Missourian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 The weather was nice, so I stopped at a couple of sites to collect some hash plates. Upper Winterset Limestone, Pennsylvanian Clay County, Missouri: Stick bryozoans, crinoid debris and carbonized wood fragments can be seen here. Gastropods can also be found in this muddy limestone. Ostracods are common as well, though I'll have to put these under the scope to see any. Lower Wea Shale, Pennsylvanian Jackson County, Missouri: The little blue brachiopods are Crurythris. The tiny white things are ammovertellids, a type of foram. Another plate: A few larger brachs can be found scattered in the debris: Cephalopods are not unheard of in these beds: I found this one some years back. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I will never get over my romance with hash plates! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Very nice plates. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 (edited) Nice. The diversity inside a few square inches is awesome. Recently I was looking over a plate from the Cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician) and realized it held bits of four different trilobite genera: Isotelus, Flexicalymene, Acidapsis and Ceraurus. That included spines, pygidia, free cheeks and two hypostomes. Bryozoans, brachs, and crinoid debris filled in all the other space. I had collected it many years before and only just now took a really close look. The nautiloid is pretty darn nice too (got a little hash in the middle). Yesterday I collected the Texas Pennsylvanian with great success, but nothing as nice as that. Gotta post pics and a report once I can take photos. Edited February 27, 2012 by erose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudeman Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Great plates! Troy Nelson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 The most amazing thing about these 6-8" Wea beds is how they retain their character over several tens of miles, and yet the rocks just a couple inches above or below are completely different. Also, no other limestones in the area are anything like it. These characteristics make this bed extremely useful when trying to identify the stratigraphic level. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I love it when the plate is almost all hash with little-or-no matrix. Is that a tooth, crinoid plate or something else near the center of the fossil on the left in the first picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 I love it when the plate is almost all hash with little-or-no matrix. Is that a tooth, crinoid plate or something else near the center of the fossil on the left in the first picture? That's a crinoid spine, probably Delocrinus. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 A Wea plate with some hash-filled burrows: Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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