Coral Eridophyllum shumardi

Here is a colonial coral from the Devonian period. This specimen can be found at the Louisville Science Center.

The display labeled it as Eridophyllum shumardi.

Paraspirifer acuminatus Brachiopod

Here is a Paraspirifer acuminatus brachiopod on display at the Louisville Science Center, located on Main Street near the I-64 9th Street exit in Louisville, Kentucky. It was identified as being from the Devonian period.

Cephalopod Nautiloid at Louisville Science Center

Here is a fossil that can be found at the Louisville Science Center on the 2nd floor, western corner of the building, next to the windows looking out of the Ohio River.

The label said it was from the Devonian period and its identification was cephalopod nautiloid.

It does not look like anything I have found here in Louisville, Kentucky.

Mucrospirifer mucronatus Brachiopod

After volunteering at the Louisville Science Center, I decided to post some pictures of some of their fossils. It is great that they have already been identified for me down to the species.

The small fossil case is located on second floor in the western corner of the building next to the windows looking out over the river. It sort of gets you in the frame of mind for seeing these ancient creatures while seeing the Ohio River flow by.

The brachiopod was labeled Mucrospirifer mucronatus from the Devonian period.

Fossil Rock

I was cycling yesterday and came upon a pile of rocks from construction in a nearby subdivision. Some rocks contained crinoid pieces and this one has some crinoid stem pieces, part of a brachiopod, and in the middle it looks like a small star shape but I don't think starfish fossilize.

Not sure about the time period on this rock. It looks like it was dug up for a basement on a lot so the rock was maybe 10-15 feet down. In a near by area, I found a Silurian trilobite but this rock does not look the same.

Sandblasted Platyceras dumosum

Here is a spiny snail my cousin found at a road cut in Clark County, Indiana. I believe he spent about 20 hours sand blasting it to get the spines to show up.

It appears to be a Platyceras dumosum from the Devonian time period.

Trilobite Head

Here is another fossil rock I saw at the KYANA fossil study. I did not ask the owner about it but it might be from the Sellersburg quarry and from Silurian rock. Could be a Calymene trilobite or Flexicalymene trilobite from Ordovician rock from Taylorsville Lake Road.

Either way it is a trilobite head

Halysites or Chain Coral

Here is a piece of chain coral or Halysites seen at the last KYANA fossil study. It was probably from a field trip taken to a Sellersburg, Indiana quarry in July/August 2008.

These creatures were probably from the Silurian period.

Crinoid Graveyard Piece

Here is a rock slab I saw at the last KYANA fossil study session. It was probably at least 30 cm long and full of broken crinoid stems.

I saw in the KYANA display case something like this and it was called a graveyard rock.

It looks like crinoids seen at Lake Cumberland so I would say this is Mississippian period, just a guess. :)

Spiny Snail: Platyceras dumosum?

Here is another spiny snail found during a geology society field trip in July to a Sellersburg quarry (I think). It is embedded very well in a rock but it probably is a Platyceras dumosum from the Devonian period.

Ordovician Cephalopod

Here is a 14 segment Ordovician cephalopod found on a Taylorsville Lake Road cut in July during a geological society field trip.

Platyceras dumosum

Here is a gastropod or snail from the fossil collection of Louisville's Charlie Oldham. I believe it is a Platyceras dumosum (Conrad, 1840) from the Devonian Period. I thought these creatures were somewhat rare but recently I keep seeing fossils of them. It is usually found in the Jeffersonville Limestone.

Trilobite Website

Today, I do not have a picture but a website link. It is called From the Collection of Bob Schacht and he has some pictures of some fully intact trilobites from Indiana. The pictures show a very impressive collection of trilobites!

http://www.weekstrilobites.com/index.html

The only one I have that he shows is the Phacops rana from Clark County, Indiana. If you go to the Devonian section of Speeds Quarry in Clark County you will find rolled up pieces and maybe intact specimens of this trilobite. I also found some when living in a subdivision in eastern Jeffersonville located in Clark County in Indiana.

Pink-White Geode

Here are cut pieces of a geode found near the area of Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. It was away from the lake off the side of the road so I am just guessing at the time period of Mississippian. Since that area has rock from that time period I am making an educated guess.

I used the tile diamond saw to cut the rock into a number of slices.

Pleurodictyum maximum Coral

Pleurodictyum planum Coral

Using Erwin C. Stumm's book Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio, plates on pages 162-163 and described on page 78.

Propora papillata Coral

Here are actually two corals. The one listed in the picture is the hemispherical object but it is sitting on another coral.

Using Erwin C. Stumm's book Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio, pages 166-167 Figure 3 and described on page 76. It looks to be Platyaxum orthosoleniskum.

The other coral creature appears to be Propora papillata found on pages 146-147 and described on page 58.

Plasmopora follis Coral

Here is another fossil from the Louisville area found in a dump dirt pile.

I used Erwin C. Stumm's book Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio from 1964.

