Susie, your Michelinocerasa was new to me. A very odd animal indeed, and a very nice find!
When I lived in upstate NY, I had a friend up there who must have found the great Trilobite graveyard. He had collected hundreds, and I really enjoyed looking at them. It seems that the location was only a short drive from Cayuga Lake (where we lived) but that was years ago and I just can't remember the exact location.
Hope you manage to locate some good-sized glacial gold. You deserve to reward your diligence.
More like rockboarding, lol. I got caught in a slide about a month and a half ago...that was awesome and yes..scary as heck. I was way up on the exposure and the section I was wedged on let loose and weeeeeee..down we went. I scampered off to the side and got a hand hold and stopped myself but a few large rocks found my grip on their way down....ouch. The worst I've suffered so far was a couple broken fingers, bumps and bruises when my foot grip broke loose and I took a tumble..but..it's all in the adventure.
In this pic..I'm at the bottom of the exposure..just above the rubble pile. You can make out the ripple marks on the top layer of rock which gives this site it's name...it's found in the book Gem trails of PA and NJ. Very little is left of the ripples which is such a shame because there aren't many places left like this where you can see the bottom of an ancient sea floor where the water action created the waves/ripples in the sand that are now exposed as rock and are slowly weathering/crumbling away.
Thanks Faaus...This place is awesome but it's near vertical the higher you go up and trying to use any repelling gear just doesn't cut it in the hard limestone...you can't sink any anchors so it's all hand and foot holds..if you can find any, lol. Weathering over the years has made it pretty smooth and the good stuff so far has all been towards the top of the exposure.
The trilo was just a partial..the butt end but I'm thrilled with it because it's my first find of one and it gives me hope I'll come across others. The pics don't show how huge this spot really is... I'll post some more angles of it. I've found lots of shells (imprints and casts), coral and my latest find..is a strange little creature called Michelinocerasa...(http://www.tonmo.com/science/fossils/nautiloids.php). It's the one with the long thin cone like body and tenticules like an octopus coming out the end of it. I've found 3 of them encased in the same chunk of rock. This is what they look like partially exposed in the matrix..(http://digsfossils.com/fossils/pa_turbotsville.html).
I got a tip on another location near by that may yeild some trilos so as soon as all the endless rain lets up...I'm going to head over to this little creek and do some exploring and collect some cons to see if it may be gold bearing. All I have ever found around these parts is gold dust but maybe I'll be lucky and find better of both.
I'll have to get some photo's uploaded of the fern fossils I recently collected down in St. Clair...they are beauties..all about 200+ lbs of them, lol. I fell in love with every piece I found so they had to all come home with me.
Comments
When I lived in upstate NY, I had a friend up there who must have found the great Trilobite graveyard. He had collected hundreds, and I really enjoyed looking at them. It seems that the location was only a short drive from Cayuga Lake (where we lived) but that was years ago and I just can't remember the exact location.
Hope you manage to locate some good-sized glacial gold. You deserve to reward your diligence.
faaus
The trilo was just a partial..the butt end but I'm thrilled with it because it's my first find of one and it gives me hope I'll come across others. The pics don't show how huge this spot really is... I'll post some more angles of it. I've found lots of shells (imprints and casts), coral and my latest find..is a strange little creature called Michelinocerasa...(http://www.tonmo.com/science/fossils/nautiloids.php). It's the one with the long thin cone like body and tenticules like an octopus coming out the end of it. I've found 3 of them encased in the same chunk of rock. This is what they look like partially exposed in the matrix..(http://digsfossils.com/fossils/pa_turbotsville.html).
I got a tip on another location near by that may yeild some trilos so as soon as all the endless rain lets up...I'm going to head over to this little creek and do some exploring and collect some cons to see if it may be gold bearing. All I have ever found around these parts is gold dust but maybe I'll be lucky and find better of both.
I'll have to get some photo's uploaded of the fern fossils I recently collected down in St. Clair...they are beauties..all about 200+ lbs of them, lol. I fell in love with every piece I found so they had to all come home with me.
Happy Hunting,
faaus