Newbie Wants To Find Fossils In Backyard

[Mary]

I live in Northern Kentucky. I am completely new when it comes to fossils. I want to dig in my backyard. I live below the highway in a hollar (for those of you who are not familiar with that term, it just means I live in a big hole in the ground! ). The hill is very rocky, and we have found many rocks that have shells and coral shapes in them. About ten years ago, when we built this house, they had to bulldoze the hillside to make a flat spot. As a result, there are many exposed rocks. We have pulled a lot out, but all I keep finding are shells and coral. Why can't I find anything else? Am I just too far down? Should I try digging higher up? I have read books and websites, and it seems the popular thing to do is to go to roadcuts, but I can't travel all over, and I would like to be able to hunt on our couple of acres here with my kids. I couldn't make heads or tails out of the geologic maps except that I know I am right on the edge of two formations and supposedly in an area that was once a shallow body of water. I know most if not everything is Ordovican (probably butchered the spelling on that). I just want to know what kind of spot I am looking for to dig in - really rocky, high up, low down, shale, gray clay....these have been some of the things I have seen....but again, I'm finding nothing but shells and coral looking stuff (and crinoids, I think are the other things I have seen). Just learning the terminology and I don't even know what tools to use besides a hammer and hubby has used a pick axe. Whatever tips or advice you can give would be much appreciated! Thanks ya'll!

[Uncle Siphuncle]

i have to travel extensively to find what i'm after... many fossils are zone specific so if you cant travel i'd suggest closely scrutinizing each lithology (rock type) on your property bcz different lithologies often represent different sea conditions and resulting different faunas. if you are after well preserved trilobites and crinoids i'd suggest targeting the fine grained shales and clays as opposed to the limestone hash which was formed in turbulent seas... delicate fossils generally arent found well preserved amongst wave action ground shells. best of luck!

[Fossildude19]

Mary,

Welcome to the Forum!

Dan has given some great advice.

I would add that, in many areas, there are those sedimentary rocks that look right, may be the right age to have fossils, ... but have absolutely nothing or extremely little in the way of fossils.

Sometimes moving over, up, or down a few feet, or inches even, can make all the difference. Sometimes, not!

Keep in mind - Fossil HUNTING is just that- lots of hunting, sometimes little in the way of FINDING! ! If it was called FOSSIL FINDING, well,... everyone would be doing it!!!

If you let us know what county you are in, we could help to narrow down the geology a bit. - also - it would give you an idea of what kind of fossils could be found. - Have you seen this website yet? Keep in mind - the info is old, but it could give you an idea of the fossils found in your county.

I know this can be daunting, but, keep looking - you never know what you'll find.

I would agree that the finer shales would be the place to look for other types of fossils.

Add "Pry bar", and "cold chisels" to your vocabulary, and your tool kit.

They will be helpful tools!

Best of luck, and keep us informed of your progress!

Regards,

Edited October 27, 2011 by Fossildude19

[Kosmoceras]

Welcome to the forum! About half of my fossils come from my back yard. If you get some gravel for a driveway or footpath, then they sometimes contain fossils. In mine I found sponges, shells, ammonites, belemnites and some other cool stuff. My gravel came from a cirtain location though, so you might not find them in any old rock path. Good luck!

[MikeD]

There are lots of wonderful Ordovician fossils in your area. I would check the rocks at all levels of your property. Some layers may have nothing, others could have some nice surprises.

[erose]

Mary,

The Ordovician (you got it right!) rocks of your area are well known for their abundance of fossils. World Class stuff. The shells (mostly brachiopods) and the "corals" (small branching stuff are actually bryozoans) make up the vast majority of the fossils in those Ordovician rocks. BUT amongst all of them can be found a great variety of other stuff including crinoids, trilobites, cephalopods and much, much more. There are hundreds of species of all sort. I would suggest you continue with your research (you impressed us all by actually having looked at at geologic map!) by checking out the following two web sites:

http://www.drydredgers.org/ follow their links for images from field trips they have taken, including many in KY. also look at their images of the variety of fossils found.

http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/ this site is all about the geology and fossils. It might be a bit more technical but the fossil section has lots of photos.

You say you don't get out much but a very worthwhile trip would be to head up to Cincinnati and visit the Natural History Museum. The museum center there in the old train station is really cool. They have a children's and history museum there as well so take the family.

THEN hit the gift shop and ask for this book: Cincinnati Fossils, An Elementary Guide to the Ordovician of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Region. by R. A. Davis, Cincinnati Museum of Natural History Popular Publication 10, Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, Cincinnati, OH. It would be the best book you could get to start off in the area you live.

I am very envious that you are sitting on those rocks. I was raised up the pike a bit in Dayton (OH that is) and those Ordovician rocks are still my favorites. Good luck.

ERose

[Auspex]

Sounds like finding fossils is not a problem! If you are jaded by the same-old-same-old, start categorizing your finds, become familiar with what is common, and then the "different" stuff will stand out. Sample a lot of rock from various locations; the paleo habitat, and thus the fauna, can change (or not) in a very short distance up or down.

[tracer]

the best way to find stuff, if you're in a region where there is stuff, is to take a kid along and go exploring. i don't say "the best way" because it's the way you'll find the most stuff, because it isn't. but it's still the best way.

it's a jonathan livingston seagull thing. the quest is the goal, and the things you find are tangible reminders that you are one who goes on quests.

and when you go to different places, you eventually start finding different stuff. then you come home and research it all and learn a bunch. lather, rinse, repeat.

