sjomik Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 While grouse hunting this weekend, I found these fossils on top of a mountain in northwest Rockingham county Virginia (very close to the West VA line). My guess is that these are crinoid column segments. Sure could use some expert eyes on them to verify if I'm accurately identifying these. I have attached some great pictures of them. Thanks in advance for taking a look and helping me accurately identify these. Thanks, Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Seems my picture did not upload properly. I can send the picutures via email. Thanks! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hi Stephen, Welcome to the Forum! It is always best to try and upload the images here as more members will be able to see them, which gives you a better chance for an accurate identification. Plus we all just like looking at fossils! There are few threads on the Forum about posting images thay can probably sort out most of your posting problems. The biggest issue people usually have is the size of the image (think in bytes). I use Windows 7 on a Dell and find the following method to work well for me. Right click on the image and click on 'edit', this should be the third or fourth option. Generally this defaults to opening the image in Paint. Once in paint use the selection tool to draw a box around the most important part of the image and crop to just that section. Finally, use the 'resize' button to resize the image by pixels, 1000 pixels across the largest dimension is usually sufficient to reduce the image size. Hit save. Also, remember that you have a maximum amount of data for each post (2 mb). This data can be spread out between multiple small images or just one high resolution one. If you need more data just add another post to your thread. Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing your fossils! "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thanks for the tip! I'm going to give it a try now! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Ahh...successful at uploading a picture of the fossils I found! I beleive these are "crinoid column segments" but not sure. Sure could use extra eyes form the expert members to confirm. I found these on Saturday 1/19 on the very top of a mountain in northwest Rockingham County VA. This location is very close to the West VA line. Thanks Much! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Here is another pic of some more pieces that I found. This one has what appears to be a large shell to the left. Also, right in the center, there appears to be six rings...could this be a side view of six segments that are still together? The large shell to the left is 3cm wide (left to right) and 2.5cm from top to bottom. Thanks! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Hi Stephen, They do look a lot like crinoid columns! There are some real crinoid experts here that can tell you for sure though. They'll be along shortly I'm sure. Cool find! "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thanks for taking a look at these for me! Also, for the picture upload instructions! Worked like a charm! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Hi Stephen, My pleasure! That second peice is a really nice mix of fossils. Sometimes plates of multiple fossils like this are colled hash plates. Your specimens look particularly showy, I imagine they would look quite nice on a book case. Again, nice finds and I'll be interested to see the IDs. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyce Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I'm excited to recognize these! They are crinoids. I found them from KY to Roanoke, VA. (I'm originally from Roanoke, VA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjomik Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Ahh...thanks Joyce! I appreciate your taking a look and confirming these for me! I guess these circle discs are actually segments that once comprised the stem of the criond. Is that right? Also, I've found what I beleive to be "brachiopods" mixed in with these "crinoid segment" fossils. Most of these bi-valve shell fossils are small...less than half a cenitmeter but I have two that showed up as quite large (3 centimeters wide). See the attached image. Can you confirm that these large shells are "brachiopods" as well or are they something else. From my initial research these "crinoid segments" and "brachiopods" are old fossils. Somewhere between 340 to 360 millions years old. Wow that is old! Also, I'm amazed that I found these on the very top of a high mountain! Did the Atlantic Ocean once cover these mountains? Or was the ocean here before the mountains formed and the raising of the mountains just pushed up the old ocean sediment? Boy, I'm just full of questions...sorry about that...it's just my imaginiation has been running high since I found these pieces. Thanks! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Yup, those are crinoid columnals and brachiopods (or pelecypods). Neat finds. And yes, there was ocean covering much of the eastern United states at that time. (Devonian - Mississippian eras) So what is on top of the mountain was the sea floor at one time, and has been moved upward through the various actions of the earths crust. And it's good to ask questions, frequently, that action leads to answers. Regards, Edited January 22, 2013 by Fossildude19 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...
sjomik Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Thanks Fossildude! Awesome...I think I just found a new hobbie!! I love this kind of stuff! I grew up here in Virginia and have collected hundreds of arrowheads over the years but these are my first fossils! This is totally awesome! I think I'm going back up to this mountain again in few days...I think I'm going to leave the grouse alone and look for fossils! Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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