A walk on the the beach brings home a nice collection of agate and geodes!!

[Rockhounder55]

Here's the one I was referring to. Perhaps it's not what I was thinking it was. You can see how skilled I am working with Paint. [8|] ~Mike

 

[woodswalker]

Oh excellent skills with paint[]...I even ran some water over it so you can see a bit more of the detail....

 

[woodswalker]

Heres the other side...sorry took so long to get those up...I was out hunting a foundation[]

 

[Rockhounder55]

Thanks. That sure looks exactly like the ones I've got. If I only knew where they were. Isn't that some kind of a clam thingie? Mine were found when we were living outside of Cleveland, and no, it wasn't along Lake Erie. It was in an empty field behind our house. Did you find anything on your foundation hunt? I went out metal detecting for the first time ever today, but the only thing I found were 3 bullet shells. I was hoping for some gold coins, or even a gold nugget or two. ~Mike

 

[woodswalker]

Hey Mike...I'm not exactly sure what the name is for these fossils, but I do know that they age back millions of years...probably when Michigan and Ohio were all under sea...(I watch way to much discovery channel!) They were formed about the same time Petosly was formed or the little cylanoid things were found (thats the tube shaped thing you asked about)
You don't have to live near the Great lakes to find these...sometimes they may be found in quarries or near rivers to.....
And I had a few finds out at the foundation...mostly broken..I was by myself but it was still fun...Me and my digging partner are going back tomorrow...he suddenly wants to after he saw what I had in my bucket!!! Go figure!!!

 

[ombudsman]

The segmented cylindrical fossils are pieces of crinoid stem. Crinoids, or sea lilies, are animals that look kinda like flowers. They had long stems and "heads" that are a little like a feathery anemone.

 

[Rockhounder55]

Wow, that's cool ombudsman. I would have never guessed that. Oh, and Happy Birthday! ~Mike

 

[LC]

In Indiana they mine for the crinoids . They split large pieces of matrix, exray it , and if it shows the crinoids in the matrix , they will then use an abrasive machine similar to a sand blaster to remove the matrix covering the crinoids from one side . It is a fantastic thing to see the originals in complete form , like looking at a picture from back in time .

 

[woodswalker]

Thanks for the info Ombudsman!!! I scour the beach for these tiny little things all the time...I have a huge peice of rock that has crystalized and you can see the little crinoid stems all thru out it...its a really ugly but at the same time beautiful rock, full of all those tiny fossils.
I'm hoping the weather clears up by the time I get out of work today so I can hit the beach....we've had some pretty wild storms since Monday and there are always new treasures washed up on the beach after a good storm! But as of now it doesn't look like the rain is going to stop anytime soon...it's as dark as night out right now and it's 10 in the morning!!! But being Michigan right on the lake that can change before you know it!!
Thanks for the facts! Amanda

 

[ombudsman]

ORIGINAL: Rockhounder55

Wow, that's cool ombudsman. I would have never guessed that. Oh, and Happy Birthday!  ~Mike

Thanks! It was a pretty good b'day, though I have seen a depressing number of them. I bought (in Eureka Springs, AR) a new field hat and an amber strap-sided quart BIM flask that turned out to be my b'day presents. Wife got off easy - no shopping for me.
Dave