pleecan Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) pleecan---love the unbelievable color in those annularia. What do we attribute that to? Most of the material I've seen has been very impressive but not so distinctively different. Is that material from one particular pit or site? Hi Chris: The red color is probably due to mineralization event that is localized.... not sure of the mechanism. These specimen were purchased from Ebay because of the distinct shade of red ... origins on local is not known other than from the Mazon Creek area. PL Edited January 18, 2010 by pleecan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nala Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Hi,many of my French carboniferous plants were found on the "mountain"of bad coal next to the mine,it seems for me simply impossible to tell the stratigraphic area(even for the ingineer of the mine).Now all the mines are closed and many of the "mountain" are destroyed or the access is forbiden.Here is annularias from Alès south of France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Placoderms Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Since I am cleaning out some of my collection I came across these 2 calamites: Hazard, KY and Grand Ledge, MI. PL, I see you really like those Mazon Creek fossils... I will make sure I pack up some unopened nodules for you when I head up that way this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Thanks Plac! PL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 In a previous post I spoke about sigillariostrobus scars ...I found another one sample ..... This sigillaria trunks ,sigillaria mamillaris ,external bark and counterpart,shows a crown of scars, these scars are the insertions of breeding strobus (sigillariostrobus) , positioned in the upper part of the tree... external bark and counterpart Hi Shamalana yes very precisely this part of the tree! the first plate is a drawing of Professor LAVEINE Jean Pierre, the second drawing is a personal reconstruction bruno The heap near my home ,gives sometimes very nice sigillaria barks .....like this one ... bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtdog Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Hey folks! Here's a composite of some of mine I got from Pit 11 at Mazon Creek back in the early '60's. Back then, you didn't even have to dig for these, you stepped on them! All you had to do was make it to the top of the hill, and it was like you got transported back in time 250,000,000 years, give or take. The bottom of the image is cut off because I used to use it as my desktop "wallpaper," and I had to crop it for that. Mine is a pretty modest collection. You guys, though, you have museum pieces...those are incredible! Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtdog Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 This dial-up connection keeps timing out on me, cheap thing. Anyway, finally, I thought I'd post the two images in the composite that are cut off, together with a few more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn835 Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Here's some St. Clair stuff, not sure on species. You would need to ask Shama. With rocks in my head, and fossils in my heart.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I been away so I hadnt noticed this thread..... WOW.... you have some serious fossils there guys..... I love em.....I dont think I could do my plant fossils any more justice than my friends Hans Steur did on his website, so its easier for me to just post a link to that than upload loads of 'lesser quality' photos..... Some of my collection with a writeup that Hans did.... including a photo of me and him and his wife Ans....collecting at Crockhey..... http://www.xs4all.nl/~steurh/engcrock/ecrock.html Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paleoflor Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 (edited) I been away so I hadnt noticed this thread..... WOW.... you have some serious fossils there guys..... I love em.....I dont think I could do my plant fossils any more justice than my friends Hans Steur did on his website, so its easier for me to just post a link to that than upload loads of 'lesser quality' photos..... Some of my collection with a writeup that Hans did.... including a photo of me and him and his wife Ans....collecting at Crockhey..... http://www.xs4all.nl/~steurh/engcrock/ecrock.html Wow, you are the 'Steve' whose Crockhey plant fossils are shown on Hans' website? I have seen these specimens in person also (EDIT: Hans' finds I mean of course) just amazing material! It is really a shame that the quarry is closed now, I would have loved to be able to collect there. Incredible collection! Edited January 19, 2010 by paleoflor Searching for green in the dark grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 paleoflor.....yes I'm ...'Steve' .. .... Hans was over in the UK for a week collecting with me at Crockhey ..... I went every evening I could during the last year of its existence so I basically got to lock the gate on my way out when we had finished..... an ideal situation to be in for a fossil collector lol.... it was a pleasure to share time with him and his wife and he was kind enough to post a small portion of my collection on his website along with the 'Sandyforth Opencast' page he recently added for me of a subsequent exposure I collected.... we found some really nice material at Crockhey.....we were very lucky to collect there...... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Thanks for sharing the website. I'm in awe at the quality of the fossils out of Crockhey! