Carboniferous

December 16, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

by Ron Buta, Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Union Chapel Mine is now known to be one of the best Lower Pennsylvanian track sites in North America. During December, the mine was in the process of reclamation, and the BPS returned one more time as a group to search for trackways among turned-over spoil piles in one of the most productive areas of the site. About 15 BPS members and several newcomers attended the field trip on a pleasant mid-December day.

Figure 1: Trackway of a likely arthropod. Each print is a small spot.

When we arrived at the site, only one small area was not reclaimed. This particular area was one which had yielded many good tracks in the past and so we were all delighted to see that the mine workers had moved some of the old rock piles around, allowing us to see if any new material had been exposed. In spite of this, we all had difficulty finding any new high quality tracks. Nevertheless, there were still tracks to be found. I found the interesting specimen shown in Figure 1. It appears to be the trackway of an arthropod, where each track is a small roundish spot. In the significant collection of track photos which the BPS "track meets" have provided, I had not seen another set like this one. I also found the tracks shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 2: Trackway of another likely arthropod, notable for its asymmetry and strong trail-dragging mark

Figure 3: Two tracks of an Attenosaurus subulensis, a common alligator-like amphibian from the Union Chapel site.

On the reclaimed areas and in the overturned area, one can still find nice plant fossils at this site. Figure 4 shows an especially nice set of ferns from a split rock. Most interesting is how strong the stem of these ferns is.

Figure 4: Strong fern impressions from a split rock.

Figure 5 shows brown ferns of the genus Neuropteris, which was common at this mine.

Figure 5: Beautiful Neuropteris ferns defined by iron compound deposits.

Figure 6 shows a single large seed impression of a seed fern. This is how such seeds are often found.

Figure 6: A seed impression, Trigonocarpus.

However, I found another rock in the overturned area having more than a dozen seed impressions. Several of these are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Part of a slab showing numerous seed impressions

The ferns they are associated with are shown in Figure 8. Jim Lacefield discusses the seeds of seed ferns on page 66 of his new book, "Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks", and gives a wonderful general discussion of the Coal Age in Alabama and what happened to the seed ferns.

Figure 8: Part of the same slab showing another seed impression among the ferns likely associated with the seeds

The reclamation of the Union Chapel Mine caps off a spectacular year of discovery for the BPS, and the Union Chapel experience marks the beginning of a remarkable cooperation between BPS amateur rock collectors and two professional organizations, the Geological Survey of Alabama and the Alabama Museum of Natural History on this new project. The more than 500 track specimens salvaged by BPS members and guests since January 23, 2000 are currently being researched by professional paleontologists. Hundreds of high quality plant fossils were also salvaged and will eventually be studied. We will no doubt be talking about the experience for years to come.

May 28, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

This collecting site continues to be popular with the BPS, today’s field trip being the third organized visit in only four months. There were good reasons for returning to the site at this time. First, it is still rich in amphibian tracks and plant fossils, in spite of the many people visiting the site during the past four months. Second, we were informed by the owner of the mine that reclamation of the Union Chapel Mine would begin in late May, and that this may enhance our ability to find new and interesting material that had been previously buried in the rock piles. However, the reclamation effort has been stalled for a variety of reasons, and I have heard that full-scale reclamation might not start until August. Nevertheless, the unmoved piles still yield good specimens, and it is still possible to find good quality tracks lying exposed in spite of the many visits people have made to the mine. Sometimes pieces are missed because of a poor Sun angle or because people are tired when they pass an area and simply don’t notice a track specimen.

I felt like I had a "good day" today for track and plant fossils from this site. The first picture shows a fine set of amphibian tracks with at least four toes. Note how the size of the tracks alternate, as if the hind and forefeet have different sizes.
	Fig. 1 - Small amphibian tracks with at least four toes. The tracks resemble those of the genus Cincosaurus cobbi in Museum Paper No. 9, by Aldrich and Jones (1930). However, the tracks here are much smaller than those illustrated in their article.

