Fossil newbie

Jonesey89

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2016
Messages
86
Location
Indiana Pa
As treasure hunters, surely there's got to be some fossil enthusiasts in this group. I'm an underground coal miner and see a lot of fossilized trees that we call kettlebottoms and lots of ferns. I decided to start bringing them home for my little girl and found this nice specimen about a week ago. They found tracks from what they assume are a type of dinosaur at one of our sister mines. I'd like to see some other peoples collection if possible. And maybe get some information from someone more educated than myself. Thanks for looking!
 

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That's too cool. My dad used to always take me out in Florida looking for fossils. I have a massive whale vertebrae at my brother's house down there.
 
That's really neat! I'd love to search the beaches. I joined a Facebook group specifically for fossils and have been seeing a lot of megaladon teeth and other shark teeth. I remember my grandma gave me a large shark tooth when I was a kid. I wish I still had it, I'm not even sure it was real though.
 
We lived near the Peace River in swfl, it is a massive producer of meg. teeth! The bone I actually found was in a dirt pit. We used to drive around looking for people cutting open ponds and drainage areas. The white shell and white sand were the old ocean beds.
 
I'll see if my brother can grab some, I'm living in Virginia now and it's all home with him.
 
Well, you're looking at a fern frond from the Carboniferous Period. Fortunately for you, it's one of the easiest and most fossil rich periods to research. WARNING, it's very addictive. Google---Carboniferous fossils of Pennsylvania. You'll be able to ID that species no problem. Then, you'll start looking at others and IDing them. Soon you'll be eyeing every spoils pile you walk past.
It was a hot, steamy, swampy period in time, I think about 300 million years ago. Ferns, giant horsetails and rudimentary trees. I don't believe there were "dinosaurs" as you put it but, there were amphibians, probably the tracks you've found. Ask one of the mining engineers, "what formation you're in". It will further narrow down your ID's.
I've collected carboniferous material but as I said, it's an easy period to research. I moved into The Triassic and early Jurassic periods. Much more intriguing, but, far more challenging.
It's a great hobby. Start identifying specimens and soon you'll have a collection. Good luck.
 
There's a great book for you to get, I'll dig it up (no pun intended) and reply with the title and author. It's a great hobby for you and your little girl. Take her to a safe spoils pile over the weekend and let her get dirty and make her own discoveries.
 
As treasure hunters, surely there's got to be some fossil enthusiasts in this group. I'm an underground coal miner and see a lot of fossilized trees that we call kettlebottoms and lots of ferns. I decided to start bringing them home for my little girl and found this nice specimen about a week ago. They found tracks from what they assume are a type of dinosaur at one of our sister mines. I'd like to see some other peoples collection if possible. And maybe get some information from someone more educated than myself. Thanks for looking!

My great grandpa and grandpa were both coal miners. Thank you for the work you do.
 
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