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Hey gang, Thanks all for sharing some wonderful material—what a small world we live in. Small and large specimens alike—all interesting, what variety!!! Moropus, I love that first pecopterid photo you posted. I’ve seen some similar material I was trying to acquire on ebay for sale a while back but don’t know the species. Great Spanish material! Bruno, that Sigillaria specimen photo in the lower right showing the rock hammer on top is quite awesome. Superb photo layout. Nala, great specimens. Poland--great! I have a pecopterid that came from France/Europe somewhere---person I got it from wasn’t sure what famous locale it came from..…Does it look like anything from any location you are aware of? If anyone else recognizes this specimen’s location please advise. Thanks! Placoderms, nice calamites! I’ve got one from Kentucky as well—they grew them big there apparently and preserved them very nicely!! Thanks! Kurtdog, cool pit 11 wallpaper! ---What is the specimen in the upper left corner? Bigjohn835…nice st clair, Pennsylvania material. Looks like some of the fairly common Alethopteris sp. famous from that locale. I wish I had done some collecting up there. My parents and grandparents were all from central Pa and I only have a few specimens from that state. I missed a great opportunity a long time ago. We used to see large plates in the auctions for dirt cheap and I never wanted one! Darn! Steve, oh what it must have been to be there at the Crockhey site. What a collection—what detail. Were those for the most part all split using the freezing technique? what's the rarest plant specimen from that site? Thanks all again for sharing with us!!! To keep the thread active here are a few more items that I have. How about some Lycopod root casts also commonly known as Stigmaria: Mayes County, Northeastern Oklahoma Showing circular rootlet scars, Northwest of Austin, Texas Steve, these will look familiar---they are both from the Crockhey location: Lepidostrobus (cone) and Lepidodendron (stem) with Lepidophylloides (leaves) I need to open another post...the screen keeps scrolling uncontrollably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Here's a close up of a Lepidodendron bark showing the leaf scars from Marron, Pa. (Clearfield Co.) on the Hepburnia Coal strip mine back fill. I was surprised at the detail and pattern of the photo when I first saw it. Definitely shows I'm lacking in my photographic techniques on other shots---It definitely ain't the camera's fault for some of the bad ones! It appears to be quite capable. You've seen the same specimen from a distance when I posted it before. All for now...let's seem more from your vaults! Take some pictures! Thanks! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) Chris..... Beautiful Bark !!!..... Opening Nodules?We never used the freeze thaw method, although I think it was tried by maybe a couple of collectors, but basically all the nodules were opened using a hammer and a lump hammer as an anvil situated on the ground..... two things you could quite easily carry round with you and use as you went along..... we found that the preserved fossil creates a plane of weakness running through the nodule and the more surface area the fossil enveloped the easier the nodule was to open using a gentle tap..... for this reason when you gripped the nodule between your finger and thumb and rested it onto the anvil, after deciding the best orientation for it and started to tap it, a gentle tap was used first to avoid shattering an easy to open nodule, then subsequent blows increased in force until the nodule popped open..... It worked very well for us and accounted for opening everything you see from crockhey....sometimes muddy wet smaller nodules slipped as you hit them and your thumb usually took the brunt of the hammer blow.... which made you look up to the sky especially when it happened in winter..... Before & After..... Health & Safety is Important......(Wear Gloves) Rarest plant material from Crockhey ?.... Im thinking Cordaites material, I think there were only 2 Cordaitanthus found in 8 years of collecting..... Edited January 23, 2010 by Terry Dactyll Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 We never used the freeze thaw method, although I think it was tried by maybe a couple of collectors, but basically all the nodules were opened using a hammer and a lump hammer as an anvil situated on the ground..... Oh, what a joy that must be! You can get some of the Mazon nodules to open with a hammer, but freeze/thawing really helps, esp. with the Essex biota. I've got some nodules that have had around 25 cycles that are just now starting to pop when hit with a hammer. Got a nice worm and something unusual this week. No decent plants to share, though. The plant material in this thread is amazing. Thanks for helping to take the "cabin fever factor" up another notch! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) Tim.... There are some wonderful plant fossils shown here.... and no doubt more to come..... I had a draw of Crockhey fossils out earlier for a photograph of an 'uknown critter'....Its the snaily looking thing...If you want some closer images of it I will start a thread, but I have done so previously on the subject somewhere... Sandyforth Opencast was quite sparse for any fossil material, even though it was just over a mile away as the crow fly's from Crockhey, the paleoenviroment was entirely different.... on the seams exposed....this entire draw represents 6 evenings a week collecting for a year, as they refilled the hole left by a previous contractor... Edited January 23, 2010 by Terry Dactyll Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paleoflor Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 L.S., Very nice specimens you all show here! Let me share a find I did in 2008. With its 5 cm broad vertical rows it is the largest scale Sigillaria specimen I own. It is from the Bergen/Mons area, southern Belgium (Westphalian C = Bolsovian, Flenu