The second picture shows tracks of a somewhat different creature, again with at least four toes and possible evidence of a pad.
	Fig. 2 - Another set of small tracks with four toes and evidence for a pad.

The third and fourth pictures show a fine set of tracks whose visibility depends on the Sun angle when dry. I noticed these tracks after splitting a rock. The two halves, giving direct and inverse impressions, were wet and the tracks obvious. However, after the pieces dried in the back of my truck, I could not see the tracks! This set is interesting because it looks like the creature was walking around an obstacle of some some sort.

Fig. 3 - A small set of tracks where the creature apparently walked around an obstacle of unknown nature. This set also resembles Cincosaurus cobbi, but are nuch smaller than the ones illustrated in Aldrich and Jones 1930.


	Fig. 4 - Close up of part of the tracks in the previous picture.

The fifth picture shows a definite trace fossil that is likely connected to a fish. The picture shows two doubled sine waves, and at least one wave has four peaks on the whole rock. The sine waves could be due to fins scraping the bottom, and perhaps two fish made these tracks, each with a pair of fins touching the mud.
	Fig. 5 - Possible trace fossils of fish fins swishing along bottom of shallow water or swampy area.

The sixth picture shows an interesting trunk cast of a small tree. I had a hard hat on this visit, and felt emboldened to go a little closer to the high wall than I had been before. I found this stunning small trunk near but not exactly at the wall. I call this the "Devil’s Tower" specimen because it strongly resembles Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The black verticle bands represent carbonized plant material, and I suspect the tree was a species of Sigillaria. Since it tapers a little, I also suspect the piece was near the bottom of the trunk.

Fig. 6 - The "Devil’s Tower" specimen, a trunk cast of small lycopod, probably of the genus Sigillaria.

The seventh picture shows a variety of typical bark impressions and a small cast of a Calamites pith I found on this day. The bark impressions are of the genus Lepidophloios, by far the most abundant type at this site. This is in great contrast to the Warrior construction site (see BPS field trip report for March 27, 1999), where hundreds of bark impressions of Lepidodendron have been found, but no definite pieces of Lepidophloios.

Fig. 7 - Various bark impressions of Lepidophloios and a Calamites medullary cast fossil

Other Track Impressions
	Fig. 8 - A medium sized set of a few tracks, likely to be Cincosaurus jonesii (Aldrich and Jones 1930).

The final pictures I show are of a few tracks found on different days but which have not been shown in previous reports.
	Fig. 9 - A small set of tracks with three clear toes, probably of the genus Cincosaurus.

Fig. 10 - Small tracks of unknown creature, from part of a much larger slab with 3 or 4 criss-crossing tracks. Each track is less than a penny in size.

Fig. 11 - This piece shows two different sets of tracks, one larger set going left, and a smaller set going right. The two sets overlap, giving a confusing pattern of overlapping prints.

Fig. 12 - This piece includes tracks of probably one of the same two creatures in Figure 11.

March 19, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

It was decided at the March meeting that the BPS should return to this mine once again as an organized field trip. As I have noted in previous reports, this is a site the BPS visited with great success just two months earlier. The site is rich in footprint fossils of Pennsylvanian amphibians and other creatures. Although the previous organized visit, on January 23, occurred on a rather bleak day, it was nothing like the one today. Rain fell hard all day across most of Alabama and never let up even for a few minutes. Because of the weather, only six people turned up for this outing.

Figure 1 Unusual tracks of one or two large creatures that must have been moving in very wet mud.

In spite of the weather, several of us still found nice tracks and other fossils. I show a few that I picked up here. One large set of tracks I found was lying at the bottom of a rock pile that had been thoroughly searched. After the tracks were cleaned of mud, it looks to me like they are amphibian tracks that were laid down in rather wet mud. The impressions are wide as the creatures' whole body probably sloshed in the mud. There are two sets of tracks on the main piece, and details of one are shown in the close-up.

