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.

    collecting in quarry
    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.

    Calamites
    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.

    Sphenopteris fern
    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.

    Sphenopteris fern
    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.

    Cordaites
    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

 



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