tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 tmaier, Thanks so much, I have been looking for a map like this for a long time. This info is great, thanks again! If anyone wants to send me anything it is greatly appreciated, I love to learn about the fossils in my area. Yer welcome... I'm trying to show people how they can find this info themselves, because the plugs and points on my Way-Back machine need a trip to the shop. Everybody can have their own Way-Back machine and pay for their own repairs. And I'm sorry to hear about the Carboniferous collision of Arkansas and South America. I hope everybody is OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I checked google images for "interference ripples geology" they all show some semblance of symmetry. I'm not saying its impossible but the deposition of the particles typically represents energy direction. 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...
fossils4fun Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 Wow this is great, I found this nearby could I get some opinion on what it could be the imprint of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Now that piece might be a bryozoa. I also see a "stick" looking thing on the far right that could be a piece of branching coral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Ripples like these are the result of gentle omni-directional sloshing. A positive clay impression would look more natural, with broad, round-bottom valleys and narrow, sharper ridge tops. On close examination of the first image, post #1, I see what you mean. Some of the peaks on those ripples are flat, which is abnormal, indicating it is most likely a cast of the surface. Also, I see no signs of critter activity on the surface, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Ripples like these are the result of gentle omni-directional sloshing. A positive clay impression would look more natural, with broad, round-bottom valleys and narrow, sharper ridge tops. That's my learnin' for the day! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I just checked with our top sedimentologist and he informs us these are not water ripples: Quote These are commonly called Kinneyia, as a trace fossil name, and attributed to shear beneath aquatic microbial mats. There is a large amount of literature on them, and I regard them as aquatic and distinct from non-marine traces such as Rivularites = old elephant skin. There are numerous excellent papers on Kinneyia: LINK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Well, that makes the fossil much more exciting... "old elephant skin"... Do you think the age could still be Carboniferous? And no mention of my allosaur butt-print theory, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I clearly was looking askew to the obvious pattern Auspex and tmaier point out. The third look can do wonders for the mind. I had a good ride home with plenty of time to think about it. The trough and peak impressions (casts) do indeed show deposition by low energy. I learned there are ripples in seas as deep as 600 feet. Cool stuff. Ps. These segments are isolated. Bryozoan are branching. As my 80year old calculus professor used to say, '' Gotta learn something new every day or you may as well take the gas pipe'' 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...
squali Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Ha fooled again. If you look the op has algae as a subtitle Good job fossils4fun. Piranha thanks, I may of given in too early on my instinct But I'm sitting the fence for a little while. 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...
piranha Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Well, that makes the fossil much more exciting... "old elephant skin"... Do you think the age could still be Carboniferous? The name "old elephant skin" is reference to Rivularites, not Kinneyia. According to the literature, Kinneyia has been around since the Archean, quite a long time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Incredible! Source: LINK "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...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 While poking through some ordivician strata near Ringgold, Tenn., I found a large surface that had a rippled surface and a "mat" of white material veneered to it. I sat on it for a while and thought about how that could happen, but didn't come to any conclusion except that some kaolin clay had been deposited on a beach. I'm pretty sure now this is what I was sitting on. Unfortunately I didn't take a sample. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossils4fun Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 This is really exciting. I found this about 100 feet away http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/47514-fossilized-algae/ Sorry, I didn't know how to just link the picture only, you have to scroll down to find it. I thought it looked kind of odd too. The thickness is about double though. Thanks so much everybody, I really am enjoying all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 fossils4fun, It looks like you are finding a lot of shallow water marine or brackish water surfaces. Keep your eyes out for tracks and traces of critter life on those surfaces. They may look like a series of scratches or holes. they might be trace fossils... http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=trace+fossils&gbv=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=CDYKVIX5K8emyAS5kIKIBA&ved=0CB0QsAQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossils4fun Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 fossils4fun, It looks like you are finding a lot of shallow water marine or brackish water surfaces. Keep your eyes out for tracks and traces of critter life on those surfaces. They may look like a series of scratches or holes. they might be trace fossils... http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=trace+fossils&gbv=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=CDYKVIX5K8emyAS5kIKIBA&ved=0CB0QsAQ Thanks, I will start paying more attention, I find worms with a lot of legs sometimes, sorry, don't know the technical name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I find worms with a lot of legs sometimes, sorry, don't know the technical name. Ahhh! Centipedes, millipedes? I'd certainly like to see them, whatever they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossils4fun Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 Ahhh! Centipedes, millipedes? I'd certainly like to see them, whatever they are. Sure, here is a little one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Oh cool, that's a trace fossil of a trilobite walking across a mud floor. The scientific name is Cruziana. http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cruziana+trace+fossil&gbv=1&as_q=&nfpr=&spell=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=G0AKVI7BGdD3yQSd5IBg&ved=0CBwQsAQ That's the kind of stuff you might find a lot of, if you are finding surfaces that critters can leave tracks on. That's a really nice one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossils4fun Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 Oh cool, that's a trace fossil of a trilobite walking across a mud floor. The scientific name is Cruziana. http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cruziana+trace+fossil&gbv=1&as_q=&nfpr=&spell=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=G0AKVI7BGdD3yQSd5IBg&ved=0CBwQsAQ That's the kind of stuff you might find a lot of, if you are finding surfaces that critters can leave tracks on. That's a really nice one. Thank you so much, I hope to find more as soon as I can go back out. I can't go searching until the poison ivy is long gone. It's nice to have people to talk to about my finds and I love to see what others have found. Thanks again and have a wonderful evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Thank you for showing them. Remember that you are walking on and picking through ancient beaches, from 300+ million years ago. As you go collecting, image what it looked like back then and image you are walking on a shallow sea shoreline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Thank you for showing them. Remember that you are walking on and picking through ancient beaches, from 300+ million years ago. As you go collecting, image what it looked like back then and image you are walking on a shallow sea shoreline. Bonus: no poison ivy 300 million years ago "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 September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 On 9/5/2014 at 4:01 PM, tmaier said: Oh cool, that's a trace fossil of a trilobite walking across a mud floor. The scientific name is Cruziana. Trilobites are not the only makers of Cruziana. For example, Cruziana problematica from the Triassic certainly proves that not all Cruziana were made by trilobites. Seilacher and many other notable authors have demonstrated that trilobites were capable of producing Cruziana, unfortunately not all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I know not all Cruziana are trilobite, but I was trying to give the poster something to relate to. Trilobite is some the poster can look up and see a critter. Problematica are hard to describe. Remember a lot of people who come here only have a vague idea of what is going on, so give a technical explanation for one audience and then "common man" explanation for everybody else. Here's a trace I found many years ago in a pile of left over debris from the construction of my fireplace. Sorry about the poor picture quality, it is digitized from an NTSC video signal. I call it "lips". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I just checked with our top sedimentologist and he informs us these are not water ripples: IMG1.jpg There are numerous excellent papers on Kinneyia: LINK Fossils4 Fun, very neat specimen! Scott, good stuff as always! I was wondering and wandering as I do quite often....Any comments/mention from the sedimentologist on what the polished circular area might have been caused by? I've seen some interesting large bubbling in algal mats.....Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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