Figure 2 Close-up of part of the previous specimen, showing likely toe prints flanking the broad body scrape.

Figure 3 Small tracks of one or more creatures that could be Bipedes aspodon.

A much smaller set of tracks I found in a different area has small y-shaped prints in a bit of a random pattern. In Museum Paper No. 9 of the Alabama Museum of Natural History (authors Aldrich and Jones), a creature that produced similar tracks is known as Bipedes aspodon. At least two sets of tracks are also present on this piece. Bipedes aspodon is described by Aldrich and Jones as an animal with only two toes. Although Aldrich and Jones clearly considered the creature to be an amphibian, BPS members who found similar tracks felt they are more likely to be tracks of an arthropod.

Figure 4 Single print of Quadropedia prima, a modest-sized amphibian. At this layer, the track shows five clear toes as well as a pad.

I found some other interesting and larger tracks on a large rock on the well-searched rock piles. I suspected tracks might be inside at a deeper level in this rock. The rock had interesting deposits or formations that covered different layers, but it was not clear what these features might be. After removing many layers of the rock, I did indeed find four footprints of a modest-sized creature which, according to Museum Paper No. 9, is an amphibian known as Quadropedia prima. Aldrich and Jones state that the creature is higher in the scale than most of the species they illustrated in their article, because it walked more like later reptiles. They point out the presence of a distinct pad, which we can see in the pictures I show here. The four prints could be detected at several different layers, and at least one of the prints was well-defined at all of the layers. The appearance of the prints seemed different at different layers, suggesting that some of the variety in the prints we have been finding at the site is due in part to the different layers that were exposed.

Figure 5 Two tracks of the same creature, the one at right being the same foot as in the previous picture, but the print looks different because it is at a different level. At this level, only three toes are seen, with a strong pad.

Other Notes on the Union Chapel Site January 23-March 19, 2000

The Union Chapel Mine was visited many times by BPS members and guests between January 23 and March 19. Ashley Allen brought to the February BPS meeting a huge rock with a set of excellent large amphibian prints. Bruce Relihan brought to the March BPS meeting a large stump cast of a likely Lepidodendron. The stump is more than a foot in diameter and tapers around the edges, as if it were near the bottom of the original trunk. Bruce related the heroic effort he put into getting the huge fossil by himself, which involved building a rock ramp to allow him to get it into his truck. Steve Minkin also brought to the last BPS meeting an excellent set of modest-sized tracks found by his wife.

All in all, the Union Chapel site elicited such great interest and finds that Steve Minkin asked Ed Hooks if the BPS could have a temporary display case at the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa. Ed agreed to this and some of the new Union Chapel pieces may soon be on display for the public to see!

December 18, 1999 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

During this field trip, the BPS had the pleasure of returning to the Cedrum Surface Coal Mine near Jasper in Walker County, Alabama. Although we had visited this mine only a few months ago (see BPS field trip report for July 24, 1999), there was a sense of urgency connected with our latest visit. The Drummond Company, which operates the mine, was going to shut down operations on December 30, which would then be followed by the normal reclamation effort to restore the area. This meant that the large "spoil piles" we explored in July would soon be gone. Thus, it was decided that we should go back one more time before the reclamation effort to look for plant fossils.

Fig. 1 - A group of attendees enjoys lunch among the eerie barren rock piles

As in July, this visit was hosted by a mine engineerwho instructed us in issues of safety in the mine area. We were delighted to have his wife join us this time and bring several parents and students of various ages who are involved in home schooling. They all seemed to enjoy learning about fossils and to be excited about finding and collecting them.

During this visit we had about 30 BPS members and guests in attendance, a larger than average group. There were so many cars that we were asked to carpool a little to miminize the number of cars in the pit.

