Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Yesterday was a great time to be in the mountains. This outing is an hour drive west of Calgary....then 45 minute bike ride, 30 minute hike and then a 45 minute climb. A bit of a gruel but the Nature all around is what I like best. At least downhill coming back to the car. This is the eastern 'Front Ranges' of the Alberta Rockies. Not as spectacular as the mountain parks but great for hiking and backpacking. The area I'm showing in photos is mostly early Carboniferous, Tournasian and Visean stages. The formations are collectively known as the Rundle Group. The fossils found are quite diverse. I'm most interested in brachiopods and there's about 55 species. I found about 15 species loose...a few more in matrix. Also found loose were blastoids, corals, crinoids stems, a crinoids calyx and, surprising 2 tiny shark teeth...first Carboniferous ones I've ever found out of matrix. In the matrix (rock) itself, lots of brachiopods, blastoids, bryozoan, crinoids bits, colonial corals, trilobite pygidiums and a few varieties of shark teeth. Too lazy to haul much home except for a few loose specimens and one rugose coral colony. Some fossil photos in following post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Quite a variety of fauna in the matrix. The mix varies quite a bit with the layers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Nice pix... is it OK to collect inverts in Alberta? I know they have pretty strict rules on dinosaurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Some of the shark teeth in matrix. Largest, Acrodus, about 3cm. Teeth tend to be in groups...hard to future out distribution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Kind of neat. 'Exploded' crinoid head Second photo, bryozoan and blastoid Third, my interest...mostly brachiopods. I look for loose ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 very nice mix. any wave sorting plates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Brought home one 'heavy' specimen. Complete rugose coral colony...grows outward like a triangle. Second photo...Syringopora tabulate coral colony. About size of volleyball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Kind of neat...Echinodermata...very small crinoid type beastie. The calyx is small...centimetre or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Very cool. Nice variety of fossils at this location. I like the fossil slab. Would look great with an air brush over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Jpc re collecting fossils in Alberta...only restrictions in parks and a few protected areas.However, not permitted to excavate for fossils. Not a big issue as no need to excavate as most specimens found on the surface. Even if excavation was permitted it is 'work' and best left to well equipped teams. Fossil collectors here just walk the badlands. Dino bone is plentiful...it's finding complete teeth, bones that is the challenge. There are restrictions on selling fossils or removing them from the province without special disposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Very cool. Nice variety of fossils at this location. I like the fossil slab. Would look great with an air brush over it. Most of the rocks are like this. I,ve never used an air brush so not familiar with it. What brings out good relief is a quick spray with hydrochloric acid then rinse with water. Also, if lucky quick whack with a rock hammer can cleanly pop out a few brachs or blastoids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Most of the rocks are like this. I,ve never used an air brush so not familiar with it. What brings out good relief is a quick spray with hydrochloric acid then rinse with water. Also, if lucky quick whack with a rock hammer can cleanly pop out a few brachs or blastoids. Nice. How do you go about spraying it with hydrochloric acid? I'm not familiar with using hydrochloric acid. Do you use a spray bottle and then how long do you wait until you rinse it with water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Mako, I reduce it down to about 20% and use an empty plastic spray cleaner container. Spraying gets it into the cracks a bit more. Leave it for 15 seconds or so then rinse under the tap and leave in water for a few minutes...can leave there longer. All of this depends on the matrix and how silicifield the fossils are. Always best to practice on a scrap piece. Can repeat the proces if the fossils are highly silicifield. If there are shark teeth then I only use acetic acid as they are fragile and need to be careful not to remove the surface. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Mako, I reduce it down to about 20% and use an empty plastic spray cleaner container. Spraying gets it into the cracks a bit more. Leave it for 15 seconds or so then rinse under the tap and leave in water for a few minutes...can leave there longer. All of this depends on the matrix and how silicifield the fossils are. Always best to practice on a scrap piece. Can repeat the proces if the fossils are highly silicifield. If there are shark teeth then I only use acetic acid as they are fragile and need to be careful not to remove the surface. Interesting. I was just curious about how you would approach "cleaning" the slabs. I live in NC, so I'm not familiar with any of the fossil slabs. I bet it would look nice once it is cleaned. Here in NC, most of our fossils come out of a formation that can easily be eroded by a source of water. It makes collecting shark teeth a lot easier. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Mako, Re teeth out of matrix. I brought home a small zip lock bag to look at sediment under the microscope. These are the only loose Paleozoic Chondrichthyes teeth I've ever found. These are on a slide and photographed through the microscope eyepiece using an an IPhone. All other shark specimens I,ve ever found have been in limestone matrix. I wasn't even looking for teeth but was thinking about little brachs, crinoid bits, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 What a great heap of stones and fantastic background for collecting! The possibilities for good finds appear to be infinite. Paradise! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Mako, Re teeth out of matrix. I brought home a small zip lock bag to look at sediment under the microscope. These are the only loose Paleozoic Chondrichthyes teeth I've ever found. These are on a slide and photographed through the microscope eyepiece using an an IPhone. All other shark specimens I,ve ever found have been in limestone matrix. I wasn't even looking for teeth but was thinking about little brachs, crinoid bits, etc. Interesting. I like the detail on those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nala Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Great report and pictures! very nice finds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 What a great heap of stones and fantastic background for collecting! The possibilities for good finds appear to be infinite. Paradise! Yes and no. Its productive but good locations also need to be found. Basically it can mean trying to find a way up a slope for a couple of hours and then being thwarted by the angle, a ledge or whatever. The last photo in my first group of scenery photos looks across the valley to the same formation....it took me two tries before I could access that area...about 1100 feet altitude gain after really sweating. I recall finally getting up there, collected a while, got lost coming down through the trees...finally got down, looked up and had no idea where I had been. Some day I'll climb up again and just hope to be lucky to make it to the formation. I've been up a lot of tempting mountain slopes and found nothing worth collecting. However still worthwhile as I like the Nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobiteruss Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 ah and this looks familiar with my trips in western US, it is equivalent to a lot of what is called "Madison" and other names Like Lake Valley (New Mexico) for example further south in US. A time of large carbonate deposition along that area. Great fossils for sure. Looks like paradise to me also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Here's some blastoids collected. They vary as one ascends the fossiliferous area. Blastoids in our formations have not been studied. The genera are akin to Pentremites found in the Eastern USA and to early Carboniferous found in the west like Cryptoblastus and Schizoblastus. Most blastoids are in the matrix. However, if loose, often just sitting on a ledge at the uppermost member of the Banff Formation. Odd how they aren't blown off by the winds and rain. Canada got rid of the penny this year but they still have their use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Very cool area and fauna. Love the early shark teeth. Thanks for posting this report. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahuijsmans Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 fantastic surroundings! wish my fossiling locations were that beautifull Awesome fossils....specially love the paleozoic sharks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blastoid Thanks for the post Northstar learn something new every day. It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busyeagle Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 What a journey to get out there! I love the mix of nature and fossil hunting. Looks like great fun questing for new outcrops up in the mountains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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