Fossilguy.com: Fossil Hunting for Trilobites in Western New York

Trilobite Hunting

Fossil Hunting for Eldredgeops (Phacops) Trilobites in Western New york

This picture shows the cliff exposures along Lake Erie.

During the 2nd weekend of September we took a trip to New York for a fossil Trilobite hunt. This was a change of pace from the recent Calvert Cliff fossil trips we have been taking. Instead of beach combing and diving, we would be using rock hammers and chisels to discover our finds.

I had been in contact with Roy of Times Scientific before hand. I haven’t fossil collected with him all summer, so I thought it would be nice if we were all there at the same time. We were to all meet at the parking area around 8:30 on Saturday. Roy was actually there on Friday and had a full days collecting in before we arrived. In the lot, Roy showed us some of his better finds from the day before. He had some nice fossil specimens, including some complete prone trilobites. We were all hoping today would be just as productive.

After walking to the cliff exposures, we immediately headed toward the trilobite fossil bed we had worked with during our last trip. The erosion from Lake Erie and the weather had eroded new rock, and had exposed new trilobites for us. Even with Roy collecting on Friday, we immediately found some trilobites eroded partly out of the mudstone. I just can’t imagine how many trilobites erode away before anyone can find them!

Roy ended up finding less than Friday, but he still had found a bunch of nice trilobites. Amy and I ended up with approximately a dozen enrolled specimens, and possibly 2 prone fossil specimens. The actual numbers will not be known until they are prepared with an air abrasive unit. Besides trilobites, we also found tons of horn corals, brachiopods, and crinoid pieces.

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Images of the site and the Fossils.

This trilobite fossil will stay in the rock until it gets home, where it can be properly prepared with an air abrasive unit.
If you look directly to the right of the enrolled trilo, near the edge of the image, you can see a badly eroded phacops. After close inspection, I discovered this bug use to be a complete partially enrolled specimen, however erosional forces have almost completely destroyed it.

This image is actually looking at the bottom of lake Erie a few feet off the shore. We are looking through about 3 inches of water. If you look closely, you can see nice specimens of athyris brachiopods and Horn Corals eroding out of the matrix.

This image shows some of our finds. The bag is 3 layers high. On the top layer, one can see some possible complete enrolled Eldredgeops (phacops), some possible complete prone phacops, and what appears to be a complete enrolled greenops.

Here's a neat one. This enrolled phacops was my 1st find of the day. This is it once prepped.

I was after greenops trilobites this trip. Although this ones head has some missing calcite, it's still pretty neat looking. It's partially enrolled, wrapped around the matrix.

Here's another greenops trilobite fossil. It's small and missing a small amount of calcite on its head. However, the rest of it is beautifully preserved.

This enrolled Eldredgeops (phacops) trilobite fossil is sticking out of both sides of the matrix.

These are a few matrix-free enrolled phacops trilobites.

Although erosion got to this enrolled specimen before I did, I decided to keep it since it's right against a horn coral.

This prone phacops trilobite fossil is almost definitely a molt, since the shell was so cracked up before fossilization.

Recommended Books for Western New York Fossils:

Field Guide to the Devonian Fossils of New York
by Karl A. Wilson, 2014

There hasn't been a decent book on the fossils of Western New York available to the nonn professional until this book came out. This is a MUST for anyone fossil hunting in Western New York. It is an updated guide to all the Devonian taxa of New York... Simply amazing! It's a nice replacement for the out of print and outdated "Devonian Paleontology of New York" that I've used so much.

Geology And Paleontology Of Eighteen Mile Creek And The Lake Shore Sections Of Erie County, New York (1898)
by Amadeus William Grabau, 1898 (2010 reprint)

This is a famous publication by Grabau himself. Serious Devonian fossil hunter needs this! Grabau laid the framework for Devonian fossils! This book is a nice history piece chalk full of pictures and descriptions for fossil identification.
The prices often fluxuate, but you can usually get a copy from $30 - $40.

Dynamic Stratigraphy and Depositional Environments of the Hamilton Group (Middle Devonian) in New York State, Part II
Editors: Ed Landing and carlton E. Brett. (1991)

This New York State Museum Bulletin (#469) is a collection of research papers about the Middle Devonian of New York.

I recommend this book if you want a deep understanding of the the paleoenviroments of the Devonian of New York. The papers include how the sediments were deposited, faunal lists, reconstructions of paleoenvironments, stratigraphy, and more. Being research papers, it's a bit more technical than the other books, but it gives a great overview of the Devonian of western New York.

Devonian Biostratigraphy of New York

International Union of Geological Sciences
Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy, (Part 1 and Part 2)
Editors: Willian A. Oliver, Jr. and Gilber Klapper
July 1981, Washington D.C.

This is an incredibly informative book, however it is somewhat difficult to find. Your best bet is a University Library.

Recommended Link:

New York Paleontology
Although a bit old, this is still arguably the best New York Paleontology website out there!

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