This will be a very tiny whisper of a season opener as I only spent about an hour at a site. This particular site was a bit of an open question after a preliminary scan of the material late last autumn. The material is all Dundee Formation, with different lithologies. My area of focus will be the sandier facies, similar to my out of town rostroconch and Coronura location. Much of the other facies are either a grainstone crinoidal hash with plenty of broken brachiopods and fragmentary fenestrate bryozoans, occasional platycerids, but no apparent trilobite evidence. I recognize this material from a thesis on the Dundee five main facies, but there is likely more localized variety than the thesis might suggest as strata are not necessarily homogeneous over long distances. A February 27 start to the season is not bad, but slightly premature. At the location, there was still considerable snow, at some points thigh-deep. Much of the material is still buried, so I spot-prospected a few rocks to get a better sense of the variety. Material #1: platy, relatively thin-bedded (1-5 cm) with some plasticization and sparsely fossiliferous, with the presence of a few reddish Chonetids. These horizons are mostly blank, but occasionally there will be a bed with a profusion of little more than this tiny brachiopods. Only once, at a different location, did I encounter a trilobite fragment in this material -- Eldredgeops rana pygidium with the same reddish colouring. Material #2: hard, seemingly diagenetically reworked rock with dark grey weathering and internal rock a mottled ashen grey. Has an almost ironstone quality, with rusty vugs. It seems similar to the Guelph Formation. Non-fossiliferous apart from possibly some microfossils. Material #3: Pure mottled chert with some minor styliolitization. Non-fossiliferous. Material #4: Sandy, tidally sorted debris. Fractures according to somewhat undulating beds, or fractures right through fossils. Highly fossiliferous. The most abundant by volume would be brachiopods, largely sorted by size from small to quite large (strophs, spirifers, etc.). Presence of rostroconchs. Very rarely, some bryozoan fragments. No coral. Fossils appear silicified, very similar to the fossiliferous beds of the Amherstburg Fm (Appalachian variant). Trilobites: so far, as I've only been able to crack into one source rock, a single species (Pseudodechenella sp.) represented by two fragmentary librigenae, two cranidia, and one pygidium. Closer inspection under microscope of random samples do not strongly indicate yet the presence of other trilobites, but there are some questionable fragments that might suggest Odontocephalus sp. More time with this material will be needed to confirm that. It is very similar to the material at the out of town rostroconch area, but so far the megafauna are smaller in size and less abundant and diverse in brachiopods. No confirmed gastropod material as of yet. Random sample from source material (#4). Some horizons are certainly "busier" than others in this rock.
I will be returning to this location in the next few weeks as the snows continue to melt. I may not be posting my activity very much this year until after the season is done, nor announce where/when I am going. Keeping things circumspect or secret is quickly becoming a necessity. I will still post on trip finds that may be less "exciting," but it may be a very active year in the field for me. The turnaround on this one was under 24 hours. I got this in the mail yesterday, spent a few hours, and then did another hour of cleanup today. This is a Calymene breviceps from the now scarce or nearly impossible to access Waldron shale (Silurian). This prone is parked on a very thin piece of shale, and some of the pleural tips were poking out the ventral side. So, in the end, not much of the original matrix will remain. I stabilized the back just in case. It turns out to be missing some cheek, but still a fine little beastie measuring 2.9 cm. Not too shabby, and the shale was easy to work with -- it melted like butter under the dolomite. Now I await preps 3 and 4 in the mail, neither of which will be anywhere near as rapid as this one!
As February fossil fever has yet to break, I went hunting in the postal formation for some side projects. This Devonian Oklahoma (Haragan Fm) phacopid was the first to arrive out of four bugs incoming. I had my doubts about it being complete. This would be my first go at the well known Oklahoma material. This job would mostly be dolomite, swapping in the Pferd on occasion. It is not possible to discern whether this is a Paciphacops or a Kainops without revealing the eyes. The former has fewer lens files (3-4ish). Turned out complete with the pygidium tucked underneath. I also left the little epibiont on the glabella (it was more spread out along the body, some form of bryozoan or other encruster). Due to the lense count, it is indeed a Kainops. That actually makes a new species for me since, after I reexamined what I thought was a Kainops I received a few years ago, that one turned out to be Paciphacops. This one is a bit on the rougher looking side, almost as if it had been exposed a bit too long before burial. Still, intact, complete, small, and representative of the species.
