Showing posts with label Grafton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grafton. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2020

Calymene celebra Trilobite from the Joliet formation

Calymene celebra is the state fossil of Wisconsin and a somewhat common fossil in the white/light grey/tan Silurian aged dolostones that can be found across a number of midwest states. Rocks like this stretch from Wisconsin and Iowa down through Illinois and Indiana into Kentucky.  Below is a specimen of  Calymene celebra from the Joliet formation near Grafton Illinois. It was likely found in a quarry as productive exposures of the Joliet formation are not easy to find. 

This fossil is a cast of the interior of the trilobite exoskeleton so it's missing some of the details one would normally see.  I like this specimen due to the presence of black specks that are present. It kind of reminds me of a Dalmation dog's coat.  I think the black spots are oxidized Pyrite or Marcasite.









I've been fortunate enough to find one specimen of Calymene celebra myself. It comes from a breakwater along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I spotted it among the rocks being used to stabilize the shoreline. It was in a small flat slab so I didn't have to smash anything to collect the specimen. You can see that it was exposed for a time as one side is smooth and some of the fossil detail has been lost.  Since the rocks had been moved from their original location, I am not sure what formation this fossil comes from.







These fossils come from the Silurian period, Llandovery stage (roughly 438-436 mya) which corresponds to the basal Niagaran series in the old N. American chronostratigraphy.