Dry Dredgers Field Trip
May 26, 2006
Northern Kentucky Road Cut
Photos by Ron Fine and Bill Heimbrock
Fossils Found That Day
The best fossils found that day were the tiny fossils that take a hand lens to find. The best small fossil found was the fossil shown below. We think it's most likely a very rare type of Cephalopod. It was found by the Janssen family, visiting from Wisconsin. We later saw an identified specimen at a Dry Dredgers meeting for which the similarity was dead on.
In the next two years, the specimen underwent closer
examination by professional Paleontologists. Bob had taken down the members
contact information and received permission to deposit the specimen in the
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science collections. This is really
smart thinking on Bob's part. This may turn out to be a major find, as this may
be the first time this type of Cephalopod has been seen in the Upper Ordovician
rocks.
Bob recording site notes for the strange new fossil. A
good practice for all nice finds.
Other small fossils found that day included Cornulites (next two pics).
The Cornulites on the left appears to be wrapping around a
stray Cryptolithus Lace Collar. Wasn't the trilobite molt floating
along the Ordovician Ocean bottom? If so, how did this annelid worm grow on it?
Another minifossil found in abundance was Graptolites.
These are the black carbon remains of animals that are likely to have floated in
the water while alive and fell to the Ordovician Ocean floor when they died. The
specimens in the next two pictures are Geniculograptus, formerly
known as Climacograptus.
