fossils

Things that used to be alive

CRINOIDS
Scyphocrinites elegans - Crinoid with lobolith float Upper Silurian Period

Crinoids in the collection of Dan & Connie Snow : Photos by Dan Snow

Scyphocrinites elegans:  Crinoid with lobolith float Upper Silurian Period, Djebel Issoumour, Alnif, Morroco

 

CRINOIDS are know as feather stars or sea lilies and are echinoderms.  A familiar form of echinoderm is the starfish.  Crinoids are alive today in the oceans but were more prevalent in prehistory.  They live primarily in shallow water but have also been found in extreme deep sea environments.

Crinoids resemble a flower with tentacles but are in fact animals.  They are filter feeders and have feather-like appendages that strain food particles from the ocean currents.  Some live as floating organisms but most are attached to the ocean floor by the means of a segmented stem.  Most fossilized crinoids are found disarticulated in beds of numerous fragments but they also can be found in articulated forms as they once were when alive.  The first occurrences of crinoids in the fossil record as found in the Ordovician Period.

National Fossil Day

October 11, 2017 is National Fossil DayTM. This year, the logo features heterostracans (Greek for “different shields”), which are a group of extinct fish who lived between the early Silurian and late Devonian period (358 million years ago). According to their website,

The heterostracans were characterized by an external covering of bony armor plates and by having only one common gill opening on each side of the head region. These early fish lacked any paired or mid-line fins and in many cases developed extensions of the armor plates that were not flexible but helped provide control in the water. Heterostracans lived in shallow marine environments around an ancient continent known as the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) Continent, which was composed of present day North America, the Canadian Arctic, and Western Europe….

The heterostracan species illustrated in the logo are Panamintaspis snowii in the foreground and Phyllonaspis taphensis in the background. Panamintaspis is named after the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley, which is where the original fossils were found and the species name recognizes the individual who helped to discover the specimen. Phyllonaspis taphensis means “leaf shield from the tomb” referring to the fact that the specimen comes from Death Valley. Phyllonaspis is particularly interesting as it is a member of a group that is otherwise only known from the Canadian Arctic, suggesting dispersal of these organisms from the arctic and around the margins of the Old Red Sandstone Continent.

Go to the NFD website to read more about heterostracans and David Elliott, a paleontologist who studies them and even found some in Death Valley National Park. There are also several activities you can do to celebrate the day.

To further celebrate National Fossil Day, Paleoaerie has a great article about the fossils that can be found in Arkansas.

We have discussed fossils found in Kansas City many times at showmerockhounds.com. They include ammonites, bivalves, crinoids, composita, and much more. For the full list, there’s a book for that.

Mini Field Trip July 2017

After our meeting on July 15, 2017 we decided to go on another mini field trip and look for fossils. There were crinoid stems, composita, and other fossils, as well as lots of blue shale. There was also something red and nobody knew what it was. I don’t have many pictures because it was very hot outside and my phone said something about battery temperature too high.

Composita fossils found in Kansas City. lots of crinoid stems and little fossils of many shapes

Composita found in Kansas City. Photo by Stephanie Reed

blue shale rocks in a row from kansas city mo

Blue shale. Photo by Stephanie Reed

bird in a tree

David met a friendly bird. Photo by David Reed.

man bending over gathering rocks outdoors

This is a traditional pose for members of rock clubs. Someday we may make a calendar. Photo by Stephanie Reed

Mini Field Trip May 2017

At the end of our meeting on May 20, 2017, David said, “Hey, we should go to [redacted] to get some fossils. It’s really close by.” Several members came along and looked for fossils.

Climbing and finding fossils in Missouri

Dan, David, and Connie climbing up to the good spot. Photo by Stephanie Reed

We had to climb a little bit to get to the good spot, but once we did, there were crinoid stems, brachiopods, encrusting and branching bryozoa, and other things. It was easy to get fossils out of the ground because it had recently rained. Afterward, David suggested another place nearby to go to find composita, so some people came along for that, too.

People climbing and finding fossils in Missouri, looking for fossils

Rock climbing in the “wilderness”. Photo by Stephanie Reed

In the summer weather, we expect to go on more spontaneous field trips like this in the Kansas City area. Make sure you come to our meetings dressed for adventure* if you want to come along!

*dressed for adventure= long pants, closed toe shoes, bring gloves and bug spray

Update: We took another mini field trip in July.