I must say that I enjoyed this visit much more than the visit in July. The highlight of the visit in July was our tour of the mining operation and our visit to the "dragline." However, it was so hot that day that fossil collecting was difficult and a little unpleasant. Our focus this time was only on fossil collecting, and the day was cool, calm, a little cloudy, and very pleasant for climbing and searching the rock piles. We also collected in a different area from our July visit. One problem we encountered was that it was rather dry, and the movement of trucks combined with dryness caused the rocks to be very dusty, making it a little difficult to notice the fossils. Thus, it was not especially easy to find good fossils.

Fig. 2 - Calamites impression fossil showing not only the characteristic pith features, but also the actual extent of the trunk

Many of the fossils that attendees did find were very good. I can describe a few that I brought home. Being a little slow in heading towards the main rock piles, I stopped at a rock that others had seen but had passed up because of its size. The rock included a foot-long Calamites pith impression that I thought was interesting because it includes about 20 nodes. There is more than just the pith, however. The pith is surrounded by a wider pattern that may give the true dimension of the trunk, since the sediment was obviously impacted by the plant over this wider area. The specimen looked much better after it was cleaned, and I show a picture of it here.

Fig. 3 - Unusual Sphenopteris fern with three-tip leaflets also resembling somewhat the seed fern Rhodea

Bruce Relihan found a large rock on a pile that turned out to have a variety of fossils in it, which he generously shared with me. The main fossils in the rock were Sphenopteris ferns of high quality, but also I was impressed to see excellent specimens of Spenophyllum, a genus of small land plants with wedge-shaped leaves. The shape of Sphenophyllum is a circular pattern with radial pinnules. I show two types of likely Sphenopteris ferns here. The first has very thin pinnules and reminds me of Sphenopteris elegans, shown in a book: "Plant Fossils of West Virgina" by Gillespie et al. (1978). The second is a beautiful, larger fern that looks different but I think is still the same genus.

Fig. 4 - Beautiful Sphenopteris fern of different species from the previous one, but from the same rock

Don McDonald found a rock with what looked like nice specimens of Asterophyllites, one of the forms of the foliage connected with Calamites. The rock was very large and it was difficult to extract intact pieces.

Fig. 5 - Reconstructed portion of a large strap-shaped leaf of Cordaites

This was a common problem because much of the rock at this site is shale, and splitting rocks means some fossils may break or even disintegrate.

This nearly happened to me on the next fossil I found. Near where Don was working, I found the interesting fossil shown here. It broke up when I started to try and extract it, but the pieces could be put together like a puzzle as in the photograph. At first, I thought this was a Calamites impression, but the long striations and the narrowing of the fossil towards its end reveals this to be a giant strap-shaped leaf of Cordaites. Note the lack of any nodes, which rules out the Calamites interpretation completely.

Matthew Valente, who came as a guest with Jim and Faye Lacefield, found a round-leafed fossil fern that I had not seen before. Matthew tentatively identified it as Mariopteris robusta. According to Jim, this is a common species near the south part of the well-known Warrior Basin, but it is not common in Walker County where Cedrum is located.

This field trip was combined with our traditional "Christmas season gathering" and several members brought the fixings for our lunch that were shared by everyone. Thanks to Jim Lacefield and James Lowery for comments and additions to this report, and especially to Steve Minkin and his son for making and bringing the delicious gumbo as our main course!

--Edited by Vicki Lais

Photos by Larry Hensley

Cedrum Surface Mine in Walker Co., Alabama, Dec. 18, 1999 -- BPS Members in the Huge Dragline Bucket

May 29, 1999 - Carboniferous Fossils - Jefferson Co, AL

Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The field trip on May 29, 1999, was to an abandoned strip mine in Kimberly that is now being re-excavated by the owner of the Warrior site which was described in the report of the March 27, 1999, BPS field trip. This is a new site for the BPS and we were most likely the first people to seriously look for fossils in the area, at least since the mine was active.

Although the postcard for the trip stated that we would be visiting the same Warrior site as on March 27, it was understood at the last BPS meeting that we would visit the new site and check it out. We decided to visit the new site first and left it as an option for attendees to visit the site on their own, since that site is much easier to find. About 15 people, including BPS members and guests, attended today's field trip.

