Tell me something cool: A fossil

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Munky88

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Jun 1, 2008
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I found this fossilized shell awhile ago. The interesting thing is that I found this on top of a mountain ridge near a volcano, about 7,000 feet. I saw a piece of obsidian and when i picked it up this was underneath.

I know there have been some fossils posted here before, and some people who know what they're talking about inevitably chime in with something interesting to say. so, can anybody tell me anything about it?

alternatively, if anybody else has found something cool post it.

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It's a brachiopod. I used to find a lot of brachiopods that looked just like that in upstate NY, those were Devonian. If you ask around you will be able to find out the geologic period that particular formation is. They were very common during the Devonian through Permian, but most species died out during the Permian-Triassic extinction (which made the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs seem like kid's play). A few species of brachiopods survive today.
 
ah, thanks :)

I mostly just find it cool that I found a sea life fossil on top a mountain (or were these freshwater?)

The place I found it (49.783547,-122.875614, go to maps.google) would certainly have been underwater that long ago.
 
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god damn thats a far way up off the beaten path.

cool find man, did ya bring back some obsidian for knapping? :D
 
Here's one. It has been seen by W&SS before.

There was some debate if it was a tool mark used in quarries or if it was indeed a fossil impression. Note the circled area in photo 2 that shows the impression conforming to the rock surface with a bend and twist and does not align with the rest of it.

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Here's the response from a local fossil expert after viewing my photo:

The fossil is a cephalopod impression. A cephalopod is a head-footed animal that lived in the warm seas covering this area during the silurian period ( 400 to 450 million years ago).
It lived in one section until it outgrew it then added another section and so on. Extending from the shell was the head and tentacles, and a breathing tube called a syphuncle. Belonging to the same group of animals are the octopus and squid. The material from the seas decaying matter eventually compressed over time and formed the limestone which encases the remains of the creatures that lived in the shallow sea. Hope this helps.

Text on sign near where this was found:

"From this overlook, you can see a story in the landscape. It begins 400 million years ago when shallow seas covered this area. The remains of sea creatures form the dolomitic limestone bedrock, which can be seen in nearby outcroppings and quarry sites.
The ground you are standing on and the hills across the valley were formed 13,000 years ago when rocks and clay were deposited by the Wisconsin Glacier. Meltwater from the glacier carved out this valley and exposed the limestone bedrock.
During the 1800s, limestone from quarries in the area was used to build the Chicago Water Tower and many buildings in Lemont. Visitors to the abandoned quarry site can find fossils that are three times older than dinosaurs."
 
It was salt water. That earth it was found in was under water but it was pushed up from under the ocean as the continents shift. I find fossils a lot here in California, mostly spirals and thick clam looking shells. Don't know what they are but its' exciting to find them.
 
jca21 said:
god damn thats a far way up off the beaten path.

cool find man, did ya bring back some obsidian for knapping? :D
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I think I may have marked the position wrong actually, its hard to tell, but for geological purposes that example is valid. same region and mountains formed by plates. It was a few years ago, it just resurfaced in my room. More astonishing than its original discovery.

I did bring the obsidian piece I found ontop of it back, but found nothing of usable size. the obsidian is large enough to be made into, and is almost already resembling, an arrowhead.

Anybody scavenge any arrowheads?

There was somebody in the Canadian forum that posted some pictures of northwest company/hudsons bay trade artifacts he found along canoe routes. trying to find them now.
 
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I had a friend who's dad was down in Florida scuba-diving in the ocean and he found an eight foot long mammoth tusk, really quite amazing. I am pretty sure it is still mounted on their wall.
 
Cool thread! I'll post up some pictures later of various Devonian period fossils I have found. I am always on the hunt for a full trilobyte cast or mold. I don't know about your area but here, this area of Pennsylvania was covered by a large in-land salt water sea with marsh bordering the edges. That is why (here) we can find salt water fossils in the mountains. Other places that are mountains now may have been completely underwater before the plates starting pushing them up so every area is different.
 
Munky88 said:
I think I may have marked the position wrong actually, its hard to tell, but for geological purposes that example is valid. same region and mountains formed by plates. It was a few years ago, it just resurfaced in my room. More astonishing than its original discovery.

I did bring the obsidian piece I found ontop of it back, but found nothing of usable size. the obsidian is large enough to be made into, and is almost already resembling, an arrowhead.

Anybody scavenge any arrowheads?

There was somebody in the Canadian forum that posted some pictures of northwest company/hudsons bay trade artifacts he found along canoe routes. trying to find them now.
Click to expand...

Yup, that was me. I have some arrowheads etc.
 
Here is a few of mine. The big tooth is Megaladon, a medium, I have seen them 7". Lived 20 or 30 million yrs ago and ate Whales for dinner. The flat pieces on the left are Whale Rib, probably left over from the Meg dinner. The big ones top right and top left are Manatee ribs, don't know what ate him..
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The brachiopod is a fascinating critter. Please note that it's a completely different animal than a clam.

Some of the specimens I've found have weathered as to expose the lophophore. I've also ran across some crinoid fragments, bryozoans, fusilinids, coral, and some trace fossils. Most of the trace fossils are boring, but one I found was of an anemone dwelling. This was all in the Naco formation near Payson. There's also some cool road cuts through brachiopod coquina.

I've also found some bone shards, snail shells, and a clam shell in Brawley Wash in Tuscon.
 
I'm able to find fossils all over the place. The largest I spotted (by far) was a cephalopod shell skeleton just like the one pictured above. It was in 1988 on an exposed piece of limestone (I think) right off Lake Michigan in Chicago, on a giant landscaping boulder that rolled loose. In 2008, I tried to take my boys to see it, but the whole area was relandscaped and the rocks were gone.

Anyway, any time I find myself in a pile of rocks, a mixed gravel pathway, or wherever, I can usually find a tiny shell or leaf imprint on one of the rocks. After a short while, it gets easy to spot the likely rocks. Some of them turn out to be little fake fossils caused by chips or water or gas holes in the stones, but most have a definite, recognizeable shape.

Never found any vertebrate bones, though, like those shown above. Very cool work, and a GREAT idea for a thread.
 
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