Fossil Finds from Green River Formation

[MNUser]

Here are couple examples of our recent finds. 

[pushbutton]

Now that's just pretty durn cool. Roughly how old do they figure the rock is there? Any clue on the type of fishies? 

[MNUser]

The fish are knightia fish and Diplomystus fish out of the Green River Formation in southern WY. They are right around 50 million years old. Google Green River Formation and you will learn a ton. Cool stuff!!

[Stick in Mud]

Very cool.  I've never found anything like that in MN, but sections of southeast Minnesota have TONS of fossils.  Most cephalopods, though. 

[delcecchi]

The sedimentary rocks in Minnesota are way older than 50 million years.  More like 500 million years, so we get trilobites and crinoids instead of fish. 

Fish are much cooler than brachiopods and bryozoa. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by delcecchi

[Stick in Mud]

There are all sorts of fish in southeast Minnesota, Del, swimming only a few inches above all that sedimentary rock.  

[pushbutton]

Lol....plus all those fancy prehistoric fish look really boney. Any YouTube vids on how to fillet out the y bone? 

Did do a little googling on the formation .....and an insane amount of oil locked up in there....if they can ever figure out how to extract it.

Edited August 10, 2015 by pushbutton

[Stick in Mud]

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, Push. That'll make those bones disappear.

I found seashelly-looking things a few hundred feet up from the shore of Lake Superior this afternoon. Maybe not that far, but far enough to be too far for a big wave.  Not quite as interesting as a bony fish or Del's crinoids, whatever those are, but fun to think about how they got there, a bit like Jefferson discussing seashells on the tops of Virginia mountains (about all the history/geology I know). 

[delcecchi]

A crinoid is an organism that looked sort of like a flower only was an animal of some kind.  The fossil is rings of shell that made up the "stem".  Back in the day....

[Stick in Mud]

I really should learn more about this stuff, especially since I'm down in the Driftless quite often, stalking your fungi, trout, and smallmouth.   I find a lot of fossils completely by accident, too, though apart from the cephalopods (which I had ID'd by a geologist friend of mine), I know nothing about them.  Pretty cool stuff. 

[MNUser]

A little update on one of our 18" layer finds. The before and the start of prepping.