I think this is the coral Plasmopora follis shown on pages 146-147 and described on page 58.

Calcite Deposit

This is not a fossil but I found it with the last batch of rocks I posted from Blankenbaker Road. Sparse findings at that road cut so this is the last rock and I always like picking up calcite. [Updated: I originally declared this was quartz but after doing a scratch test it appears to be calcite.]

I will try to start using the ruler when taking pictures from now on though.

Emmonsia emmonsi Coral

I checked out the The Geological Society of America Memoir 93, Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio by Erwin C. Stumm from 1964. It was used to help identify some coral fossils I found weeks ago but needed some help naming.

The names are old since the books is 44 years old but I will leave for now till I get a chance to look up the new names.

Also the species is probably wrong since these fossils came from dirt piles dumped in Louisville and could be from different layers of rock from the Louisville area.

In the book, I used images from Plate 63 FAVOSITIDAE on pages 154-155 with the description on page 66 to help name this specimen.

Bubble Pseudofossils at Blankenbaker Road

Here are some bubble looking structures found at a road cut at Blankenbaker Road in Louisville/Jeffersontown Kentucky.

There are a lot of these shapes in the rock but I am not sure it was some sort colonial creatures or just little rocks bunched together.

UPDATE (2014): This is probably some sort of oolitic limestone.

Maybe a Brachiopod at Blankenbaker Road

Here is a rock piece with bubble like shapes and also some straight line projected out radially. It could be piece of brachiopod or a bunch of pseudofossils.

As you can see the rock there is pretty weathered.

Coral at Blankenbaker Road?

Some type of coral or bryozoan from the road cut at Blankenbaker Road in Louisville. I stopped there and looked for about 30 minutes and found not a lot of signs of fossils. An occasional crinoid stem disc embedded in the rock.

Lots of little bubble like shapes in sheets on the rock at different layers. Some sort of pseudofossil? A later post will show what I am talking about.

Blue Geode

Okay, this is not a fossil from the Louisville area but a geode from an area around Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. It was blue colored so I took the diamond saw and cut it in two pieces. It was almost solid but not quite.

I might try and polish it to see if brings out any details.

Crinoid Holdfast

Here is a neat crinoid stem that my cousin found while at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. It is a Mississippian period crinoid stem with a smaller one attached to its side. You can see the hold fast with its root like appearance holding onto the larger stem. A smaller stem then makes its way up to produce another crinoid.

It appears that the larger stem was still alive when this happened or at least its bottom portion was still standing when the smaller crinoid attached and started to grow.

The bottom picture shows both crinoids on their side and taken from the opposite side from the first picture.

Crinoid Disc Top Down View

Here is another crinoid disc showing the center of the stem.

I think the center is an agate since you can see layers in it.

This specimen came from Lake Cumberland in Kentucky.

Inside Crinoid Stem

Here is the inside view of a Mississippian crinoid from Lake Cumberland.

It is neat to see the disc segments and inside stem column.

Eucladocrinus kentuckiensis Crinoid

Here is a crinoid disc from Lake Cumberland and it appears to be Eucladocrinus kentuckiensis.

This species is documented in the The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions Echinodermata, Article 9, Plate 4, Figure 7, Classification and Nomenclature of Fossil Crinoids Based on Studies of Dissociated Parts of Their Columns by Raymond C. Moore and Russell M. Jeffords. The publication was dated January 26, 1968.

I think this looks like cat eye.

Coal

Here is something that Kentucky is known for... COAL.

While fossil species are usually shown here, I found these pieces in the dump piles at the cemetery and they might be the remanents of a garbage dump from an earlier time in Louisville. Coal in Kentucky comes from the Pennsylvanian period also known as the "Coal Age".

The plants during this time consisted of ferns and trees. Remains of plant debris collected and became peat which eventually became coal.

Revised: After a KYANA fossil study session, it appears this coal is not from Kentucky but maybe Pennsylvania. Kentucky coal is more streaky and leaves a black mark like charcoal on your hands.

Halysite Pieces

Here are some new halysite pieces I found that the Louisville area cemetery the cephalopod was found at.

This points to a set of Silurian fossils.

Dawsonoceras annulatum

I got permission to collect at local cemetery future expansion area where they dump piles of fill dirt. While there for about 30 minutes I found a Silurian period cephalopod called Dawsonoceras annulatum (sp?). The species may not be right but the books I looked at listed this as the species on specimens shown. The genus is correct though.

What I like about this cephalopod is that creature's shell is has lots of ridges making it easy to identify. Also it has sinusoidal grow lines that are neat. I think this only the third one I have found so far and maybe the second with the fossilized shell.

This specimen is about 6 cm long but has been dipped or was filled with concrete. Part of its shell is covered or has disintegrated leaving just a molded shape.

Mississippian brachiopod?

This post will probably be the last on this large Mississippian rock from Hodgenville, Kentucky. The lines remind me of a brachiopod shell.