Fourth of July Fossil

My cousin Stefano found this pyrite fossil in the Waldron Shale of Clark County, Indiana.  He thought it would make a good July 4th post (American Independence Day) since it was in the shape of a flag flying on a pole.  If I had to guess, it appears to be parts of a crinoid fossil.

As an added bonus the shale plate has part of a Bumastus sp. trilobite cephalon with part of the genial spine. That is a pretty cool find there!

Better view of Bumastus trilobite piece.

Since my cousin is named Stefano I thought it would be appropriate to add a picture of another fossil found in the Waldron shale.  The Coronoidea called Stephanocrinus gemmiformis.

Visit from the Shark Tooth Fairy

A fossil collecting goal for 2011 was to find a Paleozoic shark tooth.  That goal has now been accomplished.  This tooth was found in the Indian Springs formation of Crawford County, Indiana.  It is Mississippian Period in age.  Not sure what shark it belongs too though.  It is exposed on a matrix sheet covered with Fenestella bryozoan.  As shown in the second picture it is about 5 mm in size.

Learn more about shark fossils from this area at the Japanese shark tooth web site J-elasmo: CLICK HERE Update (9/7/2019): looks like their website moved here is a new link http://naka.na.coocan.jp/IndianaCR.htm

Now I just need to find a Troosticrinus (Shumard, 1866) blastoid and my year is complete!

UPDATE: A local shark fossil expert named Mark helped identify this.  He wrote: "Deltodus is a Bradydont type of shark which has a crushing battery of teeth similiar to a sting ray."  Also thanks to Archimedes and JimB88 on the Fossil Forum for identifying this as a Deltodus.  See their postings: CLICK HERE.

Limestone Capital of the World

It is limestone month in Indiana and at the heart of the industry is Bedford, Indiana.  Here are a few pictures from that area taken while traveling to the Bloomington, Indiana mineral/fossil show.