Forked River Mountains under water.........

[BEHR655]

......a long time ago.

Saturday, while giving my daughters and their friends a tour of the Pines I took them to FRM. My oldest daughter's boyfriend, who is into finding fossils, found a fossilized barnacle. Within 20 minutes he and I found about 15 more. We also found rocks with the imprint of shells and one that may actually be the shell still in it.
The next time any of you are up there take a close look at the ground. You'll be surprised at what you may find.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

......a long time ago.

Saturday, while giving my daughters and their friends a tour of the Pines I took them to FRM. My oldest daughter's boyfriend, who is into finding fossils, found a fossilized barnacle. Within 20 minutes he and I found about 15 more. We also found rocks with the imprint of shells and one that may actually be the shell still in it.
The next time any of you are up there take a close look at the ground. You'll be surprised at what you may find.

Steve

I have mentioned that when we camped there we always found quite a few fossils there. It is the best place around to find them. And you may remember in Tom Browns book, he met his Indian friend there while searching for fossils.

Guy

 

[Teegate]

FRM in 1978

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegate/main.php/download/897-1/john8_78.jpg

 

[uuglypher]

FRM in 1978

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegate/main.php/download/897-1/john8_78.jpg

Hi, Guy-
Isn't that fossil you are holding in the picture one of a crinoid stem (cross section view on a broken end)?

Dave

 

[Teegate]

Hi, Guy-
Isn't that fossil you are holding in the picture one of a crinoid stem (cross section view on a broken end)?

Dave

I took the photo....it is of a friend of mine from back then. As for the fossil, I have no idea. It was one of many we found, and that is the only photo I have.

Guy

 

[uuglypher]

I took the photo....it is of a friend of mine from back then. As for the fossil, I have no idea. It was one of many we found, and that is the only photo I have.

Guy

If that is a crinoid - and I think it is - it dates from somewhere more than 500 million years ago - early Pleistocene. The FRMs stand on a venerble and experienced substrate, I'd say...

Dave

 

[BEHR655]

Here are some of the fossils I found.

#1 is a scallop that my daughter's boyfriend, John, thinks may be the actual shell embedded in the rock. If you look at the bottom right you can see where some of the stone is gone yet the imprint of the shell is still there.

#2 is a barnacle

#3 I dunno. I think it looks like a tooth or a talon. John thinks it's just an odd clay formation.

#4 another barnacle

Steve

 

[Teegate]

Very nice Steve! That place is really amazing. We would sit at camp on the road leading up the hill to it and find them all the time, but I never noticed any as nice as those.

Guy

 

[Teegate]

I guess he wants to go back again You'll make a pine barren lover out of him yet!

BTW, it was nice seeing all of you Saturday. If you had been a little earlier, and I had been a little later, we may have met at the same place as we did when you scared the you know what out of Jessica

Guy

 

[BEHR655]

I guess he wants to go back again You'll make a pine barren lover out of him yet!

BTW, it was nice seeing all of you Saturday. If you had been a little earlier, and I had been a little later, we may have met at the same place as we did when you scared the you know what out of Jessica

Guy

Yep, we went by there. I will try to get them back out into the Pines later in the Fall when there is less danger of chiggers. We really did not do much more than drive around. I gotta get them into the Pines.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

Yep, we went by there. I will try to get them back out into the Pines later in the Fall when there is less danger of chiggers. We really did not do much more than drive around. I gotta get them into the Pines.

Steve

Oh boy...they don't know what they are in for

Guy

 

[uuglypher]

Here are some of the fossils I found.

Hi, Steve-
Those are good pics. Numbers 2 and 4 are pieces of crinoids, Cambrian (early Pleistocene) animals commonly called "sea lilies." I suspect that #3 is as well.
Google "crinoids" and do an image search to see what the whole beast and pieces of it can look like. Neat fossils!
Dave

 

[BEHR655]

Thanks Dave. You may be right. I found this in the search.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

One of the more intersting posts in a while. Nice one Steve!

Guy

 

[Forester]

......a long time ago.

Saturday, while giving my daughters and their friends a tour of the Pines I took them to FRM. My oldest daughter's boyfriend, who is into finding fossils, found a fossilized barnacle. Within 20 minutes he and I found about 15 more. We also found rocks with the imprint of shells and one that may actually be the shell still in it.
The next time any of you are up there take a close look at the ground. You'll be surprised at what you may find.

Steve

These fossils are Devonian in age, about 400 million years old. The barnacle shaped ones are horn corals. The shell is a brachiopod. The last is a honeycomb coral called Favosites. They have eroded from hills in New York and north Jersey, and were washed down by ancient streams, or pushed down by glaciers during the ice age.
Cape May is also another place to find these, along with 'Cape May Diamonds', clear quartz pebbles.

 

[uuglypher]

These fossils are Devonian in age, about 400 million years old. The barnacle shaped ones are horn corals. The shell is a brachiopod. The last is a honeycomb coral called Favosites. They have eroded from hills in New York and north Jersey, and were washed down by ancient streams, or pushed down by glaciers during the ice age.
Cape May is also another place to find these, along with 'Cape May Diamonds', clear quartz pebbles.

Forester,
Yep;I stand corrected. I think you're right that #2 and #3 are horn corals.
What are the criteria by which # 4 would be identified as a honeycomb coral and be differentiated from a portion of a crinoid crown? The arms appear segmented and don't their transverse cleavage surfaces suggest those of crinoid arms surrounding the tegmen?
I'm not arguing, just lookin' to be disabused of
what may be a long-held point of ignorance.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[Forester]

Forester,
Yep;I stand corrected. I think you're right that #2 and #3 are horn corals.
What are the criteria by which # 4 would be identified as a honeycomb coral and be differentiated from a portion of a crinoid crown? The arms appear segmented and don't their transverse cleavage surfaces suggest those of crinoid arms surrounding the tegmen?
I'm not arguing, just lookin' to be disabused of
what may be a long-held point of ignorance.
Thanks,
Dave

Sorry, I was replying to the original post, I wasn't disputing your id. Actually, the speciman does look very similar to a crinoid calyx (such as those pictured in Steve's post), but shape and large number of the columns suggest a tabulate coral. Also, end shows the honeycomb pattern that Favosites has. It is hard to tell for sure from the photo, though.
The fossil Steve is holding is almost certainly a crinoid segment. Usually this is how crinoids are found in our area, since they would usually be broken apart by ocean currents. Complete crinoids are very rare.

 

[Teegate]

The fossil Steve is holding is almost certainly a crinoid segment.

The person holding the fossil is not Steve, it is a friend of mine. I will email him and tell him what it is. Thanks for the info.

Guy