Spring 2017 Lectures

Lectures presented by the Association of Earth Science Clubs of Greater Kansas City

Friday, March 10, 2017

3:00 p.m. “Opal Down Under”, Ron Wooly, Owner of Dreaming Down Under

Saturday, March 11, 2017

1:00 p.m. “Earth Science… Facts, Frauds and Scams”, Mark Sherwood, Independence Gem and Mineral Society

2:00 p.m. “The Life and Hard Times of the KU T. rex”, Dr. David Burnham, Research Associate, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

3:00 p.m. “Medullary bone in Tyrannosaurs: a question of chickens, eggs and possibly more”, Dr. Josh Schmerge, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

4:00 p.m. “History of Gold Mining”, Doug Foster, Show-Me Gold, Missouri

Sunday, March 12, 2017

2:00 p.m. “The Life and Hard Times of the KU T-rex”, Dr. David Burnham, Research Associate, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

3:00 p.m. “Islands in the sun: Eocene fossil mammals from Turkey”, Dr. Chris Beard, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Collagen Found in Dinosaur Bones

Paleontologists at the University of Toronto just found collagen in a 195 million year old fossil. This makes it the oldest protein that has ever been found. Previously, the oldest protein sample was only 80 million years old (it was also collagen, from a dinosaur bone). They also found hematite crystals in the fossil, which possibly came from the blood. The dinosaur was a Lufengosaurus that lived in Yunnan Province, China.

Some other paleontologists didn’t like the new, non-invasive methods that the team used used to identify the collagen, but other scientists thought the methods were fine. Read the whole article here https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i6/Collagen-found-195-million-year.html and let me know what you think.

National Fossil Day
National Fossil Day saber-toothed cat long-horned bison condor

The 2016 National Fossil Day logo

October 12 was National Fossil Day. This has been going on since 2010 as part of Earth Science Week, but I forgot to post anything about it. According to their website, “National Fossil Day is a celebration organized by the National Park Service to promote public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as to foster a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational values. Fossils discovered on the nation’s public lands preserve ancient life from all major eras of Earth’s history, and from every major group of animal or plant. In the national parks, for example, fossils range from primitive algae found high in the mountains of Glacier National Park, Montana, to the remains of ice-age animals found in caves at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Public lands provide visitors with opportunities to interpret a fossil’s ecological context by observing fossils in the same place those animals and plants lived millions of years ago.”

This year, the theme of National Fossil Day is the Pleistocene era, so the logo has a saber-toothed cat, a long-horned bison, and a condor. In the background is Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. To read more about these extinct animals, their website has an explanation here: http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/nfd_2016_artwork_fossils.cfm

There was also a kids’ art contest, and here are the winners: http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/art_contest_2016_results.cfm

Delightful Daylilies
pink and yellow daylily

Photo by Stephanie Reed

The Snows had a delightful daylily party at their place this weekend! First there was food, then we viewed their amazing rock collection in their impeccably organized basement (complete with a fluorescent rock display that rivals several museums), then we saw their daylily garden and had a walk through the woods! There was even a real turtle in the yard! Ed brought some teeth for Martin to identify and there are some photos of the teeth. I didn’t know there were so many different shapes and colors of daylily so there are tons more photos on the Google+ here.

Since this is ostensibly a website about rocks and fossils, here’s a picture of two of the teeth. I don’t remember what Martin said they were.

two fossilized teeth in the palm of a person's hand

Photo by David Reed

Dino Soiree at Powell Gardens

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, June 17 (21 and older)

Enjoy drinks and light bites while you view a fascinating collection of fossils and hear from renowned University of Kansas Paleontologist Dr. David Burnham about the unique and ferocious Dakotaraptor. Prepaid reservations of $30/person or $25/member required. You can make those reservations at https://www.powellgardens.org/dino-soiree or by calling 816-697-2600 x209.

Guests will get one drink ticket, which can be exchanged for wine, beer or a non-alcoholic beverage at the bar. Additional drinks will be available for purchase.

Come early if you would like to take a self-guided tour of Jurassic Garden: A Prehistoric Adventure! If you cannot make the paleontology lecture, there are some other events at the Jurassic Garden: Dining with the Dinos on June 24 (reservations for BBQ dinner with dinos) and Dino Night July 22 (reservations for Dino Night). The Jurassic Garden will be available until August 14, 2016.

Characterization of Green Amber
silver ring with oval green amber

Green amber ring owned by Stephanie. It has nothing to do with this article. Photo by Stephanie Reed

David highly recommends this article on green amber from Gems & Gemology, 2009. Here is the abstract.

Ahmadjan Abduriyim, Hideaki Kimura, Yukihiro Yokoyama, Hiroyuki Nakazono, Masao Wakatsuki, Tadashi Shimizu, Masataka Tansho, and Shinobu Ohki

Abstract: A peridot-like bright greenish yellow to green gem material called “green amber” has recently appeared in the gem market. It is produced by treating natural resin (amber or copal) with heat and pressure in two stages in an autoclave. Differences in molecular structure between untreated amber and copal as compared to treated “green amber” were studied by FTIR and 13C NMR spectroscopy, using powdered samples. Regardless of the starting material, the FTIR spectrum of “green amber” showed an amber pattern but with a characteristic small absorption feature at 820 cm-1. Solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy of the treated material indicated a significantly lower volatile component than in the untreated natural resin, evidence that the treatment can actually “artificially age” copal. A new absorption observed near 179 ppm in the NMR spectra of all the treated samples also separated them from their natural-color counterparts.

To read the whole article, go here http://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/fall-2009-green-amber-abduriyim and click on “Download PDF”.