Heliophyllum Horn Coral with Attached Bryozoan

Here is a Devonian horn coral called the Heliophyllum that has a bryozoan attached. Notice the bryozoan holdfast to the right of the horn coral.

Heliophyllum venatum Horn Coral with Borings

This horn coral may have been eaten on by gastropods looking at the borings on its outer walls. It is the same fossil shown yesterday found in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a Heliophyllum venatum from the Devonian period.

Heliophyllum venatum Horn Coral

This coral is from the Devonian period and probably from Jeffersonville Limestone. It is a Heliophyllum venatum horn coral found in Louisville, Kentucky.

Foerstephyllum vacuum? Colonial Coral

Here is a colonial coral found in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. It is from the Ordovician but what exactly it is called is sort of a mystery. It is probably a Foerstephyllum vacuum (Foerste, 1909) because that area is known for that species. In order to know for sure it needs to be thin sectioned.

Coenites reticulata Coral

Here is a coral from the Silurian period that is called Coenites reticulata. It was found in Louisville, Kentucky and came out of the Louisville Limestone layer.

Crinoid Spine, Stems, and Calyx Plate

Here is a rock with a lot of crinoid pieces. The majority are stem pieces, a spine, and calyx plate.
It was found in Louisville, Kentucky and is probably Louisville Limestone.

Dalmanites Trilobite

Some workers were jackhammering a hole in the Louisville area and came upon a number of trilobite parts. It appears to be a Silurian trilobite called the Dalmanites. This is maybe part of the lower thorax and then the tail section.

Cephalopod Living Chamber

I have never found a living chamber on a cephalopod fossil before. This one is just the very edge of the mold but it can be seen how the shell begins to spread out. The imprints on the shell showing rings and texture have worn away.

Colonial Coral: Foerstephyllum vacuum?

Here is a colonial coral that might be a Foerstephyllum vacuum (Foerste, 1909)  but it would need to be thin sectioned to really know. It is from an Ordovician coral bed in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Cyathophylloides cf. C. burksae

Here is a close up some colonial coral from the Ordovician period. It was found in Jefferson County, Kentucky near Jeffersontown. It appears to be Cyathophylloides cf. C. burksae as mentioned in Ruth Browne's research papers when she studied this area in the 1960s.

I come to this conclusion because the corallites have 10-11 septas and tabulae are about 4 per 5 mm. After measuring a number of corallite diameters it looks like they are between 3.5-4.0 mm. This specimen was found in the Drake Formation.

Notice the septa or star like patterns in the honeycomb like shapes near the ruler.

Ordovician Bryozoan

This bryozoan was found at a road cut in Jefferson County, Kentucky. It sort of looks like a Monticulipora phylum. It might have been part of the Bardstown Reef at one time.

Shark Tooth

Okay, this is not a Louisville fossil but I took a picture and decided to use it. I bought this as a child on a trip to Montana and North Dakota.

Shark Tooth

Here is a shark tooth that came from a rock shop in either Montana or North Dakota.

Ordovician Gastropod

Here is an Ordovician gastropod in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Thamnoptychia alternans Coral

Here is a Devonian coral found in Jeffersonville, Indiana that can be found in the Beechwood Limestone. Here is Thamnoptychia alternans fragment. I really like the swirl pattern on this stem piece.

Another Bridge Support Mineral Deposit

This mineral deposit (thought it was fossil) is in the support of the Illinois Central 14th Street Railroad Bridge in Clarksville, Indiana near the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

This the last picture I took at the bridge and it looks like some sort of coral. It has this neat white residue that looks like salt or something on it. I am guessing it is been weathering since the bridge was built in 1868 so its been exposed for a long time.

After consulting the naturalist as the nearby Falls of the Ohio State Park he told me it was calcium carbonate (travertine).

Fossil in Bridge Support

This fossil is in the support of the Illinois Central 14th Street Railroad Bridge in Clarksville, Indiana near the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

I find this fossil most interesting because I am not sure what it is but it looks like a crinoid stem on its side and the brown looking arms look like part of its calyx. Maybe it is a squished coral or sponge.

