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Is This Crinoid Worth Further Professional Prepping?????
minnbuckeye posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Six weeks ago, I found this crinoid stem with a broken calyx peeking out of the matrix. Today, I used a Dremel to expose more of the stem . As I look at the specimen after cleaning it a bit, I now am wondering if there might be a slight chance of anything substantial hiding in the rock that might be worth a professional prepper going at. Your thoughts will allow me to make a decision. Thanks for any advice. Mike- 8 replies
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This past Sunday, I had about 2 hours to spare, and wanted to look for fossils. I obviously couldn’t go far, so I decided to see whether I might have any luck fossil hunting along the Iowa River right in Iowa City. The exposure there is from the Coralville Member of the Cedar Valley Formation, which is mostly Devonian limestone and Dolomite. The faunal diversity in this strata is not great - some solitary and colonial corals, a smattering of brachiopods and bryozoans, and a few small crinoidal columnals. I had time to check out two locations very near downtown Iowa City, and both within two miles of my house. The banks leading to the river in this area are relatively short (~10-15 feet), but can be steep and/or blocked by dense vegetation. The first location allowed access to the river via a small boat launching ramp. The river at that point is not scenic and the brief stretches of shoreline contain a surprising amount of large discarded slabs of concrete. This must have been near somebody’s favorite fishing spot, as I saw a chair perched neatly on the stones of the shore. I poked around for a bit and found quick collection of some species of the colonial coral Hexagonaria. I assembled the finds for this photo. They are not that well-preserved. I did find it interesting that some pieces are brownish and contained open corallites without intact septa. These were all thin sheets about 10 mm thick. Other pieces were thicker and larger, grayish stones whose corallites were filled in. I didn’t find much else there other than a small patch of some species of the Bryozoan fenestella a beat-up brachiopod and an even more beat-up solitary rugose coral. With only 45 minutes left, I went about ¾ of a mile north, where there’s a rough, worn-out path to the river; a path likely made by people going down to fish. Here I had more luck, finding a place I’ll return to later when I have more time. I almost immediately found two very large rocks with plenty of brachiopods in them. Unless you zoomed in very close to where my fingers touch the rock in the second picture, you are sure to have missed my favorite find. Here it is zoomed in more closely. Both valves of a fairly large Platyrachella iowensis. I was in a hurry and at first was not going to try to get it out for fear of damaging it in my rush. But with just a little gently prying with the pick tip on my rock hammer, the specimen popped out quite nicely. Here are some pics of it after I got it home: I then found a palm-sized chunk of solitary rugose coral. I’ve read that a common genus of this coral in this strata is Cystiphylloides, although I have no real basis to ID this as such. I still had about 10 minutes to pry open a few pieces of one of the large, brachiopod-filled rocks and got what I think is a species of Vinlandostrophia, as well as a few, small brachiopods that are not identifiable (to my unskilled eye).
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Greetings! I went on a quick (~60 minute) hunt today on the Iowa River in Iowa City, Iowa. The rocks there are from the Coralville Group of the Cedar Valley Formation (Devonian), mostly limestone and dolomite. I hope to post a brief summary in the Trips forum soon. I didn't find much, but one thing I did get is a large spirifer of some sort. I'm excited about it because it contains both valves, with pretty good preservation of the entire ventral valve and good preservation of one "wing" of the dorsal valve. It measures about 10 cm from tip to tip (sounds better than from cardinal extremity to cardinal extremity). Any ideas on the species? Ventral valve: Beak: Dorsal valve (the right side isn't as well preserved as the rest of the specimen): Thanks for your help!, Tom
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Here is a piece I saved on a recent excursion to the Devonian Cedar Valley Formation of Iowa. It looks like a thumbtack!!! I am guessing a tentaculites abutting an ostrocod, but would like other opinions. Thanks, Mike
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This gastropod was collected about a month ago in Coralville Iowa from the Cedar Valley Formation of the Devonian. I have pieced it and puttied it back together. My attempts at IDing have failed. I don't think it is a maclurite. Any experts on the Devonian life of Iowa out there??
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Does anyone know what species of Platyceras have been found in the Cedar Valley Formation/Devonian of Iowa??
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I collect in Coralville Iowa frequently and always run across these brachiopods. Yet I am unsure of their name in spite of investigation on line. They are NOT uncommon so the ID should be easy but eludes me. So here I am asking for assistance! They are flat as a pancake if that helps.
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