# Southwest Va Fossils



## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

ever since I began roaming  the mountains and hollows of Washington County Va looking for "abandoned" cemeteries ,I seem to fall over a fossil or more everytime I turn around. It's too bad I'm not falling over bottles, but heck - I take what I can get.
 I've located 2 fossil beds in the valley of the North Fork of the Hoston River. These are mostly brachiopods and a few crinoids. But in a gorge near Mendota Va is where I located my "best" finds as they are entirely different from those I've found elsewhere...1st I'll show some  brachiopods.


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

brachiopods...


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

the other "stuff"...consists of crinoids , sea fans and maybe small bones ? and a white deposit amid some crinoids that looks like a fish...all these are quite small...


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

sea fan pieces...






 at the bottom, just right of center looks like a spinal column?


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

crinoids and an unknown:






 lots of sea fan pieces. But the odd circular gray object with radiating lines around it is my unknown...maybe a snail of some type?


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

looks like a fish...but is it?


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## whiskeyman (Jun 4, 2010)

last pic. After I saw Dollarbill's fossil post and noted we had some folks on the Forum who know fossils, I decided to post mine for input. Thanks for looking all.


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## morbious_fod (Jun 4, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  whiskeyman
> 
> the other "stuff"...consists of crinoids , sea fans and maybe small bones ? and a white deposit amid some crinoids that looks like a fish...all these are quite small...


 
 Saw a lot of these in the Limestone of Tazewell County, over the years. We had a wooded area behind out trailer and I would spend hours exploring them and the rocks.


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## surfaceone (Jun 4, 2010)

Hello Charlie,

 Kudos on the fossil finds. I've never found one. Guess my eyes just aren't attuned. This "fishy" one 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 is lookin more Crawdaddy to me.






 This one, 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I'm pretty sure is Wheat Chex. [8D]


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## crozet86 (Jun 5, 2010)

The fossils are very interesting to me since im from Va. to.I have never found one myself but i will now keep an eye out.


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## toddrandolph (Jun 5, 2010)

Your fossils look a lot like the Ordovician limestone from southwest Ohio, 500 million years old. I've got a chunk of that somewhere around here with a starfish amongst brachiopods. The round disk things are crinoid stems. I'm not sure if the fan things are part of the crinoids or some sort of coral. There are fossil fish to be found in the Devonian age shales along the river banks around Cleveland, though I have yet to find one.


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## madman (Jun 5, 2010)

hey charlie nice finds! havent found much around the the knoxville area,  but have have found some like in the first pix , north of here near tazwell


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## RedGinger (Jun 5, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPhK1KCiPek  I have a few fossil videos on there.  I'm uploading one right now with some kind of footprint in it.  Please feel free to comment, I don't know much about them.


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## woodswalker (Jun 5, 2010)

Those are great fossils...I find those washed up on the beach of Lake Michigan all the time....Hope you don't mind my posting a pic on your post but here's a crinoid stem(thats the long cylinder shaped one by the quarter)  and just to the left of that is a individual section of the stem....thats your what your unidentified fossil would look like if it weren't embedded in that rock[8|]


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## whiskeyman (Jun 6, 2010)

Thanks for the comments everyone...[]

 esp Surf's about "wheat chex"...ROFL[]
 and I agree, now that ya mention it - the "fish" does more closely resemble a crawdad...

 Nice finds Woodwalker...and you are correct - they are as small as yours, (if they weren't embedded.) But, my large slabs are easier to keep up with...[]


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## Wangan (Jun 6, 2010)

It would be too bad to ruin the outside but I cant help but wonder what is on the inside.


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## RedGinger (Jun 6, 2010)

Whiskeyman, how were you able to get such great pics of your fossils?  Did you use a light box?  Your camera must have a good macro setting.  I'm having trouble with mine.


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## Road Dog (Jun 6, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  whiskeyman
> 
> the other "stuff"...consists of crinoids , sea fans and maybe small bones ? and a white deposit amid some crinoids that looks like a fish...all these are quite small...


 I found a piece of this at Cape Hatteras years ago.


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## whiskeyman (Jun 11, 2010)

RED...sorry it took me so long to reply. I have a Canon PowerShot A1000 IS camera...and it does have an excellent macro setting with image stabilizer....when the light is good...[]

 and no...no light box...JUst laid it on a tabletop.


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