[bear-dog]

I would be careful digging in the back yard for fossils.The last time I did it the yard flooded and there was no cable in the neighborhood for weeks.

[Mary]

Thanks for the comments...you guys surely know how to make someone feel welcome! I picked up the book Cincinnati Fossils, An Elementary Guide to the Ordovician of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Region, at a library in a neighboring county. I am actually in Gallatin County. One of the websites gave two places that I could search in my county, but both are road cuts, and not a very safe place to take children. I don't feel comfortable, nor do I have the physical ability, to climb around road cuts or rock quarries. What I am primarily finding (and please forgive the fact that I don't know all the names and proper wording), are rocks that look like they are giant clusters of coral, shells (several different styles and sizes), and some other shaped corals. On one side of my hill, I am finding rocks that look like all they are are layers upon layers of shells and broken coral. Almost something I would expect if the body of water dried up and everything settled in one place. Then, on the other side of the hill, my husband dug a hole, and we found some shale looking rock bits on top, gray clay, and then these reddish brown circular type of rocks - some with a crumbly consistency, and others with a harder consistency. There are some little shells and various small bits of coral attached to the top at times. There are pieces that break off in a circular manner around the edges. I thought maybe they were a form of sponge that I saw in an identification manual. There is nothing around them or above or below them, but I found a section of them, and there are still more there. There are other things I am seeing...although maybe I am just seeing things....they could be plant impressions. I just don't know how to clean this stuff without ruining it. I also cannot break or chip the rocks that look like all the shells and coral smashed together. Those rocks are so hard! From everything I read, this is most likely limestone?

I used to think fossils were easy to discover, but now I realize how hard you have to work hard to find them! I did pick up a cold chisel set from the local Harbor Freight store. I am reading lots. Our home is in an area with the Fairview and Kope Formations. It appears that the lower we are, we fall within the Kope formation, and the higher up I go, I will be in the Fairview formation. I don't know if that makes a difference in how we search or not......

Hoping to post some pictures of what I am finding by tomorrow. Again, thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it!

[tracer]

one of the reasons to search for other locations is that some locations are much easier to deal with than others, and some fossils are much nicer and better preserved and cleaner to start with in different places. even in the same formation, at different locations i've found fossils at some places that aren't worth picking up and the same type of fossils at other places that are gorgeous and perfect. it just really pays to look around.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

fairview and kope have great cephalopods, crinoids, trilobites, even edrioasteroids

[isotelus rex]

If you finding crinoids lens then there is a good chance that you can find trilobites.I may be wrong on this but I believe the more shales in a cut are from less turbulent seas that were deposited in a offshore deeper inviroment that wasn't affected as much by hurricans.This makes the delicate fossils preserve better I would look for pockets of crinoid stems that are fairly long and still together Nd search closely some of the Cincinnati trilobites are fairly small.I hunt in you area a lot I would bet as Dan says your in The kope formation.

[Mary]

I think I found a trilobite! It's very small, and I think it might just be the top part, but I was so excited yesterday! It's a P something meeki I think. I have posted some of the pics to my photobucket of the stuff we have uncovered and collected. I am still trying to identify it all, but I am excited to get some feedback.

Here's my album. Some of the rocks are wet because they were left on the back porch and it rained the last two days off and on.

http://s763.photobucket.com/albums/xx276/sunny747/

[Jocky]

Hi Mary,

Welcome to the forum. I am also new to fossil hunting.

12 months ago I knew nothing about fossils but now I know my area and what to look for. This is the hard bit when you start looking for fossils, I did not know what I was looking at. I now have lots of reference books and websites and the identifying process is a much bigger part of my hobby.

Stick with it and dont be afraid to post questions on this forum they are all very friendly.

CHEERS

[erose]

I think I found a trilobite! It's very small, and I think it might just be the top part, but I was so excited yesterday! It's a P something meeki I think. I have posted some of the pics to my photobucket of the stuff we have uncovered and collected. I am still trying to identify it all, but I am excited to get some feedback.

Here's my album. Some of the rocks are wet because they were left on the back porch and it rained the last two days off and on.

http://s763.photobuc...xx276/sunny747/

Mary! Yep you have a trilobite in there. At least part of the head of Flexicalymene meeki. You also have a good variety of other stuff:

Lots of bryozoans which are the branching and frond shaped things I believe you are calling corals. The Kope and Fairview are not known for many corals although they occur higher up in the Richmond age rocks.

You have numerous crinoid stems, brachiopods, a few clams, cephalopods and a snail or two.

Those rocks in your first few pictures in Photobucket are lenses of limestone and would be surrounded by softer clay. The heavy and very hard limestones which are packed with fossils are indeed assemblages of dead critters but not from a dried out sea. Instead they probably accumulated on the bottom of the sea from wave action and then were cemented together as calcium carbonate (limestone) settled amongst them. As someone mentioned the clays represent deeper and quieter water and can hold great fossils like complete crinoids and enrolled trilobites.

The "plant like"like fossils are actually mineral deposits known as dendrites. They form when water gets into the rocks and deposits stuff in between thin layers of shale. Some folks collect them because they can be rather pretty or take on interesting forms.

Good stuff keep hunting.