A Visit to Granton Quarry

[Isotelus2883]

While on a trip in NYC, I thought it would be fun to visit Old Granton Quarry as it was close to where I was staying. In the first day, I found some nice material so I returned for another ~2 hrs on the last day of the trip.
Day one was in the afternoon, cloudy but without rain. Nice conditions, and I stayed exactly 2 hours. I was fortunate to visit near Christmas, and there was little vegetation to cover the cliff-face and obscure it from view. Also there was, thankfully, no poison ivy growing.

On day two, I started out early, before dawn at ~06:45. It rained slightly, and throughout the dig the cliff reminded me it was there by little bits of rock falling past my head. 

I found a cute little Plethodon cinereus in the cliff, before dawn, that was a bit shy. 

 

 

 

Here are the finds!

 

Dorsal fin and some scales

 

 

Partial Diplurus newarki body - caudal and anal fins - and a few ribs.

 

 

 

Skull, and dorsal fin imprint of Diplurus newarki.

 

Concretion/nodule - possibly coprolitic in nature

 

 

Diplurus newarki - disarticulated ribs, caudal, and possible skull.

 

 

 

 

Diplurus fins and scales

 

 

 

 

 

Diplurus caudal fin imprints.

 

 

 

Disarticulated bones/fins/scales.

 

 

 

Diplurus caudal fin

 

 

 

 

 

Estheria ovata

 

 

 

 

Diplurus ribs

 

 

 

 

Estheria ovata imprints and disarticulated bones/scales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partial skull and ribs of Diplurus. (Possible ray finned fish scales.)

 

 

 

 

Diplurus  1st dorsal fin

 

 

 

Possible skull, or coprolitic material.

 

 

 

 

 

Concretion nodule imprint:

 

 

 

Probably coprolite/concretion/nodule.  Could be some bone in there, as well.

 

 

 

 

Diplurus caudals, scales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possible Diplurus scales

 

 

 

Possible Diplurus skull, and scales/disarticulated bones.

 

[Fossildude19]

Looks like you did pretty well there.

I see one nice Diplurus newarki skull, 3 other possible skulls.

Coprolites.  Dipluerus ribs, fins, scales, and caudal fins. Also, possibly some ray finned fish scales as well.

Some nice Estheria ovata also.

Congratulations on  a few successful trips.

[Darktooth]

Great finds! I wish we had some nice fish fossils here in New York. Congratulations on your finds!

[marguy]

This set constitutes a fine sampling of fossils; I particularly appreciate Estheria because I myself have a crush on this little type of fossil that I can collect near my home (E minuta, lower Permian) accompanied by coprolites and dissociated remains of actinopterygian fish.

[NickG]

this is very cool. I recently came across this article I thought was worth sharing by Jerry Case and is on topic to this thread.

 

Case, J. (1968). The fossil fishes of Granton Quarry. Rocks & Minerals, 43(3), 169-172.

Case 1968 Fossil fishes of Granton Quarry.pdf

[Isotelus2883]

@Fossildude19 Thanks very much, do you think nodule imprint contained a jaw once?

[Fossildude19]

42 minutes ago, Isotelus2883 said:

@Fossildude19 Thanks very much, do you think nodule imprint contained a jaw once?

I doubt it, but it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Can't say for sure, one way or the other.

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations. You obtained some good Diplurus material there. I used to collect from the remnant of Granton Quarry twice a year regularly, but stopped going during the pandemic and haven't returned since.  It was becoming an increasingly tough place to collect from, but you did quite well. Your finds have me thinking I might check that out again someday. Thanks for sharing.