Fossil hunting trip to Piesberg (Carboniferous of Germany)

[ziggycardon]

Hi everyone, last month our fossil club the BVP alongside with a Dutch fossil club (GVMN) which was guided by Carboniferous expert @paleoflor visited the famous Piesberg in Osnabrück, Niedersachsen, Germany.

The fossil rich coal layers in the quarry date back to the Westphalian D which corresponds with the Moscovian stage of the late Carboniferous, around 311 - 307 million years ago.

Piesberg is renowned for having the best Carboniferous fossils from Europe, they gold / silverely preservation is due to past volcanic activity which heated the coal layers in the past which caused Gümbelite to form which causes the gorgeous colorfull layer on the fossils.

Beside being extremely rich in fossil flora like ferns, horsetails and sigillaria you can also find the horseshoe crab Euproops as well as remains of insects and arachnids and bivalves.

https://paleontica.org/locations/fossil/39

 

And again, as always: don't trespass in this quarry.

While I am not sure what the exact rules are for this particuliar location when it comes for collecting on your own but I assume you cannot enter without prior permission.

So don't trespass here as it might endanger the future for anyone being allowed there to hunt for fossils.

More and more famous fossil locations in western europe are being closed off for collecting fossils due to the actions of a few bad apples who don't think the rules apply to them.

Be responsible and don't ruin the hobby for everyone else.

 

 

Some scenic stills from our day in the quarry:

 

In this image you can see the multiple coal banks which are rich in fossils

 

Remains of an underground coal mine shaft

 

Me & both Tom's searching for fossil plants in the Flöz Dreibänke

 

 

[ziggycardon]

In the afternoon we ventured to the lower part of the quarry after someone tipped off about a large fern which was lying around somewhere.

So we went out to find it as our clubs president Tom wanted to bring it home.
We luckily managed to locate the large fern easily which I believe I a remember correctly was a Alethopteris.

 

But while Tom was working on freeing said fern, I found my little honey hole with gorgeous fern material!

 

 

In the end we heard Jelle also found a partial trunk of a tree-like plant which probably was a Sigillaria.

The thing which existed of three huge blocks must have been a massive tree.

Since the block was so big and preserved in harder rock than the normal coal layers no one really believed we could salvage something from it besides photos.
I did spot a nice piece which I took a shot at which I eventually managed to free and take home.

[fossilus]

Beautiful!

[ziggycardon]

And my entire haul of the day, which was quite a long one...

Me, both Tom's and Tineke spent from 10u till 18u30 searching for fossils here

 

 

My personal favorite piece, Sphenophyllum sp. from Flöz Dreibänke

 

Another Sphenophyllum sp. from Flöz Dreibänke

 

Piece of Calamites

 

The piece of the tree-like plant I salvaged

 

And due to the massive influx of Carboniferous material, I did do some rearranging in my displays to free up some space for a 2 shelf Carboniferous display in my glass showcase.

 

Some of the Piesberg finds on display

 

 

And which I couldn't place in my display I put in cabinets shelfs

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for the report. Reminds me of the good old days when I was visiting there over 10 years ago. Looks like it's still yielding up its treasures. Did anyone manage to find an Euproops or maybe an insect or two?

[Denis Arcand]

Lucky guy, what a great find, I like plant fossils but there aren't any in Quebec

Edited November 9 by Denis Arcand

[ziggycardon]

47 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Thanks for the report. Reminds me of the good old days when I was visiting there over 10 years ago. Looks like it's still yielding up its treasures. Did anyone manage to find an Euproops or maybe an insect or two?

The site is still going strong!

But no, no Arthropod material was find during the excursion that I am aware of.

 

20 minutes ago, Denis Arcand said:

Lucky guy, what a great find, I like plant fossils but there aren't any in Quebec

Thank you, I heard tell of the fossil rich layers from this location, but I hadn't expected them to be this rich and nicely preserved.
Truly a Valhalla for plant fossils

[FossilGuy55]

Cool finds. 

[Jaybot]

@paleoflor might want to see this

[trilobites_are_awesome]

Amazing finds!

[ziggycardon]

7 hours ago, Jaybot said:

@paleoflor might want to see this

The cool thing is that he was the one who guided the excursion

[Jaybot]

2 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

The cool thing is that he was the one who guided the excursion

Wow, guess it is a small world after all

[stats]

Very nice!  Much different than hunting Mazon Creek!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

Edited November 18 by stats

[Plantguy]

Great finds and collection! 

Regards, Chris