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Another Uintacrinus From Haslam Fm, Vancouver Isl.


Wrangellian

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Here is my latest 'big' find, one of my 2 best Uintacrinus specimens from Mt Tz(o)uhalem, Vancouver Island (Upper Santonian). I have not heard of any others this good being found on this Island, so it may be one of the best of all.

May not look like much right now, but I've got some stabilizing still to do and then it could use some prepping (by someone with the right equip. and who knows how!), but the head is in lower right and arms branching toward upper left. This was a free-floating crinoid, one of two types we find in the U. Sant. here.

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Edited by Wrangellian
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Hey, that's cool! Not often you hear about floating crinoids from the cretaceous. Good luck stabilizing that, the matrix looks crumbly.

-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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Wow, that's the nicest one I've seen from the Haslam. It should look great once you have it prepped. Do you also find Marsupites at that site? I have one from Haslam creek.

Don

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Ha! Yes I've seen pics of those from Kansas, but here on the west coast they are quite rare.

I might have some small platelets from a Marsupites but otherwise I haven't seen any at this site. I need to get up to Haslam Creek one of these days, I guess. Anyway it is quite diverse at this site - the worst thing is, yes, it is very crumbly. It keeps my pretty busy when I bring a bunch home to stabilize.

BTW Here is a reconstruction of a Uintacrinus and a repost of my earlier one:

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Edited by Wrangellian
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awesome find, I love those crinoids. have a large slab from Kansas and found a site in colorado that may someday produce some nice ones.

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  • 4 months later...

Here is my latest 'big' find, one of my 2 best Uintacrinus specimens from Mt Tz(o)uhalem, Vancouver Island (Upper Santonian). I have not heard of any others this good being found on this Island, so it may be one of the best of all.

May not look like much right now, but I've got some stabilizing still to do and then it could use some prepping (by someone with the right equip. and who knows how!), but the head is in lower right and arms branching toward upper left. This was a free-floating crinoid, one of two types we find in the U. Sant. here.

Hi Eric,

I think you've helped me with an ID I was having trouble with. I found a little cluster of what looked like an "egg sack" at Tzouhalem last month, which now appears to me to be plates from your specimen displayed here. What do you think?

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Steve Suntok

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Wow, that's the nicest one I've seen from the Haslam. It should look great once you have it prepped. Do you also find Marsupites at that site? I have one from Haslam creek.

Don

hey Don

Have you any pics of the one you found at Haslam?

Steve

Steve Suntok

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Yep, that looks like Uintacrinus bits.. I found another good one just yesterday myself, I'll try to make a scan of it.

It says in West Coast Fossils they are found as "dense clusters of large, thin, hexagonal plates" on Trent River. Now with Tzuhalem, there are more than just plate clusters. This is one reason why I wish they would do an update to the book, because I could contribute pics of some new/better things myself and I'm sure there are others who could also.

I'd like to see a pic of that Marsupites too, Don.

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OK, here's my new one from yesterday - it's a thin, flat piece - pretty much just the flattened crinoid without matrix - but surprisingly is holding together well enough without glue:

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pretty neat Eric, I hadn;t seen those first several, that looks like difficult matrix to take larger fossils out of, way to go :)

"Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus

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You bet it is Carm, I've got quite a few chunks waiting for the right equipment to prep out the fossils!

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Here's that Marsupites. It's not complete, just some basals and one arm base radial, but given the rarity of the species in the Haslam I'm pretty happy with it.

Don

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Thanks Don, It may be incomplete but like you said, it's rare, and it's more than I have! Plus it's an index fossil, I tend to pick up even single plates when I see them (which is not often).

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Very nice Don - I've never seen one before, other than the picture in West Coast Fossils - thanks for sharing it. Nice find too Eric! You've got a good eye

Steve Suntok

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  • 1 year later...

Wow, that's the nicest one I've seen from the Haslam. It should look great once you have it prepped. Do you also find Marsupites at that site? I have one from Haslam creek.

Don

Hey Fossildawg,

I found one this past week-end from the same area. Not sure if it's Marsupites or Uintacrinus. I believe it to be the former, but I'm no expert. Here's a pic of the speciment I found:

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Edited by ssuntok

Steve Suntok

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Great find Wrangellian. A most excellent specimen!

I did not know there were free floating crinoids. Very cool.

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Hi ssuntok,

That's definitely a Marsupites. Marsupites had only a few large plates (basals [partly fused together] and radials) in the calyx, and Uintacrinus had a much more flexible calyx made up of many small plates, as the lower parts of the arms and numerous interradials were included. I believe there was only one species of Marsupites, M. testudinarius, which occurs worldwide up to the end of the Santonian. It's extinction is a biostratigraphic marker for the beginning of the Campanian. An excellent, and a rare, find!

Don

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  • 1 month later...

Holy schnikes, nifty 'noids! Just thinking of what you'd have to do to prep those puppies is enough to give me the willies. Makes the barely-hardened clay we call the Arkona Shale around here look easy!

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