Fossildude19 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Over the Fourth of July weekend, I made my annual pilgrimage to Western NY for a family get-together/reunion. I have been going to the Rushford Lake area for over 20 years now. I usually take a partial day to do some fossil hunting further north and west of that area, closer to Buffalo, NY. This year, as a change of pace from hunting my usually Middle Devonian haunts, I decided to try to get back to a site I went to last year with Jeffrey P that exposes some Silurian aged sediments. I've come across differing opinions on what stratigraphy this site exposes. Some consider this site to be part of the Clinton Group and Lockport Formation, while others consider it to be a Rochester Shale/Lewiston Member exposure. Either way, these fossils are Silurian in age. This is a surface collecting locality, where I get down on hands and knees to search for tiny fossils that have weathered out of the under-laying limestone/shale areas on a hillside. There are chunks of matrix to collect as well, that show hashplates of bryozoans, crinoid, and shell material. I arrived to the site a bit after 8:00 AM. I took my time, and scoured the hillside with a pair of +3.00 reading glasses on, to better see the tiny fossils. It stinks, getting old! This is what the area basically looks like: Rock hammer for scale lower center. As I hunted, I threw interesting looking fossiliferous chunks of matrix down to the bottom of the hill, as I explored the surroundings. I took a few small chunks home to put in the garden to weather out some. I came across a few interesting/photo worthy flora and fauna while hunting. A nice Common Daisy: And a little Yellow caterpillar - possibly a Tiger moth caterpillar: Here he is, on the ground, looking for fossils with me. Note the large amount of ramose bryozoan bits, scattered along the ground. There are also some fenestrate bryozoans, and a Leptaena brachiopod visible in this picture. . I spent about 2 to 2.5 hours at the site, moving along on hands and knees, picking up whatever looked interesting. I found quite a few things. Some corals, both Favosites parasiticus, and Enterolasma caliculus. Ramose and Fenestellid bryozoans. A number of small to miniscule brachiopods - Rhynchonellids, spiriferids, and strophomenids. A few bits of trilobites, both Dalmanites and Flexicalymene. A gastropod, which still needs some prep, and a few crinoid bits. (My identifications come from THIS WEBSITE. ) Here is a group shot of my loose finds. I will have to take some pics this evening or tomorrow of my matrix pieces. I found a really nice, large plate of a crinoid calyx. cystoid! Caryocrinites ornatus. Ruler is in CM. Here are the Trilobites: And a Leptaena with a crinoid (or cystoid?) plate attached, and a tiny brachiopod- unidentified at the moment. More to follow. 23 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobites_are_awesome Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 23 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said: I found a really nice, large plate of a crinoid calyx. Actually this is a cystoid not a crinoid the species is Caryocrinites ornatus. 1 Cheers! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobites_are_awesome Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Great finds Tim! 1 Cheers! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 5 minutes ago, trilobites_are_awesome said: Actually this is a cystoid not a crinoid the species is Caryocrinites ornatus. Awesome! Thank you, for the ID. I have no experience with Cystoids, so, this is a first, for me! Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian James Maguire Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Couple of nice ones there Tim, i just dug out a leptaena this evening! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian James Maguire Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 What is this tim? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 42 minutes ago, Brian James Maguire said: What is this tim? That is a ramose branching bryozoan, Brian. Maybe something like Trematopora tuberculata or a ramose Trepostome. I'm not fully up to speed on Silurian Bryozoans. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Great to see that you got out, Tim. Nice report and finds! Those 'first for me' finds always make the trip, and keep us going! 1 Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 13 minutes ago, Bullsnake said: Great to see that you got out, Tim. Nice report and finds! Those 'first for me' finds always make the trip, and keep us going! Thanks Steve! Was good to get out for a bit. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 Congrats Tim on an excellent haul of Silurian fossils, as we both know, not the easiest specimens to procure here in New York. Looks like you're building a fine collection of those. Would love to see close-ups of more of those. Thanks for sharing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 Well done, Tim. Hands and knees work in scarce and tough deposits. A lot to be proud about here. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automech Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 Nice work sir! Fossils and trains! What could be better than that? I wonder how old that rail line is. And if the guys blasting through that area even paid attention to what was at their feet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 Thanks, @automech ! I appreciate you taking a look. Thanks also to @Jeffrey P and @Kane! Will be doing more photography tonight or tomorrow. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bones Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 These are very interesting finds to someone like me who has never found such old fossils. I especially like the big cystoid! And, yes, kudos to you for the collection position! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patelinho7 Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 Unpleasant sun angle, too! I always find it hard to surface collect when the AM sun casts shadows over every pebble. Congrats on some fun finds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Cool finds, thanks for sharing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1719 Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Hi Tim! Thanks for sharing! That's great to find Silurian exposures! Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bockryan Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Great finds, anytime the rubble is thick with bryozoans you know you're in a good spot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock-Guy-17 Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 Hi Tim, great write up and nice finds! I believe your source about this being Lewiston Member of the Rochester Shale is correct. I stopped by this site in April and found some decent trilobite partials. I think with enough luck and effort a whole roller can be found here. Will you try anything to get the matrix off these? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted August 4 Author Share Posted August 4 46 minutes ago, Rock-Guy-17 said: Hi Tim, great write up and nice finds! I believe your source about this being Lewiston Member of the Rochester Shale is correct. I stopped by this site in April and found some decent trilobite partials. I think with enough luck and effort a whole roller can be found here. Will you try anything to get the matrix off these? Thanks! I don't think I'll be doing any prep on these, as they are fairly fragile. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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