Brookville and St. Leon, Indiana Fossil Hunt

[Nimravis]

Since there was no Fossil Garage Sale this weekend I decided to drive 4 1/2 hours down to Brookville and St. Leon, Indiana on Friday to do a little collecting at both sites and then headed back home on Saturday week. I was a quick trip and I hit both sites on each day. On Friday it was about 70 degrees, but poured in the afternoon while I was at a Brookville road cut and on Saturday morning it was a brisk 37 degrees and I forgot to check the "Feels like" temp. The cut is very steep and prior to the rain it was very dry and there were numerous times when I lost my fitting and slid down at least 5 feet each time. 

 

This was the first time that I had visited this site and I was reminded of it by @stats Rich when I saw him last week at the garage sale, though I did not go to the cut that he goes too.

 

With this report I am going to keep it short and just show a couple of my finds, but I did find a lot of stuff.

 

I found a lot of larger, loose Rafinesquina, and I believe that this is one, but I never have found one shaped like this big boy.

 

 

I found a lot of Cyclonema snails and as many that were just the internal mold, some are pictured in the Right side pic.

 

 

The top internal mold in the below picture is a Monoplacophoran.

 

 

I think that I found about 20 Ambonychia pelecypods, here are some below.

 

 

Here is a piece with an Ambonychia (Top Left) and a Caritodens (Bottom Right) pelecypods.

 

 

I found several other pieces of Caritodens,here is one below.

 

 

 

I only found 1 partial trilobite at the Brookville site.

 

 

 

I found a number of loose Leptaena brachiopods and a few plates with many.

 

 

I found several Vinlandostrophia brachiopods.

 

 

I thinks that these are all Hebertella, but I could be wrong, there are so many brachs that look the same to me.

 

 

Ans I found a few cool hash plates, here is one below.

 

 

 

At St. Leon I only found 3 very small Flexicalymene  trilobites, here is one below.

 

 

I found this large piece of an Isotelus trilobite.

 

 

Post to cont-

 

[Nimravis]

I found this real nice looking bivalve at St. Leon, but cannot figure out an ID- if you know, please let me know. @Tidgy's Dad Adam any idea?

 

 

I believe that these are Lepidocyclus brachiopods on a hash plate in 3-D.

 

 

This was a cool piece that I found sticking out at the upper level at St. Leon. This looks like the cephalopod Oncocerida, I believe that this is a complete piece. This is a first for me and I was very happy.

 

 

This was a big internal mold of a snail, the largest that I ever found.

 

 

I always pick up a couple pretty hash plates from near the butter shale layer.

 

 

 

I found a lot more pieces including tons of my favorite, the tiny brachiopod Zygospira.

 

 

That's all folks.

 

[Monica]

First, my favourite was the Cyclonema gastropods. 

Then, it was the Leptaena brachiopods. 

Next, it was the unknown bivalve (very nice ornamentation on it, by the way!). 

Finally, I fell in love with the Oncocerida orthoconic nautiloid!!! 

Well done, Ralph - you found a bunch of great stuff! 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

These are the fossils I grew up on.  Thanks for the nostalgic look back.

[Fossildude19]

Great variety of finds, Ralph!   

Thanks for the post.

[Nimravis]

5 hours ago, Monica said:

First, my favourite was the Cyclonema gastropods. 

Then, it was the Leptaena brachiopods. 

Next, it was the unknown bivalve (very nice ornamentation on it, by the way!). 

Finally, I fell in love with the Oncocerida orthoconic nautiloid!!! 

Well done, Ralph - you found a bunch of great stuff! 

Thanks Monica it was a nice fast, 650 mile round trip. I found a lot of other stuff at St. Leon but did not post.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

On 10/14/2019 at 12:12 AM, Nimravis said:

I found this real nice looking bivalve at St. Leon, but cannot figure out an ID- if you know, please let me know. @Tidgy's Dad Adam any idea?

 

 

I believe that these are Lepidocyclus brachiopods on a hash plate in 3-D.

 

 

This was a cool piece that I found sticking out at the upper level at St. Leon. This looks like the cephalopod Oncocerida, I believe that this is a complete piece. This is a first for me and I was very happy.

 

 

This was a big internal mold of a snail, the largest that I ever found.

 

 

I always pick up a couple pretty hash plates from near the butter shale layer.

 

 

 

I found a lot more pieces including tons of my favorite, the tiny brachiopod Zygospira.

 

 

That's all folks.

 

I think that the upper layers that produce the odd nautiloids may be Saluda Formation.

[Mark Kmiecik]

As always, a fine presentation of your field trip. Thank you.

[deutscheben]

Thank you for the report,  that cephalopod is really neat!

[Nimravis]

3 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

As always, a fine presentation of your field trip. Thank you.

Thanks and not my best Mark- I was beat after spending a number of hours cutting down hash plates yesterday and I found a lot of stuff and just wanted to put out some to show the members.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Wow! 

It would be impossible to drag me away from these sites. 

Great finds, Ralph. 

The first one is Rafinesquina alternata, I think, a very nice specimen indeed. 

Some of the Ambonychia ae great and of a good size. 

Love the loose Leptaena richmondensis, I think it's quite rare to get decent loose ones.

