350-Million-Year-Old Fossils Found In Pa.

Local6 ^ | 11/18/03

[RaginRak]

I'm confused! I thought Ted Kennedy was from Massachusetts

[mountaineer]

'Well, that's either a fossil, a fish fossil, or it's bird doo'

I was wondering what Helen Thomas was doing in Pa.

[lovecraft]

350-Million-Year-Old Fossils Found In Pa.

Yes, I was behind her today on highway 60 between Moon Township and the airport...

Grouchy old bitty too...

[Publius]

As a youth I also fossil-hunted in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. Check out World's End State Park and Eagle's Mere State Park, both of which sit atop glacial moraines. The sheer amount of fossils you'll find will astonish you.

[capt. norm]

I thought Robert Byrd had wandered over from West Virginia.

[trebb]

But it's always neat because it's so rare

Almost sounds like a Yogi-ism...

[Puppage]

[mountaineer]

You're right - the "bird doo" turned out to be Byrd droppings!

[SirChas]

Well, that's either a fossil, a fish fossil, or it's bird doo

[Eva]

Back in the '50's my brother went on a vacation with my grandparents through upstae PA. He came home with cartons full of rocks containing fossils of a tropical sea type environment from a mountainous are of PA. He also picked up huge amythist rocks.

[pabianice]

It's still registered to vote in Florida...Democrat...

[LiteKeeper]

YEC INTREP - F.A.C.E.

[Willie Green]

But it's always neat because it's so rare

I'm not sure what makes this 'rare'.
Between the coal deposits and the limestone, there's always been lots of fossils in Pennsylvania. Other sedimentary rocks as well: sandstone, shale, slate. Used to come across 'em all the time when I was a kid. Nothing really impressive, just outlines of leaves or seashells and such. But I was just a kid poking around with rocks. You'd think the professionals would routinely come up with better specimens than what I did.
Yep. "Rare" is a bit puzzling.

[John H K]

Eh, Vertebrate fossils (as these are) are a lot more rare than the hordes of mollusc and leaf fossils and whatnot.

Did you ever find any vertebrate fossils that old?

[doodad]

The geologist was referring to finding anything in that particular rock strata as rare due to the deposition conditions and current erosion on the iron rich sediments which tends to acidify and ruin anything calcareous.

[Ole Okie]

Well, that's either a fossil, a fish fossil, or it's bird doo

Give me a clue, Sir Chazz. I can't tell which it is from the picture you posted.

[Willie Green]

Did you ever find any vertebrate fossils that old?

Not that I remember...
I was only 8~12 years old during my poking around in rocks phase.
If I did, I'd guess it was more likely in the coal than the limestone,
But heck, it's unlikely we were even looking for fossils, they were just there...
Yeah, they were cool to look at, at first,
but they get pretty old when we were actually hoping to find Indian arrowheads.
(It's kinda like fishing for bass or walleye, and catching nothing but bluegill. You get tired of rebaiting the hook and tossing the fish aside.)
Anyway, we were more likely to pick-up and keep some piece of river rounded and polished pebble "lucky stone" (quartz maybe?), simply because it was pretty and more colorful than ordinary rocks that we came across. We'd save those in a pouch where we kept our cats-eye marbles.

Never did find any arrowheads. By the time I was old enough to know what I was doing, my interests had turned more to sports.

[Willie Green]

Hey, didjyinz guys ever find fossils 'nat when yinz were pokin' aroun' the rocks?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

So they dug you up, eh?