Brachiopod
Posted by: 
Iowa Tom
N 43° 02.840 W 092° 58.610
15T E 501886 N 4766071
One of three major public fossil hunting localities in US where fossil hunting is encouraged!
Waymark Code: WM6CV
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 01/22/2006
Views: 130
This pit is where shale was once quarried to make tile and bricks. The Rockford Brick and Tile Company owned and operated the pit. One of the old kilns where they fired bricks and tiles is pictured here. The Kilns are in the extreme NE part of the park, generally N of the cache location. If you find any tiles or bricks, please do not break them! They are a part of the history of this location.
I take my biology students here every spring to find fossils. They say it’s the best field trip ever! The climbs up and down these steep hills are fun enough, let alone finding and keeping spectacular little fossils like this horn coral. Other fossils include brachiopods (sea shells), crinoids, and gastropods – actually the internal casts of snails like what you see here. If you know a burgeoning young paleontologist or geologist, you may want to take them to this location. I guarantee no one will be disappointed.
The microfossils that can be extracted from the mud after much washing and filtering are phenomenal! Conodonts are in there if you can find them.
For a vast array of fossils that are obtainable at this quarry see this webpage. That webpage was created by a professor that I knew. He was a great teacher! Sadly he passed away suddenly in 2005.
There is also a really cool nature center at the park. Take a look at their webpage here.