--Edited by Vicki Lais

hillside The site turned out to be a particularly good one for finding a variety of Carboniferous period plant fossils. The area was so vast that even with 15 people we really did not explore it all. Many rock piles surround an open area where we could park our vehicles. Fossils of Calamites, including 3D stem casts, stem impressions, foliage, and cones were abundant in some areas.

Ferns seemed less abundant, but good specimens were found nonetheless. Finely detailed fossils of the top foliage of arborescent lycopods were found in abundance. Bark impressions of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria were also found.

The main difference between this site and the Warrior site is that the fossils at the latter site are concentrated in a small area that is easy to explore.

At the Kimberly site, the fossils were spread out over a much larger area and finding them required a great deal of tenacious searching. Also, since you could not necessarily drive your vehicle up any of the steep hills, carrying a large fossil to your car was challenging to say the least.

There were numerous highlights of this trip. One attendee showed me a rare (so far as I know) cast fossil of a small part of a stem of Cordaites, a gymnospermous tree with no modern relatives. The stem of this tree consists of a series of horizontal ridges and is easily distinguished from Calamites, but I had never seen one this nice before. Some very nice pieces of Calamites itself were found. The inimitable Ken Hoyle showed several of us two spectacular Calamites casts he found, each about 6 inches long and 4-5 inches in diameter. The two pieces were obviously part of the same plant, but he could not find any of the missing parts.

Steve, Dena, and Molly Hand were also very successful in finding good 3D casts of Calamites, as well as a nice piece of Asterophyllites equisetiformis, the characteristic foilage of the branches of Calamites. Ken Wills, who previously spoke to the BPS last year, found a nice piece with many Calamostachys impressions, representing the cones of Calamites. Christina and Larry Hensley found a big rock with a stunning impression of the bark of a Lepidendron arborescent lycopod. It was beautiful but too big for anyone to carry. 3D casts of the rhizophore of Stigmaria ficoides, the root system of arborescent lycopods, were also found by several attendees, including myself. The largest, 15 inches long, was found by Bruce Relihan.

This small piece shows impressions of the upper branches of an arborescent lycopod.

Partial cast fossil stump of Sigillaria, an arborescent lycopod. The dark scars are the usual parichnos scars associated with this genus. The stump is about 1 foot in diameter

Particularly interesting were the stump fossils found at this site. On the top of a hill, I found three fossil stumps of Sigillaria. All three pieces showed the characteristic parallel bands of parichnos scars. The two largest pieces are about a foot in diameter and 3 to 6 inches thick. A smaller piece showed the strongest bands. I managed to get these to my car with difficulty, and needed help with one piece. Gerry Badger had a tougher time, however. He found a much bigger stump of Lepidodendron and practically had to roll it down to his car from some distant point. The stump looked to be 70-80 lbs in weight and showed weak scars. A very much larger stump was found by several others near the base of a hill. I heard it was maybe 30 inches in diameter. But by the time I heard about it, I had no energy to go and see it! Ken Wills and Bruce Relihan also found partial stump casts.

In summary, this was quite an interesting field trip. When I first "scouted" out this site in April, I was not sure we would find much since casual searching during a period of one hour did not reveal many fossils. The intensive searching by attendees on this trip was much more revealing about the site, and showed it to really be nearly as good as the Warrior site. It will be worthy of a second visit in the future.

April 24, 1999 - Carboniferous Fossils - Jefferson Co, AL

Thanks to the efforts of Bill Newman, and the courtesy of the Drummond Company, a group of 15 members of the Birmingham Paleontology Society were able to visit the Shoal Creek Mine, a working underground coal mine on Saturday, April 24.

