How do you find fossils in shale?

Shale is formed from particles of mud. Good places to find fossils are outcrops. An outcrop is a place where old rock is exposed by wind and water erosion and by other people’s digging. Make sure that you plan to dig in a place where it is okay to collect fossils.

How do you know where to look for fossils?

Look for fossils in sedimentary rock, including sandstone, limestone and shale, preferably where the earth has been cleaved by road cuts, construction sites, rivers or streams. Identify hunting grounds by consulting geologic maps and paleontology websites like myFossil.

Where are trilobites found in Ontario?

Prince Edward County is a treasure trove. There are rock cuts that hold a wide diversity of fossils. The Consecon area is a great place to hunt trilobites, snails, and other Ordovician creatures.

Are there fossils in shale rock?

Fossils are also common in shales, which form from muds. Excellent imprint fossils can be formed in fine-grained sediments like muds. Only some shales contain fossils, however, because many areas of muddy ocean floor had conditions that were not suitable for animal life.

What type of fossil is a trilobite?

fossil arthropods
trilobite, any member of a group of extinct fossil arthropods easily recognized by their distinctive three-lobed, three-segmented form. Trilobites, exclusively marine animals, first appeared at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about 542 million years ago, when they dominated the seas.

What information is provided from trilobite fossils?

Trilobite fossils are found worldwide, with thousands of known species. Because they appeared quickly in geological time, and moulted like other arthropods, trilobites serve as excellent index fossils, enabling geologists to date the age of the rocks in which they are found.

What is the habitat of a trilobite?

Ecology: Most trilobites lived in fairly shallow water and were benthic. They walked on the bottom, and probably fed on detritus. A few, like the agnostids, may have been pelagic, floating in the water column and feeding on plankton. Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites generally lived in shallow water.

Where are trilobites found in Michigan?

Downtown Alpena, walk the limestone boulders lining the shoreline of the Alpena Small Boat Harbor and Bay View or Mich-e-ke-wis Parks. Here you’ll find an amazing array of fossils including a wide diversity of brachiopods, and for lucky fossil hunters, maybe even an elusive trilobite.