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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Unknown Ordovician Tube Fossil

This rock plate was found in Carroll County, Kentucky in the Kope Formation. It has a 3 cm long tube like fossil that I cannot identify. The fossils in the rock date to the Ordovician Period.

[UPDATED: Thanks to Solius to pointing out an error in this post, the fossil was not from Franklin County, Kentucky. Also magnified images have been added.]



Magnified 40x using microscope of both ends of the trace fossil and a sample shot of the mid-section.



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5 comments:

  1. R HofmannApril 3, 2010 at 6:46 AM

    Hi,

    it's still possible that this is a tube-like body fossil but as a first guess it rather looks like a trace fossil. It could be Planolites, a deposit feeding burrow of a worm-like organism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 4, 2010 at 4:19 AM

    Mike, one of these days when you go to Frankfort, shoot me an email. I have several localities in the area that produce some nice crinoids and trilobites.

    I don't think that the Kope extends to the Frankfort area; the temporal equivalent(the Clays Ferry) is found in Central Kentucky. It was deposited in slightly shallower water, and as such has a bit less shale than the Kope. That being said... the Clays Ferry was deposited in an environment below the wave base, and as such, the fossils are less abraded. For that reason, I think that you are in the Millersburg.

    Plug "millersburg" into the search engine at TFF for typical fauna that I have collected in the area.

    My email: solius_symbiosus "at" yahoo "dot" com.

    Cheers, Tim

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 4, 2010 at 4:25 AM

    Oh, I forgot... it does appear to be a worm burrow, but the structure was formed in what would have been a storm deposit, and I haven't seen that type of preservation in the muds of a storm sequence.

    I would like to see it magnified; especially, near the "ends".

    Solius/tim

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 4, 2010 at 6:01 AM

    Following your lead, I have, finally, started writing a weblog, myself. Now, when was the last time that you saw that many commas in one sentence? Check me out:

    http://soliussymbiosus.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michael PoppApril 4, 2010 at 10:17 PM

    Thank you both for the comments. It does appear to be some sort of trace fossil.

    I apologize in that I listed the incorrect Kentucky county. It is Carroll County and it was found near the upper portion of the Kope which I believe borders the Fairview. With a magnifier I identified two Dalmanella brachiopods, bryozoans, a Cornulite, and crinoid stem fragments.

    I will try and update this with some close up images of the tube fossil.

    ReplyDelete