RCFossils Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Yesterday, I decided to take a last minute collecting trip out to Pit 11. We had just had some heavy rains so i figured the timing should be great. The fossil gods did not disappoint and I managed to collect 810 concretions in approximately 6 hours. I also collected approximately 30 fossils that had already naturally split open. Most were Essexella jellyfish but i also found a fantastic large shrimp, cyclus, scallop and a rarer gastropod. i also found a few nice plants including Neuropteris, pecopteris, Annularia, Lycopod bracht and a nice Stigmaria. I am attaching a few pictures of the collecting area along with a few of the better plants and animals. Now starts the process of freeze/ thawing the concretions. The 810 nodules fill three five gallon buckets approximately 3/4 full. I will soak them in water for several days and then place them in a chest freezer. I will update this post as the concretions open and will give a final count once I have finished the process. With this many concretions, the odds are pretty good that I should have a few good specimens. Here are a few pictures of the collecting areas out on the islands of Braidwood Lake. The weather was great and I only came across a few ticks. I also saw a few skinks and a garter snake (to fast to get pictures of). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 A few concretions in situ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 My best naturally split find of the day was this large example of the recently described shrimp Lobetelson mclaughlinae. This is the best example that i have found in several years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 810 concretions in 6 hours? Now everyone else can cancel any collecting plans to Pit 11 for the foreseeable future Congrats Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMNH Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Wow that's a great haul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 That's a beautiful shrimp.. Cannot wait to hear the good stuff that pops out of those concretions that are waiting to hatch.. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel59 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Rob did you leave any behind??? Great haul will keep track to see what goodies you find... Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 My best naturally split find of the day was this large example of the recently described shrimp Lobetelson mclaughlinae. This is the best example that i have found in several years Even I can recognize this as a shrimp; it must be a great example! Recently described, you say; it is good to think that this old site still has some surprises up its sleeve. "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...
piranha Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Is Lobetelson a recent new find from the field or something erected from previous collections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Is Lobetelson a recent new find from the field or something erected from previous collections? LINK to PDF Sounds like it was distinguished recently, through research of old collections. "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...
RCFossils Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Thanks for the comments. The terrain is very rugged and my body is still recovering but it was a lot of fun. In regards to the Lobetelson, A few years back, Dr Fred Schram went back and reviewed some of the shrimp that he had described from the Mazon Creek deposit. In the years since his original description of Belotelson, many additional specimens had been collected and he noticed some distinct differences in the length of the rostrum and shape of the tail. He assigned the Belotelson with the longer rostrum to Lobetelson. It is one of the more common shrimp in the Essex (marine) portion of the Mazon Creek deposit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 :greenwnvy: Looks like the islands are the place to be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Russell Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) Great report Rob! I'm thankful you posted the insitu pics giving us an opportunity to see the nodules as they lay. That shrimp is fantastic! Great find. I'm looking forward to your updates over the next fourty years as those nodules open for you. ESCONI has a field trip on 5/19-5/20 on some private land, and I'm hoping the yields high. I'm looking forward to attending. Will you be making the trip, Rob? Btw... Driving to work this morning I got to thinking. Over eight hundred modules in three buckets. The average size of the nodules must be fairly small? Edited May 10, 2012 by Rob Russell Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 810 concretions in 6 hours? Now everyone else can cancel any collecting plans to Pit 11 for the foreseeable future Congrats Rob Assume each concretion has finite value of $10 Let's see 810 x $10 = value of $8100 in 6 hr of work .... not bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 I figured with my return back to the forum, i would update this post. It has been a little over a month since my collecting trip out to Pit 11 and I have done about ten freeze thaw cycles on the 800+ concretions that i collected back in May. Approximately eighty percent have spilt and as expected, the majority did not contain fossils. And of the ones that have split, the vast majority have been Essexella jellyfish and plant fragments. Still, there have been a few exciting finds with the best being a fantastic example of an extremely rare priapulid worm which is only the seond that i have found in over thirty years of collecting. The species is Priapulites konecneorum and is the only priapulid worm known in the Mazon Creek deposit. This is one of the best examples that i have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Here is another picture of the fossil along with a similar modern example of these unusual worms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 This is another fantastic find. It is a museum quality example of the scarce polychaete worm Rhaphidiophorus hystrix. This is the best example that I have ever collected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 This is a rare agnathan (fish) that I had spilt open the other day. It is a great example of Gilpicthys greenei. This example is very well preserved and has an unusual tail that is curled in. It has been three years since I found my last example of this lamprey like fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Here is another great Polychaete worm that just split open. It is a fantastic example of Esconites zelus and is the better of two examples that have split open from this batch. It is definately one of the nicest that i have found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 I have several scallops and clams spit open. This is a very nice example of the scallop aviculopecten mazonensis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 I have had four partial Tully Monsters split open. This is the best of the four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 In addition to some great animals, I was also surprised to find some unusually nice plants. While the Mazon Creek deposit is known for it's beautiful plant fossils, most of the plants from Pit 11 are small and fragmentary. Here is a great example of Neuropteris ovata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 This is a nice large example of Pecopteris bucklandi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobiteruss Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Nice finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacialerratic Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Fantastic fossils! Thanks for sharing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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