below that I kept, I would truly be grateful! I was just too hot to take pics of the ferns that I gave them Sorry!

 

 

[minnbuckeye]

Seed?

 

[minnbuckeye]

The other questionable specimen is marked below by the red dots

 

 

 

 

[Coco]

Azurite for your mineral ?

 

Keep safe with the heat !

 

Coco

[Ludwigia]

7 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Seed?

 

Definitely. Couldn't say which, though.

[hemipristis]

8 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

We just arrived back from my wife's family reunion held in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In the past, during such trips, my goal has always been to check out a few fossil spots while visiting kinfolk. This trip was no exception. Unfortunately, the weather was trying to be uncooperative so we visited a few museums and arboretums during some of our down time. The Delaware Museum of Natural History was average at best but was air conditioned!!! Just the right size for children (see the T Rex pic) but not truly stimulating for adults. 

My family lives 15 minutes from there!  I'm from 20 minutes East.

 

Longwood Gardens is amazing-- I'm glad you were able to experience it!

 

Don't feel bad about the Kinzer Fm.  I've spent days cleaving that rock over the years and have one Olennelus (a good one, thankfully) to show for the effort.  They are scarce indeed.  You've hit the other two fossil spots that I'd recommend in the area.  There are numerous mineral collecting sites though that are still producing.  PM me if you'r interested and are going to go back.

[hemipristis]

8 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

The other questionable specimen is marked below by the red dots

 

 

 

 

Sphenophyllum?

 

 

[hemipristis]

8 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Seed?

 

Probably Alethopteris sp., one of the most abundant seed fern fossils from that formation.  Please check out this older TFF post: 

 

[Monica]

Wow, Mike - I'm glad your family fossil-hunting outing ended okay!!!  Heat and humidity can be killer!!!

 

Those are beautiful flora finds - congrats! 

[minnbuckeye]

There is concern that my collection came from the site by St Clair that was closed to collecting. Let me assure you that this is NOT the case. A forum member gave me a site location in the same seam. I do not have permission to divulge the site. It is an unreclaimed mine that allows access to its land.

[caldigger]

8 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

There is concern that my collection came from the site by St Clair that was closed to collecting.

For the record, I wasnt concerned. 

 

Mike, you may not have filled up on quantity, but it looks like the pieces you did get are of nice quality. 

[Darktooth]

@minnbuckeye Did you recieve a parcel when you got back? 

[Al Tahan]

Beautiful plant fossils 

[Darktooth]

Sounds like a fun trip,( except for the overheating). 

[ynot]

Blue mineral, I agree with Coco.

Green mineral is probably malachite.

 

Glad You survived the furnace. Got some nice pieces too.

[deutscheben]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:42 PM, minnbuckeye said:

The other questionable specimen is marked below by the red dots

 

 

 

 

Those might be some kind of Lepidodendron branch- they have the right diamond pattern for it. 

 

Thanks for the report, it was harrowing!