Finding Fossils

Sande J · Posted: 7/5/2004, 2:09 pm Post subject: Finding Fossils

Imagine being able to merge the present with the past by touching a fossil immortalized in stone. For me, it is nirvana, and the energy that exudes from ancient relics over 200 million years old is astounding. I have always been attracted to rocks and their individual beauty. They are very much like people, no two are alike and they have their own unique personalities. I am merely an amateur rockhound. I don’t know much about identifying the exact type of rock or fossil or their scientific chemistry, but it is rather a personal chemistry connection that occurs when their paths happen to be in line with mine. I don’t find them, they sort of find me. During some of our recent treks to the Mogollon Rim, I have discovered some wonderful fossils of clam shells, marine life, sponges and coral. While chatting with the ranger in the firetower at Baker Butte, I noticed she had clam fossils just as I had found, displayed on a shelf. She told me they are called brachiopods , so I felt very accomplished to have learned something new that morning. I began to do a little research and found that these brachiopods are of the Naco Formation (which is the rim) and have existed since the Pennsylvanian Paleozoic period which is approximately 285 -300 million years ago. I bet the fossils have a few good stories to tell with that type of history! The clams did not open but rather breathed through small holes called "valves." Very early in time, shallow seas covered the Southern part of New Mexico, Arizona and Northern Mexico. As the tension of the North American tectonic plate colliding with the East Pacific Rise increased, the surface of the land across the American West began to crumple, shift, and rise. The Mogollon Rim, which is the southern border of the Colorado Plateau, was part of a stable platform related to the Great Plains and the Colorado Plateau for several hundred million years. More than a hundred million years before the present, (B.P.), the area south of the Mogollon Rim began to fall because of the geosyncline that runs southeast to the Gulf of Mexico, elevating the Colorado Plateau to the North. Somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy million years B.P., the era of late dinosaurs, the positions reversed and the southern portion again became higher than the Colorado Plateau. By the time period of twenty to thirty million years B.P. the two sections had again reversed themselves and became as they are today with the Mogollon Rim being the border area between the two. I also read where the area was a sea not only once, but three different times over the eras as the lands shifted and glacier melting occured.

Remnants of an ancient sea

Think of the edge of the rim as a seashore and you will get the picture. To me it feels as if the ocean is still very much alive there, as when the wind blows late in the day, it sounds like the tide is coming in and the trees dance gracefully like seaweed under water.

Crystallized Shells

Sponges and coral

Marine life from millions of years ago

Snails, worms, and other life forms

Fossils abound in the area and they are not hard to find, you just have to know where to look and develop an instinct for it. My eye of discovery continues to sharpen and I look forward to seeing more gems amongst our magical Arizona geology. I am completely humbled by their presence and their sacred space on this earth is very special to me. The rocks are alive. I thought some of you may enjoy seeing them or learning something new like I did, hence my motivation for creating this thread. With all of the knowledgable folks here on the site, I welcome any input you have to add so I can continue to learn more.
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And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stone, good in everything..
-William Shakespeare-

BoyNhisDog · Posted: 7/5/2004, 3:28 pm Post subject:

Fabulous topic and finds Sandy. I share your enthusiasm with this pursuit. There is a great deposit of crinoid stems near Winkelman. The strange thing is how many formations in Arizona were made by the ancient seas whether they be the red sandstone formations of Sedona or the many other marvelous landscapes.

There are some great sites on the internet but for some reason I didn't bookmark them. I did bookmark this Site
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Sande J · Posted: 7/5/2004, 9:46 pm Post subject:

Shihiyea · Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 1135

Wow, thanks for the research and write up. I have the fossils I found with you in my bathroom and look at them every day. They so amaze me, the big rock the we cached and Heat retrieved, it so reminds me of an indian ruin. You can almost see the spirit of the people in that rock. I feel fortunate to have these relics and now, when I hear the winds blowing in the tree tops, I can only hear the gentle sounds of water bringing in the next wave. Mary

SUN_HIKER · Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 1057

Sande thanks for the write up, great info and great pictures. If I wasn't so lazy I would take a course on Geology - perhaps someday I will just to understand what I'm looking at when I'm out there.

GB
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jmzblond · Posted: 7/6/2004, 9:16 am Post subject:

Sande J · Posted: 7/6/2004, 9:37 pm Post subject:

I am looking at several possible destinations for us to do some rockhounding...most likely when the weather cools off a bit...but I will keep you posted.
_________________
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stone, good in everything..
-William Shakespeare-