Fossil!!

[Rww1987]

Found this in a gravel parking lot!

 

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[Age_old]

Nice! I'm no clam expert, but it looks old.

 

[old digger]

Very Nice, and in good shape. I used to find quite a few of those around the north end of Des Moines near Johnston and camp Dodge.

 

[mamabear]

wow that's in really good shape! I love finding things where you least expect them.

 

[Rww1987]

Very Nice, and in good shape. I used to find quite a few of those around the north end of Des Moines near Johnston and camp Dodge.

Are you from Des Moines old digger? Know of any good spots to look?

 

[old digger]

I would check out the sand bars along the Des Moines river. Also, If my memory is correct the western, and northwertern part of the state was once part of an inland sea. I would look for areas of erosion that show exposed gravels.

 

[RiverWalker]

Yep old digger, your memory does serve you right. Except theres more! All of the state was part of the interior seaway a long long time ago, around 600 million years. The oldest exposed stuff is in north eastern Iowa and as you travel westward time starts jumping ahead. Around the Ames area the rocks begin to change towards the carboniferous period, a giant swamp that made the coastline to the interior seaway around 360 million years ago. As soon as the bottom of the sea was exposed and dry, it began to loose ground, which is why we don't have any strata with dinosaurs. There is cretaceous rock under north western iowa that potentially has marine dinosaurs, but its not exposed very much.

Best places to look for fossils in iowa seem to be the north east central, to extreme north east. Although they can be found everywhere. Biggest places to look for are bedrock exposures near and down a river.