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Monthly Archives: October 2009
Clays Ferry Formation
Tim and I spent Saturday in Kentucky with Dr. Stephen Lenhart from Radford University, who was leading a fossil and geode field trip for some of his students. We spent most of the day looking at limestones and shales of … Continue reading
Posted in General Geology, Invertebrate Paleontology
3 Comments
Broken teeth
After being inspired by Bobby Boessenecker’s blog post on “The Coastal Paleontologist” about a great white shark tooth fragment embedded in a sea otter skull, I leapt into action. There are some 1000 shark teeth from Carmel Church currently in my … Continue reading
Posted in "Caroline", Carmel Church Chondrichthyans, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group
Tagged Taphonomy
4 Comments
In defense of speculation
This is a rather different entry than my usual posts on this blog. A few months ago, Brian Beatty and I published Jeffersoniana 20, in which we presented some ideas on feeding behaviors and lateralization in fossil whales. We received generally positive feedback, … Continue reading
Posted in Science, education, and philosophy
1 Comment
From the collections room (Mecistotrachelos)
Karen Carr/VMNH image One of the more intriguing fossils from the Triassic deposits at the Solite Quarry is the little diapsid reptile Mecistotrachelos apeoros, described by Fraser et al. (2007). There are only two known specimens of Mecistotrachelos (I have my doubts about a possible third specimen).
Carmel Church kentriodontids
Kentriodontids are a family of dolphin-like toothed whales that were widespread in the Miocene. They are sometimes considered as the possible sister-taxon to the Delphinidae, the family that includes most of the living dolphins.
Posted in Carmel Church odontocetes, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group
Tagged Cetaceans
10 Comments
Crinoidal limestone
After taking pictures of Trimble Knob last Saturday, we headed east on US 250, crossing several mountains that have lots of roadcuts through lower Devonian sediments. One of these exposures has about 50 vertical feet of rock that epitomizes “crinoidal limestone”:
Posted in General Geology, Invertebrate Paleontology
2 Comments
Trimble Knob
On Friday afternoon and Saturday I continued my trips into the mountains to learn more about Appalachian geology and paleontology. As we drove toward Monterey, Virginia on US 220, we passed by Trimble Knob, a large conical hill that sticks … Continue reading
Posted in General Geology
6 Comments
Updates from the Paleontology Lab 