Interesting Desposit on Part of Bridge

If you visit Falls of the Ohio State Park more than likely you will go under the Illinois Central 14th Street Railroad Bridge connecting Clarksville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. The bridge was built in 1868 and crosses the Ohio River.


Some of the stones that support the bridge have fossils or mineral desposits in them and here is one I took a picture of. Unfortunately, I had the camera set for tungsten lighting while in bright sunlight so it made the image turn blue. I think this is some sort of coral but it has a white snow look to it like it is covered in salt.

I thought this was a coral fossil but after consulting the naturalist as that Falls of the Ohio State Park he told me it was calcium carbonate (travertine).


The bridge is also known as the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge or Conrail Railroad Bridge.

Unidentified Ordovician Horn Coral

Here is a small horn coral found in the Jeffersontown Kentucky area. The Kentucky Geological Survey classifies this area as Ordovician in the Drake Formation.

I used Photoshop to count the number of septa to 55.

Eucladocrinus kentuckiensis Crinoid Stem

Here is another picture of what was posted yesterday but from a different angle.

Eucladocrinus kentuckiensis

Here is a stem that I am trying to figure out what or how the cut lines were made on it.

Embedded Platycrinites Calyx

Here is the bottom of an embedded Platycrinites calyx in this rock plate. The plate also has a lot of stem pieces.

Platycrinites Crinoid

Here is a crinoid calyx plate found in Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. It is phylum Platycrinites and usually is not found intact but plates like this one.

Eretmocrinus Crinoid

Here is an embedded Eretmocrinus crinoid calyx found at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky.

Eretmocrinus Crinoid

Here is a crinoid calyx found at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. It is of the phylum Eretmocrinus.

Bryozoan Graveyard

Here is a bryozoan graveyard of many different branches. It looks to be from the Ordovician period.

Loxoplocus Snail Graveyard

This rock represents a Loxoplocus gastropod graveyard. This creature existed in the Ordovician period. The rock is part of a wall where KYANA holds its fossil study.

Update: The Loxoplocus is now known as the Paupospira.

Petrified Wood

Here is a large piece of petrified wood that is now part of a stone wall were we have our fossil study for KYANA.

Branching Bryozoans

Here is a cluster of bryozoans in a rock seen at the last KYANA fossil study.

Paracyclas elliptica Devonian Clam

Here is a Devonian period clam found in the Silver Creek formation. This formation can be found in Clark County, Indiana. The clam is known as Paracyclas elliptica (Hall).

The Smithsonian has a collection for a geologist named Henry Nettelroth (1835-1887) and they have some reports I found on-line. I think they are from the mid to late 1800s when a lot of the fossils in the Louisville area were named. Nettelroth refers to the Silver Creek formation as "hydraulic limestone". Also he refers to Clark County as Clarke County. I have also seen Speed, Indiana USA referred to as Speeds, Indiana in older texts.


UPDATE: This entry has been modified with a picture of another clam fossil. As of August 2010, this fossil was on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It list it was found in Kentucky.

Kentucky Agate

Here is a polished Kentucky agate. It a great mineral found here in the state and while it does not quite fit fossil theme of this blog maybe it contains some fossilized moss.


UPDATE: A fellow KYANA Geological Society member looked over this entry and pointed out some issues. She pointed out this agate formed inside a brachiopod. Remnants of the shell can be seen around the edge. So this really is somewhat of a fossil. Also it should be classified as a rock instead of a mineral.

The Paracyclas elliptica Clam

Here is a clam called Paracyclas elliptica from the Devonian period. It was found in Clark County, Indiana in the Silver Creek formation.

Archimedes Bryozoans and Blastoids

Here is a large rock with at least two Archimedes bryozoan spirals showing. The rock also contains maybe 3 blastoids and maybe 1-2 stem pieces.

The fossils are from the Mississippian period.

