Deer Lake Pa - Early April

[Wolffish]

I made it home to PA to attend my 35th Class reunion earlier this month. The day of the reunion I had the better part of an afternoon free and decided to make the 1 hour drive to Deer Lake with my 15 year old son. We go there, asked permission at the Tavern, and went up the hill. (NOTE - it was a beautiful Saturday and we were the ONLY people there! I tried to meet up with Snakebite but he was only avaialble in the early morning, while I only had the aftenoon free. THANKS for the info, Snakebite!)

We rummaged around the very abundant stone and left after an hour and a half with a bag full of "stuff". Now, its important to realize that we know NOTHING about this type of collecting, or the fossils. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. Don't even have a rock hammer. If I look at a stone and it looks "fossil-ish", I assume it is fossilish. I think its Mahantango formation (from reading on FF). I know that people find trilos and brachs, but I know none of the details . Other stuff - no clue (Remember - I just caught the fossil bug a year ago and my experience so far has been limited to shoreline surface scanning for Miocene marine fossils, and a couple of trips to the Peace River) Many of teh rocks we picked up had fossil impressions on them - I tried to take photos of pieces that I think have actual fossils on them. (Though I may be wrong in that assumption, too)

Enough background - here is what we found . I don't know what any of it is - any ID's would be awesome. I don't imagine its anything unusual, but if I don't get anything here, I'll pop it over to ID Forum

[snakebite6769]

Your welcome for the info. Glad you guys had a good day to go. Maybe we can meet at another time. Maybe at Calvert cliffs. I went to NY Saturday with my two boys and met Xonenine. Had a chilly day but a lot of Trilos. Pic. 3 looks like a Phacops pygidium, 4 looks like crinoid stem casts. Neat stuff!

[Wolffish]

Sounds like a good day with family, Snakebite! Thanks for the input on the pics.

Make sure you get ahold of me if you're ever down by the Cliffs

Joe

[ted coulianos]

from the top down: orthocone cephalopod impression, spirifirid brachiopod (Mucarospirifer), trilobite pygidium (probably Phacops), & Tentaculites sp. or crinoid stem fragment; hope this helps.

Edited April 23, 2013 by ted coulianos

[Wolffish]

Thanks Ted. The assistance we (the newcomers to the fossil world) get from members like you and the others who help us is really invaluable. It's one of the biggest reasons that this Site is so special.

Thanks again

Joe

[ted coulianos]

Thanks Ted. The assistance we (the newcomers to the fossil world) get from members like you and the others who help us is really invaluable. It's one of the biggest reasons that this Site is so special.

Thanks again

Joe

happy to help; but my spelling is attrocious. the brachiopod is Mucrospirifer mucronatus, whose spelling I butchered completely

[Wolffish]

Thanks Ted

Herein lies the beauty of the "butchered spelling". - I had no idea it was mis- spelled!!

: )

[Shamalama]

The first pic is not an Cephalopd, it's a Pelecypod called Orthonota. Hard to get them intact as they can be quite long and the rock fractures so easily. Nice finds overall for a first timer.

[Wolffish]

Thanks Shamalama!!