Calamites Living Desendants

This plant is known as Equisetum or common names Horsetail reed or pewterwart. It is known as a living fossil. The plant is a descendant of Calamites.

This post on Neocalamites fossil plants at Malaysian Triassic Blog inspired me to create today's entry. I had been meaning to post these recently taken pictures.

These first three pictures were taken recently in Washington state.

These last four were taken in Paris, France near the Jardin Des Plantes.

Carboniferous Fossils

The following are images of Lower Carboniferous Period (Mississippian) fossils. This first one is a elliptical crinoid columnal segment from maybe a Platycrinites.

This next image of a crinoid calyx that is probably an Eretmocrinus.

This next image is of an anal tube of an Eretmocrinus crinoid.
This might be a holdfast of an unidentified crinoid.


Unknown brachiopod shell half fossil.


A view of Lake Cumberland, Kentucky where these fossils were found in the Fort Payne Formation.

Falls Fossil Festival - September 19-20, 2009

If you are in the Louisville, Kentucky area on September 19 or 20, 2009 and are interested in fossils, visit the Falls Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana. The park is right across the Ohio River from downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

The park consists of 220 acres when the Ohio River is at a low point and contains the largest naturally exposed Devonian Period (380 millions years old) fossil beds in the world. This festival is in its 15th year and is a great place to learn about fossils and nature.

View this PDF for a list of activities during the 2009 festival: http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/forms/FossilFestivalbrochure09.pdf