The rain has stopped and the temperature is in the 50s degrees F so it was time to get out and do some fossil collecting. These fossils were found in Kope Formation in Carroll County, Kentucky. These creatures existed in the Ordovician Period. These first two images are of an enrolled Flexicalymene trilobite that has not been prepped yet so I am not sure if its cephalon is intact or not.
This small clam fossil is quite a find. Its shell has been replaced with aragonite (brown calcite?) and both sides are there. The middle of both sides has eroded out though. This clam was called Ambonychia.
This fossil is an orthoceras type cephalopod that has part of its aragonite shell exposed that was covered by bryozoan. Note: I am not sure this brown material is aragonite because from what I read that form of calcium carbonate is not particularly stable and is eventually replaced by calcite. Would it be possible the bryozoan layer protected this fossil in aragonite form from mineral replacement?
Here is a Cryptolithus trilobite that has its cephalon with its lace collar and glabella. It also has an Ambonychia clam shell fragment attached.
The fossils are small but it was fun finding them.
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