It was Sunday, June 2, and I needed to go over to Fountain to take some pictures of the, Root River Bike Trail, trailhead for Fountain Days next week. I decided to take Cty. 8 from Spring Valley to Fountain and I knew that there were some nice road cuts, so I threw my backpack and camera into the truck and took off.
Creekbed about 7 miles east of Spring Valley on Cty. 8.
My first stop was this heavily flooded river bank, where I picked up what turned out to be a
Liospira gastropod, part of a cephalopods tailend and a beautiful little horn coral!
Liospira gastropods, horn coral and cephalopod end.
I was almost to Fountain when I noticed that big quarry off to my left that Bob had told me about earlier. I didn’t see any no trespassing signs, so heck, why not take a peek?
NOTE! IT WAS POSTED NO TRESPASSING, I JUST DIDN’T SEE THE SIGNS!
Quarry .5 miles west of Fountain.
BIG QUARRY inground! I was hoping to find some maclutites and other gastropods (and I did, another Liospira.), but it was what I was not expecting that made this hunt so spectacular!
After walking around on top and finding NOTHING except the single Liospira, and as I got
Far west side of quarry on top.
closer I picked up the biggest piece of crinoid I have found to date, I came across this place…
Which had a lot of hardened mud and was showing crinoid sign, brachs, bi-valves, bryozoa, and as it has turned out, 4 different types of trilobites! But it was the crinoids that were tripping my trigger! I was seeing the “chickens’ feet” I had been dreaming of finding!
And here is a closer look at the site, not too far from the road, but I had to get around that big mud puddle which almost stopped me.
TRILOBITES: All four species found in this spot.
This is Failleana rowley cephalon
Failleana rowley cephalon – note crinkles on front.
Failleana rowley – back
Failleana rowley – side
Cheirurid Trilobite – Ceraurus sp. : Note diagonal pleural furrow is diagnostic for this type of trilobite.
Ceraurus sp. Trilobite
In the rock, lower edge.
Flexicalymene sp. on its side? Trilobite anyways… 🙂
May be a Flexicalymene sp. on its side.
CELTENCRINURUS TRILOBITE – Very Rare! This is going into the Midwestpaleo.com collection which will eventually go into a University collection.
Celtencrinurus Trilobite- very rare!
DREAMING CRINOIDS
I have to admit that I have been dreaming of finding a whole crinoid, calynx and all, since last fall. Last year after I bought a trilobite, I started finding pieces. So this year, at MAPS, I bought a small rock with two crinoids as an offering to the Fossil Gods that I may find one of my own. Rather unwillingly, I had decided to make that one up as a present and give it away.
Well, the Fossil Gods blessed me with…
Crinoid 1: The glasses are for reference as to size.
And…
Crinoid 2
And…
Crinoid 3
And…
Crinoids 4 & 5 & 6!
And, drum roll please, my personal favorite…
And Number 7, wins!
The crinoids are: “It is Cupulocrinus crossmani. See Brower, James, ” Cupulocrinid Crinoids from the Middle Ordovician of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota.” JP 66 1992. Dr. Brower did a series of papers on the Ordovician crinoids of the area.”
crinus
What a day!
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