Monday, August 6, 2012

Enterolasma (Streptolasma) stricta from the Lickling Creek formation

This past April I took a trip through Virginia and West Virginia exploring some sites that were listed in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. One of the more productive sites was in the Licking Creek formation, which is lower Devonian in age (Lockhovian to Pragian stage), where all the fossils were replaced by quartz and could be found eroded loose out of the rock.

A coral that was somewhat common was Enterolasma (Streptolasma) stricta.


The fact that it had been replaced by quartz and eroded out of the rock meant the septa in the calice were well preserved and detailed.

The above specimen came from a roadcut along US route 220 in Highland county, Virginia. The cut is listed as site #16 in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. The Licking Creek formation is equivalent to the Shriver Chert member of the Old Port formation in Pennsylvania and the Birdsong formation in Tennessee which means that the fossils are part of the Helderbergian fauna.

No comments:

Post a Comment