Loxoplocus Gastropod

I was testing the Canon Powershot Pro1 camera's Super Macro mode by taking some pictures of this gastropod. It looks like the light was bright enough for my images but the camera let me get within 2 inches of the specimen.

NOTE: It was pointed out that this gastropod lived in the Ordovician Period not Mississippian as the picture lists. Also apparently this genus is now referred to as Paupospira.

UPDATE: (2020-08-22) I removed one of the images and updated another to remove the time period reference. Sorry about listing this and I hope the old images eventually disappear from the Internet's image databases.

Paracyclas elliptica Clam

This bivalve came from the Devonian period and was found in the Silver Creek formation in Clark County, Indiana. It was called Paracyclas elliptica.

Halysites or Chain Coral

Here is a piece of halysite or chain coral from the Silurian period. I saw this it the last KYANA fossil study group.

Silurian Cephalopod

Here is another Dawsonoceras annulatum imprint in a rock that is part of stone wall. I wish I had a ruler to measure it but I think it might have been about 24 cm long. It appears to have 19 sections.

Found at KYANA fossil study.

Multi-Stem Crinoid

At the last KYANA fossil study, I found this multi-stem Mississippian period crinoid. That is one condensed group of crinoid arms in one place!

This one was found in the Lake Cumberland, Kentucky area.

A Silurian Dawsonoceras annulatum

Here is a Silurian period cephalopod classified as Dawsonoceras annulatum. 


It looks like a small part of its shell is left (the pinkish looking rock with the sine wave shapes in it). The rest of the fossil is just an imprint on a rock.

I found this specimen at KYANA fossil study and always like find this cephalopod fossil. More to come.

Dalmanites limuluris Trilobite

Here is a picture of a Dalmanites limulurus trilobite from the Silurian period. It was embedded in Rochester shale.

The image was taken at a dealer tent at the Falls of the Ohio State Park located in Clarksville, Indiana during the Fossil Festival.

Flexicalymene retrorsa Trilobite

Here is a Flexicalymene retrorsa trilobite from the Upper Ordovician period.

This picture was taken at a dealer tent at the Fossil Festival located at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana.

Chinese Bone Lip Sucker Fish Fossil

Here is another bone lip sucker fish fossil from the Eocene Period from Jianghan City in Hubei, China. Took picture of one for sale at the Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio State Park located in Clarksville, Indiana.

Bone Lip Sucker Fish Fossil

Here is another fossil I saw for sale at the Fossil Festival held at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana.

The box was labeled Bone Lip Sucker Fish from the Eocene (50 million years ago). It came from Jianghan City in Hubei, China.

Asaphiscus wheelerik Trilobite

Here is a Asaphiscus wheelerik trilobite I saw for sale at the Fossil Festival located at Falls of the Ohio State Park, Clarksville, Indiana.

It was priced at $35.

Petrified Wood

Here is another sample of a fossil KYANA was selling to raise money for the education fund during the Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

The festival allowed us to raise money and also provide very low cost teaching aides to teachers and helped children and adults learn more about fossils from the world around us.

This fossil is of petrified wood from somewhere in Utah.

Striatopora bellistriata Coral

Here is another picture I took with volunteering at the KYANA table during the Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. It is a Striatopora bellistriata (Greene) classified as a tabulate coral from the Middle Devonian period. It was found at Cooper Lane Quarry in Clark County, Indiana.

Cystiphylloides Coral

Here is a fossil that was donated by a KYANA member for use during the Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio state park to raise money for the education fund.

The fossil is Cystiphylloides sp., a Middle Devonian coral from Speed Quarry in Sellersburg, Indiana.

Cyclonema Gastropod (snail)

Here is a picture of a Cyclonema gastropod (snail) found in Trimble County, Kentucky during a KYANA (http://www.kyanageo.org/) field trip. It was found in an area where Ordovician fossils are found. It was found in May 2008.

Flexicalymene Trilobite Tail

Here is a possible Flexicalymene trilobite tail found in Trimble County, Kentucky. I think the rock I was looking in had Ordovician fossils in it.

There appears to be a piece of bryozoan in the rock as well.