I think your 'Hebertella' are actually Cincinnetina meeki.

Not so knowledgeable of the bivalves from this site, indeed I don't have any, but most of the Cincinattian bivalves i have seen are simple forms or internal molds, this is the nicest one I'v' ever seen. 

The oncocerid is amazing and, of course, I love the hash plates and the smashing huge gastropod. 

Amazing stuff.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Wow! 

It would be impossible to drag me away from these sites. 

Great finds, Ralph. 

The first one is Rafinesquina alternata, I think, a very nice specimen indeed. 

Some of the Ambonychia ae great and of a good size. 

Love the loose Leptaena richmondensis, I think it's quite rare to get decent loose ones.

I think your 'Hebertella' are actually Cincinnetina meeki.

Not so knowledgeable of the bivalves from this site, indeed I don't have any, but most of the Cincinattian bivalves i have seen are simple forms or internal molds, this is the nicest one I'v' ever seen. 

The oncocerid is amazing and, of course, I love the hash plates and the smashing huge gastropod. 

Amazing stuff.

Thanks Adam - I will put the bivalve on the Fossil ID section in case people don’t check the Hunting Trip section.

[Shamalama]

On 10/13/2019 at 11:57 PM, Nimravis said:

I found several Vinlandostrophia brachiopods.

 

 

You have at least two species of Vinlandostrophia there. The ones with the wider, pointy hinge line are possibly V. cypha which is found in the Whitewater and Liberty formations. They could also be V. laticosta which is found in the Waynesville and Arnheim.  I generally call anything I find that has a prominent sulcus/fold a V. cypha.  The two on the bottom row, leftmost look to be V. clarkvillensis which is found in the Waynesville.

 

This is a good resource to see the different species of Vinlandostrophia:  Atlas of Ordovician Life, and the UGA has a good page that lists the species and formations they are found in: UGA Stratigraphy lab

[Nimravis]

@Shamalama thanks for the help and links.

[dalmayshun]

the bivalve is quite beautiful...I'm anxious to see whether it is identified..

[Nimravis]

37 minutes ago, dalmayshun said:

the bivalve is quite beautiful...I'm anxious to see whether it is identified..

Thanks, I just sent an email to a member of the dry dredgers to see if they could identify that piece, I will post when I hear back.

[erose]

Cyclonema are in that odd group of "platyceratid" gastropods with with a different calcitic make up that gets preserved when the others don't.

 

The "others" are Clathrospira sp. and virtually never preserve with shell in the Cincinnatian.

 

Your ornate bivalve is Caritodens welchi (James). Looks like you did well in the "Liberty". 

 

Save this PDF: https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0695/report.pdf

 

Some of the genera have been revised bit the species are still good.

 

Nice fossils. The odd non-orthoconic nautiloid is seriously bonus!

 

Green with envy....

[Nimravis]

30 minutes ago, erose said:

Cyclonema are in that odd group of "platyceratid" gastropods with with a different calcitic make up that gets preserved when the others don't.

 

The "others" are Clathrospira sp. and virtually never preserve with shell in the Cincinnatian.

 

Your ornate bivalve is Caritodens welchi (James). Looks like you did well in the "Liberty". 

 

Save this PDF: https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0695/report.pdf

 

Some of the genera have been revised bit the species are still good.

 

Nice fossils. The odd non-orthoconic nautiloid is seriously bonus!

 

Green with envy....

Thanks for the info and link, really appreciate it. I’m no expert in the Ordovician, but I do like spending time down I Indiana and Kentucky and the 650 mile round trip is never a problem.

[Jeffrey P]

Congrats on some excellent finds. I didn't make it to Brookville the last time I was in the area but the Ambonychia and Leptaenas give me plenty of reasons to return. Finding that nautiloid was a highly fortuitous. Great stuff! Thanks for sharing them. 

[ynot]

Wonderful finds!

Must have been a couple of fun days for You.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

Congrats on some excellent finds. I didn't make it to Brookville the last time I was in the area but the Ambonychia and Leptaenas give me plenty of reasons to return. Finding that nautiloid was a highly fortuitous. Great stuff! Thanks for sharing them. 

Thanks Jeff- I did have fun a Brookville and I will have to go back sometime.

[Nimravis]

13 minutes ago, ynot said:

Wonderful finds!

Must have been a couple of fun days for You.

It was a lot of fun Tony.

[GreatWhiteMac]

Great hunting, finds and post Ralph!!  Always love reading and viewing your trip findings!

 

 

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, GreatWhiteMac said:

Great hunting, finds and post Ralph!!  Always love reading and viewing your trip findings!

 

 

Thanks much

[Mediospirifer]

On ‎10‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 11:57 PM, Nimravis said:

Ans I found a few cool hash plates, here is one below.

 

 

I love this hash plate!!!

 

There's an obviously pathological brachiopod at left, just above the missing bottom corner. It has an impressive bite scar. A couple of others may (or may not; it's hard to tell) have more subtle bite scars.

 

The species in this hash may be Glyptorthis insculpta. You can distinguish them from Cinncinnetina by the presence of small growth lines (presence or absence not visible in the photos, but they look a lot like my Glyptorthis to me).

 

Looks like you had a great hunt!