Ordovician Collecting- Too Little Time

[FossilNerd]

Hello All,

I was able to scrounge up a few hours of free time a couple of days ago. I decided to head towards the Bardstown Kentucky area to scout out a couple of spots I had on my list of possible collecting sites. The first 4 stops proved to be fossil barren. Feeling a little bummed I decided to get some lunch and regroup. After the quick bite to eat, I realized I was running out of time, but I figured I had enough for one more stop. I headed to a road cut that exposed Ordovician rock. More specifically the Drakes Formation. I'm not sure which Member of the Drakes Formation yet. Still working that out.

 

It took a little longer than I anticipated to get to the road cut that exposed the formation, so I ended up with only 30-45 minutes of collecting time. After about 5 minutes of looking, I realized that my perseverance had paid off! I quickly collected what I could in the limited time that I had left to me. The site is definitely on my list now and I will be paying a visit again when I can stay longer. Below are some of my finds.

 

Here are some in situ pics...

 

A couple of nice brachiopods. I haven't had a chance to try and identify them yet, and I am not as good with brachs as I would like to be, so if anyone has a suggestion feel free to chime in.   

 

This little guy is hiding. Can you spot him?

 

 

Sorry for the lack of scale ( I was in a hurry ) This colonial coral is about 6 inches across and not the largest that I found!

(Favosites sp.) Possibly Foerstephyllum sp.

 

 

 

Here are a few more pics after I got to the house...

 

Here is the little guy that was hiding. Both valves were together. With a little clean up he should look nice.

 

This one is nice, but very delicate as it has completely weathered out of the matrix.

 

Another one of the nicer brachiopods that I picked up. It too had both valves.

 

I picked up this hash plate. A lot of brachiopods, but there is also a layer of iron just below them. You can see it rusting a little in the top left of the photo.

 

 

I'm fairly certain that this is a stromatoporoid. It is heavily crystalized and has a thin layer of matrix over the top, but I think with a little prep it will reveal its secrets.

 

Last, but certainly not least, is a very large coral. Favosites sp.  Foerestophyllum sp?

It measures around 9 inches long x 7 inches wide x 5 inches thick.

 

 

[grandpa]

Love the corals. 

[K-boy Cachers]

Nice finds! I lived around Ft. Knox for a while back in '98. Long before I was into fossil hunting.  Your pics make me wish I'd discovered the hobby back then!

[Bobby Rico]

Some nice finds and I really like your hash plate. Thanks for sharing. Bobby 

[Kane]

Thanks for taking us along.  Ordovician hash plates are always a busy wonder to behold. 

[FossilNerd]

8 hours ago, grandpa said:

Love the corals. 

Thanks Tom! They were my favorite finds of the day. The largest one had less than half exposed. The rest was buried in dirt and sediment that had been eroded and washed out by rain water. I was very surprised when I dug it out.

The smaller one was laying on the surface at the base of the road cut. Just waiting for me to pick it up.  

 

3 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Some nice finds and I really like your hash plate. Thanks for sharing. Bobby 

Thanks Bobby! I need to take a few more pictures of it to really show it off. The iron deposit just below the surface gives it a cool look and another point of interest. 

[FossilNerd]

7 hours ago, K-boy Cachers said:

Nice finds! I lived around Ft. Knox for a while back in '98. Long before I was into fossil hunting.  Your pics make me wish I'd discovered the hobby back then!

You would have definitely had a good time with it if you were! There are exposures from multiple Paleozoic time periods all within a few minutes drive of Ft. Knox. 

[FossilNerd]

9 minutes ago, Kane said:

Thanks for taking us along.  Ordovician hash plates are always a busy wonder to behold. 

They sure are! I need to get a few more pictures of this one to really show it off. 

[connorp]

Very nice brachiopods! Thanks for sharing.

[Mark Kmiecik]

This has a bryozoan look to it when enlarged. Possible?

[FossilNerd]

25 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

This has a bryozoan look to it when enlarged. Possible?

It’s possible. There is a small amount of area visible on the surface (not pictured here) that makes me think Stromatoporoid. However, most is covered with a thin layer of matrix, and the layers shown in this pic you mentioned are highly crystallized so it’s hard to make out the structure. I’m hoping to get a better ID once I’ve done a little prep work. Hopefully the air eraser will reveal more diagnostic morphology.

[Monica]

I love that second Favosites!  Foerstephylum  9 by 7 by 5 inches - that's a big 'un!  Congrats on the great finds!

[FossilNerd]

On 8/14/2019 at 6:04 PM, Monica said:

I love that second Favosites!  Foerstephylum  9 by 7 by 5 inches - that's a big 'un!  Congrats on the great finds!

Thanks Monica! It is a monster and one of my favorite finds  

[erose]

Hey just FYI, if you are in the Drakes Fm. Upper Ordovician that is not Favosites. That genus is not known from the Cincinnatian Series. Maybe in the Silurian above but not the Drakes.  Look here at some other possibilities: http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/fauna/tabulata/tabulata.html

 

I'm thinking Foerstephylum...but just a guess.

[FossilNerd]

2 hours ago, erose said:

Hey just FYI, if you are in the Drakes Fm. Upper Ordovician that is not Favosites. That genus is not known from the Cincinnatian Series. Maybe in the Silurian above but not the Drakes.  Look here at some other possibilities: http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/fauna/tabulata/tabulata.html

 

I'm thinking Foerstephylum...but just a guess.

Thank you so much for the correction! I looked around a bit more and you are correct. Favosites is not known from that formation. That’s what I get for thinking I know what something is at first glance and not looking it up to verify! I really do appreciate the correction. I’d rather be told I’m wrong and correct my mistake than go around thinking I know something and spreading false information. Much appreciated! 

 

I’ll edit my original post to remove the incorrect ID. 

[erose]

1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

Thank you so much for the correction! I looked around a bit more and you are correct. Favosites is not known from that formation. That’s what I get for thinking I know what something is at first glance and not looking it up to verify! I really do appreciate the correction. I’d rather be told I’m wrong and correct my mistake than go around thinking I know something and spreading false information. Much appreciated! 

 

I’ll edit my original post to remove the incorrect ID. 

You are most welcome. And for what it matters, it really does look like a Favosites. But corals are not always easy to identify. Especially when there are multiple choices that look quite similar.

[markjw]

I loved this whole thread.