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Stigmaria, the root system of a lycopod such as Lepidodendron or Sigillaria.
Visitor
Pennsylvanian
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BPS members listening to lecture on mining operations in the area.
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Stigmaria, the root system of a lycopod such as Lepidodendron or Sigillaria.
August 25, 2007 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Tuscaloosa Co, AL
A trip to a non-working mine site to explore spoil piles for invertebrate fossils was on the menu for BPS's August field trip. The mining company, headquartered in Tuscaloosa county generously offered us the opportunity to explore at this site. A long, hot day on a moonscape was nevertheless a great trip, yielding some beautiful specimens.
We met with the mining engineer who gave us a quick overview of the mining operations, then let us go onto the piles to do our hunting. We hunted until the heat got to us and it was time to seek air-conditioning.
After cooling off at a Mexican restaurant, we ended the day at the Museum of Natural History at Tuscaloosa with a visit to their superb collections.
(photos courtesy Chris and Vicki Lais)
July 31, 2005 - Pennsylvanian Fossils, Walker Co, AL
BPS members visited a new site this month in Walker county. A starfish had been discovered on the scouting trip, so the group was hoping to find more specimens. This roadcut exposed Pennsylvanian shale which contained a small amount of plant material, including impressions and casts, and a layer containing several nice slabs of starfish casts, vertebrate tracks, and fish fin markings. The starfish are a type of echinoderm, and are in the class Asteroidea. We surveyed a large portion of the cut, but only found the starfish in one small area.
One of the more interesting finds of the day was a young kitten, living in a cave in the wall. It had apparently not eaten in quite a while, as it was nothing but a pile of bones. Several members fed her, and this friendly, loving little kitten now has a good home with Jan and Greg.
(Pictures courtesy Steve Corvin and Vicki Lais.)
Looking over the site, trying to decide where to start.
Calamites rhizome (root) showing distinctive round structures that "could" become new shoots.
Calamites stem section - this is the part that would have been above ground, and looks similar to today's bamboo.
Steve found this shale slab containing 2 very clear starfish on the scouting trip.
A closer look.
Lea digging through the rubble.
Calamites - an impression and an inside mold.
Lea found a slab with a nice starfish cast.
A closer look at Lea's starfish.
Possible raindrops and other trace fossils. Many of the fossil finds at this site were impressions on boulders too large to carry home.
These are impressions of lepidodendrum and calamites.
Bill found this slab of shale with several starfish impressions. He graciously allowed Greg to break it apart and shared it with other members.
A closer view of the slab. There are at least 6 starfish on this slab. 
Bill found the large slab containing several starfish. This is the piece he kept. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful find, Bill!
A closer view.
More plant impression fragments.
We found this newest member living in a cave in the rocks (the kitten, if you had to ask!), and nothing but skin and bones. We fed her and made a friend for life - Jan and Greg took her home to live with them.
June 21, 2003 - Carboniferous Fossils, Jefferson Co, AL
BPS members visited 2 areas of new road development and a small quarry in Jefferson County this month, making 3 stops total. We had not visited these locations before, so were not sure how prolific the sites would be.
(Photos courtesy Greg Mestler, Ron Beerman, and Vicki Lais.)
At stop #1, several brachiopods and a couple of slabs with small amphibian track prints were found.
Jan found a number of brachiopods at this spot.
At stop #2, a number of nice limpets (gastropods) were found.
How's this for service? First time we ever had roadside delivery!
At stop #3, a number of plant fossils were found at a local quarry.
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Picture of Calamites found just above a coal seam at one of the sites visited. It measures 101mm in diameter (approx 4 inches) and 304 mm (12”) in length. This cast of the central pith-cavity of the trunk is a very common fossil of Calamites. It is characterized by the articulation and the vertical ribbing between the nodes. The ribs are the imprints of the vascular strands. It measures 101mm in diameter (approx 4 inches) and 304 mm (12”) in length. This tree, in size up to 20 meters, grew during the Carboniferous period, about 320-350 million years ago. (This specimen found by Ron, Claire got the other half, which is about the same size.) |
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Stigmaria Ficoides. This is a fossilized root of the Sigillaria tree. This piece measures 102 mm by 114 mm. It was found near a coal seam. This plant lived during the Pennsylvanian Period of the Paleozoic Era 320-350 mya around swamps or lakes grew to several meters in height. Its modern day relatives are the small club mosses and lycopods. The round nodes on the surface of stigmaria are scars where rootlets were once attached and arranged in a radial fashion about stigmaria like the bristles of a bottle brush. During their life these trees shed parts of their outer bark.
Possibilities - a spore case, or Neuropteris leaf.
Leisa & Winnie discussing the current find.
Some fern material found at the site is shown below.
July 3, 2002 - UCM Press Release
Press Release
WORLD-CLASS FOSSIL DISCOVERY IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA
Just prior to the July 4th holiday last week, U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt (District 4) visited an extraordinary fossil discovery just northwest of Birmingham in Walker County. Hosting Rep. Aderholt and his aide Bill Harris in a tour of the site were members of the Birmingham Paleontological Society (BPS), a local amateur fossil group, and a number of professional geologists and paleontologists who have participated in studying the fossils that have been recovered so far from the site.