Fm.). The second photo shows the leaf scars in more detail (notice the heavy "cork-like" material on them - anyone an idea on what this is?). Also, if someone can help me on the species identification, all suggestions are welcome here! The third photo is just for fun, comes from the DSM Emma-Hendrik spoil tip near Brunssum, the Netherlands (Westphalian AB = Langsettian-Duckmantian): Best regards, Tim Searching for green in the dark grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Sandyforth Opencast was quite sparse for any fossil material, even though it was just over a mile away as the crow fly's from Crockhey, the paleoenviroment was entirely different.... It's the same at Mazon. Some areas are good, some are not worth visiting. A tipple hill I used to visit is called "Fan Worm Hill," because it has a high concentration of one kind of worm, more than any other area, to the point of being slightly annoying. Yes, post that unusual one in another thread, I'd like a closer look & we can stop hijacking the plant conversation! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 Chris..... Beautiful Bark !!!..... Opening Nodules?We never used the freeze thaw method, although I think it was tried by maybe a couple of collectors, but basically all the nodules were opened using a hammer and a lump hammer as an anvil situated on the ground..... two things you could quite easily carry round with you and use as you went along..... we found that the preserved fossil creates a plane of weakness running through the nodule and the more surface area the fossil enveloped the easier the nodule was to open using a gentle tap..... for this reason when you gripped the nodule between your finger and thumb and rested it onto the anvil, after deciding the best orientation for it and started to tap it, a gentle tap was used first to avoid shattering an easy to open nodule, then subsequent blows increased in force until the nodule popped open..... It worked very well for us and accounted for opening everything you see from crockhey....sometimes muddy wet smaller nodules slipped as you hit them and your thumb usually took the brunt of the hammer blow.... which made you look up to the sky especially when it happened in winter..... Before & After..... Health & Safety is Important......(Wear Gloves) Rarest plant material from Crockhey ?.... Im thinking Cordaites material, I think there were only 2 Cordaitanthus found in 8 years of collecting..... Steve, thanks for the reply. I've unfortunately never had any concretions open easily..mostly have had been more or less calcareous/limestone and none really had any inner weakness/plane to them. However, I did have one of those look at the sky moments while in college on a field trip to a local roadcut. I was squatting down looking at some rock and a trucker decided to come by and blast his airhorn. I quickly rotated/turned at the waist to look to see where the sound was coming from and as I did so my left elbow/funny bone struck the front of my unsheathed rock hammer in my waist belt. I never got a look at the trucker but did see the sky as my entire left arm instantly went numb and I looked up and crumbled to the ground! My fellow classmates thought I was having some type of seizure and I guess I was. So much pain, oh so much pain, but I can laugh about it now!! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 L.S., Very nice specimens you all show here! Let me share a find I did in 2008. With its 5 cm broad vertical rows it is the largest scale Sigillaria specimen I own. It is from the Bergen/Mons area, southern Belgium (Westphalian C = Bolsovian, Flenu Fm.). The second photo shows the leaf scars in more detail (notice the heavy "cork-like" material on them - anyone an idea on what this is?). Also, if someone can help me on the species identification, all suggestions are welcome here! The third photo is just for fun, comes from the DSM Emma-Hendrik spoil tip near Brunssum, the Netherlands (Westphalian AB = Langsettian-Duckmantian): Best regards, Tim Hello Tim The sigillaria barks have several layers , when they are peeled the autors give the name form genus syringodendron, scars are shaped like "beans" that are the opposite of the two traces parichnos, depending on the depth of decortication, these scars are more or less united ,the ribs may reach 7 cm wide..... bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Hello Tim The sigillaria barks have several layers , when they are peeled the autors give the name form genus syringodendron, scars are shaped like "beans" that are the opposite of the two traces parichnos, depending on the depth of decortication, these scars are more or less united ,the ribs may reach 7 cm wide..... bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Pictures number 1160 shows sigillaria laevigata and its associated syringodendron bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtdog Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Kurtdog, cool pit 11 wallpaper! ---What is the specimen in the upper left corner? Chris, thanks! I see you've got some serious hard labor invested in some plants, there, yourself, my friend! That one, upper-left, is still pretty much unidentified. We're taking shots at it, right now, in the I.D. forum. I added it to my "insect" thread. I probably should have started a separate thread on it. Oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtdog Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Tim, FWIW, all mine were opened with a hammer. That saved a lot of space in my backpack. Plus, a lot of unnecessary weight to lug around. Plus, I'll admit it, I couldn't wait to see what was in there! Freeze-thaw is the safer method, though, from what I understand; just never tried it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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