Devonian Eldredgeops From The Conklin Quarry

[evren]

Took a trip to the Conklin Quarry in Coralville, IA this past weekend. The quarry has Devonian strata with the tasty lower and upper Rapid Member producing the majority of the fossils. I was hunting for trilobites and crinoids primarily. The trilobites are Eldredgeops norwoodensis. I was only lucky enough to find a partial of a Greenops pygidium, and a complete Proetid pygidium.

There were two rock types producing trilobites. One was a very fissile soft bluish shale with sorta flattened trilobites. The other is a harder limier shale with much more inflated beautiful bugs. Here are just the bugs I found that I'm pretty positive are complete. I took home numerous other partially complete ones to practice prep work on. Overall the quarry is absolutely crawling with cute critters.

Double enrolled, I'm very hopeful about both having pygidiums.

If this guy's all there, he's going to be beautiful!

Chipped nose peeking out, still hoping for a beauty though.

First bug of the day, and one of my best.

With a tail tucked nicely underneath.

This one is a prep nightmare. Two bugs hiding under a spirifer. 1 in cross section, the other enrolled showing some thorax. Ow Owww!

Definitely disarticulated, but I see two cephalons so who knows what's lurking below.

Two cephalons or a cephalon and a pygidium?

This cutie lost her socks in the storm. I like this one a lot.

Also found this echinoderm material. I'm sure it's some sort of crinoid, but have no clue for an ID.

Many thanks to the CVRMS and MAPS for putting this trip together. I will definitely be attending the next trips to Conklin and/or Klein quarry. Can't wait to hunt crinoids in Klein!

Edited October 16, 2013 by evren

[Fossil Foilist]

Very cool!

[snakebite6769]

Some awesome finds, I'm going to have to join some of the groups so I can get into some of these quarry's, lol. Good luck on the prep, look forward to seeing the finished products.

[PennyT.]

Beautiful finds, Could you tell me what tools I'd need to remove rocks from a quarry? Do I have to bring a weight lifter with me to do the heavy work? Seriously, I drool looking at these pictures but have only been a surface collector so far and use a rock hammer sparingly.

[Malcolmt]

Looks like you dun good..... should be fun to prep......

[evren]

Some awesome finds, I'm going to have to join some of the groups so I can get into some of these quarry's, lol. Good luck on the prep, look forward to seeing the finished products.

Hope to see you out there!

Beautiful finds, Could you tell me what tools I'd need to remove rocks from a quarry? Do I have to bring a weight lifter with me to do the heavy work? Seriously, I drool looking at these pictures but have only been a surface collector so far and use a rock hammer sparingly.

The first thing you need to get rocks from a quarry is permission to be there. Research regional clubs and join! Since collecting where they're actively quarrying is dangerous I've only ever collected on boulder/shale piles. These piles will have everything in them from pea sized chunks to boulders the size of cars. The fossils can be anywhere! You can split huge boulders all day with a sledge or just crawl around and look for the ones that have been broken out for you. I usually do a little bit of both and see which is more productive, then after lunch stick to whatever brought me the best luck. Shale quarries I usually don't even bother with a hammer. For anything else I bring a 5lb crack hammer and a chisel. I haven't taken anything out of a quarry that I couldn't carry alone, but if it were necessary I would get help.

Looks like you dun good..... should be fun to prep......

So far air scribing tests went well. Trying to finish up a thesis before December, so it may be awhile before these bugs are brought to their full glory. Looking forward to the holiday time off.

[Fossildude19]

Nice report and finds, Evren!

Thanks for posting.

Regards,

[fishguy]

Did anyone find any Cephs? Usually 1 or 2 are found

[evren]

Did anyone find any Cephs? Usually 1 or 2 are found

I found a beat up chunk of one, but that's all. Right at the start a dinner plate sized coiled naut external mold was spotted in a large boulder. I think someone sledged it out later in the day. There were a couple other smaller coiled guys found, but not by me. I saw a really odd straight shell that got some ceph experts really excited. Wish I could tell you what it was, but cephalopods are still something I haven't spent much time learning. It was a straight shell with a really bulbous part I'm guessing may be the living chamber?

[sixgill pete]

Nice! I love trilobites, just wish we could find them here in NC.