Wanna see somethin’ cool?
I was in the mountains Saturday and Sunday for my first extended trip of the year. One thing is for sure, sitting on my backside all winter made me totally unprepared for two days on an ATV. I felt like I was on the back of a mischievous horse that I could just barely keep under control. Needless to say, today I ache from head to foot and like a horse I’m quite sure the ATV still remains passive about the whole adventure.
At any rate… wanna see somethin’ cool? It would seem as if my amateur fossil hunting is going to continue. I was walking along an embankment Saturday when I discovered a new totally amazing fossil.
Since I’m not an archaeologist or a geologist or a paleontologist or what ever kind of “ologist” I would need to be – obviously I didn’t have the right tools to retrieve this fossil. I simply couldn’t leave it as the whole area has an uncertain future. Since I am a hillbilly I did happen to have a hunting knife so being as careful as possible I removed the fossil from the stone. It was fairly easy because the fossil and a little layer underneath are comprised of shale. Shale is extremely fragile and has a flaking/layer quality to it. If you were to drop this fossil, it would shatter like glass. The piece you see above is about 6″ tall by 4″ wide. Scouring the immediate area I was able to find about 10 pieces of this fossil and when I got home I was able to put it back together. Completed it is about 14″ wide by 7″ tall. The fossil is actually three separate fossils with the edges overlapping. This can be seen in the barely discernible lighter colored lines running from top to bottom.
I have no idea, yet, what type of fossil this is but I assume it’s age to be similar to my first discovery in the same area. The detail on this fossil is what I find amazing. Every little mark on the pattern is perfect and symmetrical. Whatever this was, it was healthy when it died.
More to come on this as of yet unidentified discovery.
That is very cool. I wonder what it was?
Good find!! I found my share of a few fossils when I lived in WV as well…
Kristine – the more I wonder, the more questions I have. One thing that really makes me curious is that unlike 98% of the other fossils I find which are round or curved to indicate roundness this one is flat across its surface. This leads me to believe whatever it was covered a respectable area. It was big.
I’m going to contact the professor from the first find and see if he can clear up the mystery.
Jeremy – I’m beginning to get quite the collection too.
Denny,
This is SO cool.
I would bet money that this is some sort of prehistoric tree trunk fossil. We have a bunch of these found in the area around Pine Mountain Settlement School in our geology classroom. My guess is that you stumbled upon a fossilized tree trunk. My guess is that is a Lepidodendron tree.
But I’m no “ologist” either… just a googler. I’m curious to see what the professor says!
That is a cool looking fossil. I think cassiero is right about the Lepidodendron tree. Check this out.
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Lepidoacul2.html
After turning into a goggle-ologist I’d have to agree. It sure does look like the tree mentioned. If that is the case then it is the cousin to the tree in the first discovery which would make this fossil 300 to 360 million years old.
WOW! To look at this fossil or the other one and try to wrap the mind around 360 million years…