“This is the most important discovery of Carboniferous Period tracks known; there is no comparable site in the world,” stated Prescott Atkinson, a physician at Children’s Hospital and a member of the BPS. He was quoting from a letter sent to Rep. Aderholt from Professor Hartmut Haubold, a German paleontologist who is widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on fossil animal tracks. Professor Haubold had written to Representative Aderholt in support of protecting the fossil site for scientific research after seeing the photographic database of more than 1300 track specimens compiled by Dr. Ron Buta, a University of Alabama astronomy professor and BPS member. Prof. Haubold’s assessment of the site: “by quantity, by quality, and by geological age, it is the most important discovery of Carboniferous tracks hitherto known.” This assessment was further strengthened in another letter sent to Representative Aderholt by renowned fossil track specialist Jerry MacDonald (author of Earth’s First Steps: Tracking Life Before the Dinosaurs), who visited the Walker County site in April 2002. In the late 1980’s Mr. MacDonald found an extensive pre-dinosaur tracksite in New Mexico that dates from the Permian Period, some 30 million years “younger” than the Walker County site.
Picture 1: Paleontologist Dr. Andy Rindsberg explains fossil tracks to Representative Aderholt
Picture 2: Rep. Aderholt and his aide Bill Harris (center) examine fossil tracks with Drs. Atkinson (L) and Rindsberg (R)
During the tour of the area, Dr. Jack Pashin, a coal geologist with the Geological Survey of Alabama, discussed the ancient history of the rocks at the site. The sediment (mud, dirt, and sand) that became shale rock and the plant material that became coal were laid down there about 310 million years ago in a swampy river delta during the Carboniferous Period (“Coal Age”), many millions of years before the dinosaurs. Dr. Jim Lacefield, adjunct professor at the University of North Alabama and author of Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks, continued with the ancient history of the area, explaining that this part of Alabama was near the equator when these sediments were deposited. He explained that an ocean covered much of North America to the west and south of the present day location of Walker County. Dr. Andy Rindsberg, a paleontologist with the Geological Survey of Alabama, took Aderholt and Harris around several tables to examine specimens of vertebrate and invertebrate tracks that have been recovered from the site, some that very morning. Vertebrate tracks ranged from smaller than a fingernail to larger than a hand. Bruce Relihan, Curator of Horticulture with the Birmingham Zoo and a member of BPS, showed the Congressman some examples of the many plant fossils that the site has yielded and presented him with a small amphibian trackway, found that morning at the site. Steve Minkin, a geologist with Westinghouse in Anniston, finished the tour by explaining that there are several acres of undisturbed strata at the site, and that preservation of the site could be accomplished by including an engineered design to leave the undisturbed track-bearing rock prepared for a proper paleontological excavation.
Picture 3: Large fossil amphibian trackway
Picture 4: Fossil amphibian trackway
Picture 5: Fossil fish scale
The site is located at a small surface coal mine owned by the New Acton Coal Company, and the group expressed their appreciation for the generosity of the company in allowing this world-class collection of fossil tracks to be assembled from broken rock in the spoil areas. If the undisturbed rock beds still remaining in the site are properly excavated in the future, the testimony of the experts indicates that the scientific and educational value of the site will be of truly international significance. In fact, several school field trips have already taken place at the site under the supervision of Ashley Allen, an Oneonta High School science teacher. Mr. Allen, also a BPS member, originally discovered the tracks after being led to the site by one of his students, the grandson of Mrs. Delores Reid, owner of New Acton Coal Company. Together the BPS fossil enthusiasts and their professional collaborators are proposing that the site could be developed as an important regional attraction for Alabama, with easy access from U.S. Highway 78 and, soon, Corridor X. A small building onsite could serve as a museum and visitor’s center that would house many of the tracks already collected, plus tracks excavated during a future paleontological dig. Similar to other sites out West, a pre-fabricated, portable building could be placed over an ongoing excavation and serve to protect the research and allow school classes and the public to observe paleontologists at work.
Much work remains before the vision of saving the site can be realized. Representative Aderholt is considering introducing legislation that would preserve the site for future scientific development. Alabama has already entered scientific history as home to a world-class Coal Age track site, and even more discoveries may lie ahead.
For further information, please contact
Dr. Andy Rindsberg (205-349-2852, e-mail: arindsberg@gsa.state.al.us)
Dr. Prescott Atkinson (205-934-7054, e-mail: patkinso@uab.edu)
Dr. Ron Buta (205-348-3792, e-mail: rbuta@bama.ua.edu)
May 12, 2001 - Track Meet 3 and PlantFest, Anniston, Alabama
Track Meet III and the concurrent PlantFest was held on May 12, at the Anniston Museum of Natural History. We spent the day documenting especially fine, well-preserved, interesting plant fossil specimens and previously unphotographed tracks collected at the Union Chapel Mine. We were fortunate enough to have 2 visiting paleobotanists at this Meet. Thanks to all of the organizers and participants!!