A Guide to Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) Age Plant Fossils of Southwest Virginia

By Thomas F. Mcloughlin

This book is a picture guide to fossil plants and a few fossil marine organisms found in close association with the coal measures in Southwestern Virginia. The fossils are sorted by groups and located as to coal seam horizon and geographic location. Short descriptions of each group of plant types are provided. This publication has been d

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Oct 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781949981810

Thomas F. Mcloughlin

This publication has been designed with the amateur (rock hound) as well as a virtual guide for the more advanced collectors. Explanation of the different groups of plants in as close to layman's terms as possible. This book contains 71 Plates and over 300 pictures and illustrations, the majority of which are in full color. A Bachelor of Science degree was earned while attending Morehead State University at Morehead, Kentucky. In December of 1979, I completed my Master's of Science thesis in geology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. Then in June 1980, I joined the US Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). I stayed with this agency as a geologist and coal mine inspector for twenty-eight years, collecting plant fossils in the coal mines, and then after retirement, I explored outcrops (road cuts) in Southwestern Virginia and parts of West Virginia for an additional 2 years. For approximately twenty-six years, I taught introduction to geology courses at colleges in Cumberland, Kentucky, and Wise, Virginia. I started out in geology as a rock hound, collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils. By the end of high school, I decided to become a geologist and attended college. Actually, my parents insisted that I leave home because it was overtaken my rock samples. During high school and college, I practiced lapidary work, making jewelry from minerals and rocks. Presently, I am a coal miner instructor and a coal mining consultant.

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A Guide to Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) Age Plant Fossils of Southwest Virginia

Copyright © 2019 by Thomas F. McLoughlin

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-949981-80-3

ISBN eBook: 978-1-949981-81-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This book could not have been completed without the dedicated help of Cortland F. Eble, Ph.D. and Alton Dooley who are paleontologists with the Kentucky Geological Survey in Lexington, Kentucky and the Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, Virginia, respectively. They helped edit the manuscript. Assistance in the classification of many of the fern fossils was given by Dr. Shusheng Hu, who is a paleobotonist and Collections manager Division of Paleobotony at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut.

I also want to thank My wife, Beth, for her patience and tolerance for the numerous boxes of fossil specimens in our home. She was very relieved when I donated the collection to the Museum of Natural History.

All of the fossils listed in the plates were collected by and photographed by the author.

FOREWORD

I have spent the last twenty-seven-plus years in and around the bituminous coal mines of southwestern Virginia. When coal miners learn I am a geologist, the most popular question has been what are the kinds of fossils we see in a mine roof? I give my best reply, but it is difficult to relate to them that the plant impressions represent vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps millions of years ago. Most people recognize the fern-like fossils, but have been confused about the identity of a portion of tree root versus the tree itself. Many believe that the fossils are not those of ancient vegetation, but instead are the preserved remains of fish or reptiles.

I became interested in geology because of the fossils and it is the goal of this publication to share my accumulated experience in the area of basic paleobotany and furnish a pictorial guide to the identification of the more common Carbonaceous age plant fossils from the coal fields of Virginia. Those especially targeted are the rock hounds and aspiring geologists of all ages.

In 1977, I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Morehead State University (MSU) in Morehead, Kentucky. In the spring of 1980, I graduated from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) in Richmond, Kentucky with a Master of Science degree in geology.

During those years, the majority of my geologic experiences centered on the geologic aspects of underground coal mine roof stability by benefit of U.S. Bureau of Mines contracts awarded to a professor at MSU, Dr. David K. Hylbert. I owe a large part of my success as a geologist to Dr. Hylbert, Dr. Harry Hoge, my thesis adviser at EKU, and Dr. Jules DuBar, my paleontology professor while I was at MSU. Therefore, I wish to dedicate this publication to them as thanks for their guidance and inspiration.

Contents

Introduction

Collecting Plant Fossils

Chapter 1: Aborescent Lycopods (Club Mosses, Scale Trees)

Chapter 2: Aborescent Lycopods (Club Mosses)

Chapter 3: Cordaites: Early Gymnosperms

Chapter 4: Kettlebottoms

Chapter 5: Stigmaria, Ancient Root Systems

Chapter 6: Calamites

Chapter 7: Sphenophyllum

Chapter 8: Ferns

Chapter 9: Seeds

Chapter 10: Marine Fossil Fauna Found with Plant Fossil Flora

References

Appendix A

INTRODUCTION

Fossils have excited people for a long time but for