A short post for a small bug. The next preps will be making their way to me in the next few weeks: Calymene breviceps (a full prone from the classic Waldron shale), Hollardops (possibly, but the asteropyginae are a clustered bunch in Morocco, so I will need to reveal the lappets and the anterior cephalic area to determine the precise species), and Dysplanus acutigenia, an enrolled corynexochid from Russia. As the title says. Those of us who collect in the wintry parts of the northern hemisphere begin showing signs of this tragic affliction around the mid-month mark of February and, if March continues the snowy pattern, it can escalate to ever more serious symptoms. Many of these symptoms include: * Checking the weather forecast every half hour in the hopes of some glimmer of spring * Emptying and repacking the field kit * Holding the hammers with weepy sentimentality * Going through old photo rolls of last year's digs * Writing epic lists of places to go, goals for the season * Losing hours just scrolling through fossil images * Pining over geologic maps * Willing the snow to melt with mental powers or heat laser vision I am seeing my hopes diminish for an early spring like we had last year as we received about two feet of snow (with more to come) in just the last week. That is really the hold-up in these parts: waiting on the snow to recede. For me around here, it just needs to clear from any locations that have rock piles or slopes of any kind. Last year, I went out on March 7th. According to the long-range forecast, there will be snow falling every day for the next two weeks, which brings me to March 4th. What I need are five solid days of 10 Celsius to burn as much of the white stuff away as possible! This a good, yet one of the worst, times of year. It is good for catching up on prep and planning. It is horrible because of the long winter wait. Of course, there are other fossil-related activities for some of us to do. Acquiring any missing tools, or replacing no longer functional ones is something to pass the time, but that doesn't take months to do. Planning doesn't take that long either. So that leaves, for me, two avenues: prep and drawing. To that end, I have four trilobites for prep coming in the mail in the next 3-4 weeks: one from Oklahoma (rec'd today; Devonian), Morocco (Devonian), Illinois (Waldron shale, Silurian), and Russia (Ordovician). I still have my own prep queue to keep me busy, but nothing super-complete, so I was tempted by shiny things from abroad. In terms of drawing, I managed one in the past month, and it took 100 hours because... pustules. Lots of them. I think after that long slog I'm taking a break from drawing trilobites. I have two other drawings in mind: a modern isopod, and a cystoid. Although I love lumpy-bumpy lichids, and there are a number of others I really want to draw, I need a breather from pustule-work, which is a lot like inscribing a pagoda on a grain of rice -- it is that slow-going. And what else? I got a much higher-powered Dremel rotary tool for matrix work. I also got a hoodie made to my specs using Sam Gon III's line drawings. Yes, I could have more of my own drawings printed on clothes, but I didn't want to be that self-promotional. Besides, I have a few already, and I've long admired Sam Gon III's work. I'm going to wear it as a little homage. The back of the hoodie (which is a great addition to cooler temps in the field!) has a Terataspis grandis done in vinyl white lines, and the front is a smorgasbord of Sam's line drawings. I also had the Terry printed on a tank-top for summer work. One has to look good in the field, right? It leaves no question why I am out there, for any who are curious as to why some big middle-aged bald dude is bashing rocks with his hammers. And, of course, let's keep in mind that trilobites are tres cool, the very apex of high fashion -- it's just that no one else knows it yet. Alas, the burdens of being a trend-setter. Ha! Apart from a tiny Okie bug to work on, not much else on my fossil plate these days as I wait out the winter, and await the other bugs. Of course, there are tidal waves of paper grading awaiting me next week, and again in the last two weeks of March.
The days are getting longer. It is only a matter of time. Sunset today is at 6 pm. That is 10h 43m of daylight. The last time we had that much, it was October 22. Yes, I think in these terms because I have a serious case of February Fossil Fever! The only cure is the first day back in the field. All six Russian trilobites are prepared. It wasn't without a few challenging moments, such as dealing with translucent, sticky calcite, but I soldiered through. The results, before and after: Asaphus cornutus Semi-enrolled Asaphus latus Asaphus punctatus. And a group shot of the half dozen here: So it is back to the original prep queue, and hopefully some drawing, for the remainder of the snowy months.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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