Danville Field Trip

Isotelus trilobite

Isotelus trilobite from the Clays Ferry Fm.

Photographs

The KPS trip to Danville provides some of the best fossil collecting around. The Caldwell Stone Quarry in Danville has provided some spectacular fossils. The KPS has had field trips there (with permission) to explore the upper Ordovician Lexington Limestone (Sulphur Well member) and the lowest layers of the Clays Ferry formation. A crinoid garden (Ectenocrinus) was found, but has since been destroyed by the quarry. Whole trilobites (Isotelus), both stretched out and enrolled, have been found in the Clays Ferry. Perfectly preserved Rafinesquina brachiopods covered with Cornulites worm tubes have been found. In the Sulphur Well, hundreds of well preserved (some perfect) edrioasteroids (Cystaster stellatus) have been found in one layer. The Sulphur Well also yields bryozoans with borings in them. On Rt. 127, a roadcut exposing Ordovician Lexington Limestone (Perryville Member) yields many well preserved silicified clams, 4 different gastropods, and several brachiopods. The clams even show the muscle scar attachment sites.

Garrard County Field Trip

6-armed Foerstediscus edrioasteroid

Photographs

There are several exposures of the Curdsville member of the Lexington Limestone in Garrard county, KY. The Curdsville is the basal member of the Lexington Limestone, and is considered Middle Ordovician (Trenton age). The sparse, but spectacular echinoderms are of particular interest, as nine different species of crinoids, plus edrioasteroids and paracrinoids have been found so far. Even a deposit of rare sponges (Brachiospongia) has been found in this member. The fossils bear a striking resembelence to those found in the Bobcaygeon Formation of Ontario, Canada (which is the same age).