The Shoal Creek Mine is a modern, high-tech coal mine, having begun operation only 5 years ago. Following an introductory safety presentation (mandatory for visitors to the underground workings of the mine), and a fitting of personal safety paraphernalia (hardhat with light, steel-toed rubber boots, and an emergency "self-rescue unit" to remove carbon monoxide from the air in case of fire), we descended about 1900 feet below the surface in a speedy elevator. Once there, we were ushered into several Humvees, the standard mode of motorized travel through the mine's vast network of tunnels. We then drove several miles to see one of the areas being actively mined.

In the Shoal creek mine, coal occurs in two narrow nearly horizontal seams, named the Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams. The rock just above and below the seams is a sandy shale bearing plant fossils, as we discovered at one stop in the underground tour. Two types of mining techniques are used in the mine, continuous mining and longwall mining. Continuous mining machines tunnel directly into the rock, and have been used to form a network of tunnels. In the longwall operation we witnessed, a line of automated shields support the mine ceiling just next to a long (typically a thousand feet) rock face, while a drum shearing machine moves slowly along the length of the wall, continuously gouging about 39" of rockface off and dumping it onto a continuously running chain conveyor belt. The belt delivers the mixture of rock and coal to a continuous rock crusher, and the chain conveyor then connects with a series of conveyors, the last of which carries the coal and rock to the surface along an exit tunnel sloping up to the surface at a 17 degree angle. At the surface, a series of operations separates rock from coal, and sorts coal into sizes appropriate for different uses. The principal customer for the coal from the Shoal Creek mine is Alabama Power Co.

Many of us were quite impressed with the efficiency of the operation and the thorough measures in place to ensure the safety and comfort of the miners. The mine visit was an outstanding educational experience. In fact, it was also a lot of fun. Our thanks to the Drummond Company, the courteous and helpful mine management and miners, and to Bill Newman, who made the arrangements for the tour on behalf of BPS.

March 27, 1999 - Jefferson Co, AL

Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The field trip on March 27, 1999 was the second organized BPS trip to a construction site near Warrior. The trip was attended by about 25 people, mainly from Birmingham, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, the Florence area, and the University of North Alabama. Attendees included BPS members, guests, children, professors, and students, and the day was sunny, clear, and warm.

View of the site from across the road.

	Fossil hunters at the main rock pile where Lepidodendron and Sigillaria specimens were abundant.

The site was first identified as being a source of Carboniferous-period plant fossils by BPS member Gerry Badger, and the first BPS field trip to the site took place on November 15, 1997. Although various BPS members and probably others have visited the site at various times during the past year, the site has changed so much that on March 27, the site was better than it had ever been before as far as numbers and quality of plant fossils are concerned.

The most abundant plant fossils found during our most recent visit were bark impressions of the giant arborescent lycopods Lepidodendron and Sigillaria. These were mainly found in rock piles around the area of a northeast wall of rock. Large slabs showed the familiar Lepidodendron leaf scars, which look like fish scales. In many cases the scars were clear and well-defined, making the specimens extremely beautiful examples. On close inspection, the leaf scars show characteristic bundle and parichnos scars representing leaf attachment points, and many of the pieces are probably of the same species. However, after checking various books I have not yet identified the exact species at Warrior. It is clear also that more than one species of Lepidodendron is present at this site. It is also interesting that specimens of Lepidodendron at Warrior came in both direct and inverse impressions. In direct impressions, the leaf scars are raised, and are more like molds of the original object. In most pieces, however, the leaf scars are simply inverse impressions of the original raised scars, and therefore appear as depressions in the fossil.

Example of decorticated Sigillaria fossil (Syringodendron) showing pairs of parichnos scars along parallel bands.

The Sigillaria specimens are more abundant now at this site than they were on November 15, 1997. They are characterized by parallel bands of leaf scars distinctly different from the spirally arranged scars seen on Lepidodendron, although a spiral arrangement may still be present. Several species were found, but I have not been able to make exact identifications. Sigillaria specimens attendees found included not only outer bark impressions, where the leaf scars are roundish and almost overlapping, but also beautiful decorticated impressions, direct and inverse, where only parichnos scars are seen either as small spots or close pairs of small spots. These are as known as Syringodendron. The decorticated specimens are cases where the outer bark is gone, so they represent an inner bark layer.

