Scalaripora canadensis bryozoan from the Arkona formation

A couple of years ago I found a small, isolated specimen of Scalaripora sp. from the Arkona formation. On a visit this past fall I found two more pieces that are larger than that first piece. Both have the same thin, tripartite growth pattern but there is enough present that I think I can narrow the species down to S. canadensis. I base this upon reading an old text: "Contributions to Canadian Palæontology, Volume 1" By Joseph Frederick Whiteaves, Montreal, 1885.  Page 378 has the following description and plate 48 has an illustration. 

"Zoarium consisting of stems that are triangular and almost equilateral in transverse section, the broadest of the three faces having a maximum diameter of about 7.5 mm, and the narrowest of 6.5 mm. Faces shallowly concave or nearly flat: angles acute forming three sharp, prominent, and nearly straight but rather irregular, longitudinal ridges. Transverse ridges distant, nearly as far apart as the faces are broad, not continuous in either of the two fragments examined, developed (or present) on two of the faces in the longer of these fragments, and on only one face in the shorter. Whole surface celluliferous, apertures averaging from about 0.16 mm to 0.25 mm in diameter, usually rather more than their own diameter apart, or about equal to it in distance, subcircular with a slightly elevated annular peristome and arranged obscurely in more or less regular diagonal rows, seven or eight in three mm. Internal structure not observed. "

Specimen #1

Specimen #2

Leptotrypella quadrangularis bryozoan from the Arkona formation

At the site near Arkona, Ont., Canada where I go to collect fossils from the Arkona and Widder formation, there is a large pile of excavated clay-stone from the Arkona formation. The rock is quarried for use in brick making but needs to be weathered some before it is used. On this pile I found a piece of bryozoan that belonged to a larger colony of Leptotrypella quadrangularis. This is a new species for my collection.

It looks very similar to Atactotoechus fruticosus but the monticules (the raised bumps on the surface of the fossil) appear to be slightly taller.

Lindstroemella sp. brachiopod from the Centerfield Mbr.

The partial shell below is likely from an inarticulate brachiopod called Lindstoemella sp.  It came from the Centerfield mbr. of the Ludlowville Fm. near Fayette, NY.  This would have been the top valve of the animal since the bottom valve was likely cemented to a hard surface.

It is interesting to note the differences in the rock type of the Centerfield member between two geographically distant locations. Normally I collect fossils from this rock unit that are eroding out of a grey limestone near East Bethany, NY. This fossil came from Fayette, NY, which is 66 miles due east, and is more argillaceous (has more clay minerals). This is significant in that it shows different depositional environments occurring at roughly the same time intervals which leads to thoughts of why that would happen.

The theory is that an ocean basin that existed in the Devonian over much of western and central New York, was slowly being filled in from the east by rivers eroding the rising Appalachian Mountains as continents were coming together to form Pangea.  Rocks with a higher clay content are generally found closer to shore while limestone is a clean, open water rock. So the open sea was in the western part of the state and the shoreline was progressively moving east to west as sediments were carried from the land.

Digging in the Wheeler Shale

I found some pictures I took while on a trip to Utah back in 2007. I was in the House Range area of Utah, west of the town of Delta, digging around in the Wheeler Shale. The Wheeler Shale (middle Cambian age) is well know for it's abundant and well preserved trilobite fossils and I was looking to add some to my collection. There are a couple of pay dig areas in the area like U-Dig and A New Dig but not many know that you can literally find trilobite fossils in at just about any exposure in the area.

This is a prospect that I saw from the road as I was driving around. Someone had come it and was digging shale out of the ground and splitting.

I looked around the spoil heaps a little and then sat down with my flat chisel to try my hand at splitting.

Some of my finds.

I think this is a worm trail or could it be some kind of algae?

Here is a shot of another, more extensive quarry where they had borught in machinery to remove the rock from a hill. Notably, the shale layers were tan in color rather then the usual light grey I'd seen everywhere else. At this site the trilobites were colored red rather than black.

Devonian fossil wood from the New Albany shale in Kentucky

I was going through some of my boxes of Devonian material the other day and came across some specimens of coalified wood that I'd found a few years back in Kentucky. The fossils were found at a location where some rock had been dumped as fill. I'd been alerted to the location by a member of the Fossil Forum who'd found a piece of fish bone at the same location. I didn't find any bone but these carbonized impressions were pretty cool so I picked up what I could find. I'd forgotten about them until I pulled this flat out of a box.

I have no idea what species of plant they came from but they sort of look like the Calamites stems I find in Pennsylvanian aged rocks. These fossils come from rock that I think belongs to the New Albany Shale which is upper Devonian in age. I do have a piece of petrified wood from the New Albany Shale that I blogged about here, but it does not look quite the same as what I collected.

Here is a panoramic view of the collecting locality as it existed in  2009.