Also abundant at this site, but not necessarily found in the rock piles, were several types of seed ferns characteristic of the period. These were found at a specific level of the east rock wall less than a foot above the ground level and about 20 feet from the rock piles. The ferns found included beautiful examples of Eusphenopteris, Mariopteris, Neuropteris, and Alethopteris form genera, but I have not yet determined exact species. Because many of these were found in situ, they were still beautifully preserved with dark carbonaceous remains of the original plant material and fine details of vein systems in individual pinnules. Several attendees spent much of their time searching for ferns at the rock wall, and many were found. According to Dave Kopaska-Merkel, one young person, whose first name was Jonathan, split a large slab and found some very nice large ferns inside. Although I am not aware of any examples found during this trip, the site also is known for having Lyginopteris ferns which are distinctly different from the others. Several different species of Sphenopteris ferns have also been found in the past.

	View of rock wall on east side of site where ferns were found in situ.

	Typical example of a set of ferns extracted from the above part of the wall.

Fossils of the well-known horsetail, Calamites, have also been found in abundance at this site. Several attendees (including myself) found three-dimensional Calamites stems further down the same rock wall where the ferns were found. Dave Kopaska-Merkel found a nearly foot-long Calamites specimen embedded in a larger rock. Also found were excellent specimens of the foliage of Calamites, including a fine small piece of (probable) Asterophyllites equisetiformis shown to me by Gerry Badger. At least three different species of Asterophyllites have been found at this site.

There were a few interesting highlights from the trip. Wayne Canis, several of his students from the University of North Alabama, and guest Richard Keyes of Huntsville, found a large and extremely beautiful example of a lycopod root system, Stigmaria, with dozens of root impressions emanating from the sides and clear deep small depressions or root scars on the main body, known as a rhizophore. The fossil was so fragile that Richard went off site to buy a can of spray glue to insure the piece would hold together during the drive home. Also found today were large fossil "stumps" and logs of arborescent lycopod stems. Gerry Badger located a 64 pound stump in the one of the upper rock piles at the site, and Wayne Canis and one of his students each found a similar piece. Particularly interesting was a long, nearly vertically-standing log found in an upper rock wall near the back of the site. Except for the log, no other fossils were obvious in this wall. Gerry Badger heroically tried to get the main body of the log off with a hammer. This

Gerry Badger at the big "log" on a wall in rear of site.

was at great risk since the specimen was under a large rock overhang! The job was not easy and afterward I saw the specimen in pieces in the back of Gerry's car, but he still was upbeat about it.Later, I found another stump fossil in a rock wall on the north side of the main site level. It, too, was the only fossil noticed in that particular area, although several of us thought we saw the end of a highly flattened stump still in the wall but much higher up in the same area. The stump I found is about a foot long and weighs 77 pounds. Unlike the others found, it is covered with hundreds of small scars and impressions, indicating a fairly definite identification as an arborescent lycopod cast. These "stumps" and logs represent cases where a hollow cavity left by the stem was filled with mud which later solidified and preserved the general shape as well as any inner details. They are not "petrified" in the usual sense.

77 pound arborescent lycopod cast found near north rock wall.

In summary, this field trip was a very enjoyable experience for all who attended. On a wonderful day, we all experienced a part of Alabama's past and took home the beautiful relics of a bygone era of Alabama natural history.

	Group working on Stigmaria fossil near road to upper level of site.

Visitor

Navigation

User Menu

Carboniferous

December 16, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

May 28, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

March 19, 2000 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

December 18, 1999 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL

May 29, 1999 - Carboniferous Fossils - Jefferson Co, AL

April 24, 1999 - Carboniferous Fossils - Jefferson Co, AL

March 27, 1999 - Jefferson Co, AL

Pages

September