Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma
2 Dec 2007

Here I am checking out an exposure across the road from the meeting spot.  All that were found in this area were fried pies!  Photos updated 28 Oct 2023.

The area to the left is pictured on another website and identified as Sycamore limestone of Mississippian age.

Well, the 1st locality didn't give up any trilobites this trip but we did find some amorphous looking crinoid bulbs things (holdfasts?) and I found part of a straight nautiloid.

Hwy 77D, Arbuckle Mountains

After the 1st spot we headed south of Ardmore to scout a region known as the Criner Hills.  Along the county road we passed one of the many Dolese rock quarries.  Unfortunately all the Dolese quarries no longer allow groups to hunt so we moved on.   Just before the quarry there was one small exposure of limestone right next to road that might warrant future study.   There was also a large exposure of limestone on private land that backed up to the quarry.

Driving around east of the quarry we found some recently exposed rock behind an oil well on a hillside that contained what I thought  were some weird brachiopod or pelecypod shells.  The holes around the edges looked like some form of shell ornamentation but the lobes looked very trilobite-ish to me so I took home a couple pieces to be safe.  At home I did a little internet research and discovered they were actually blind trilobites called "Cryptolithus" trilobites!  This trilobite identifies this strata as part of the Viola Group, Ordovician age.

A blind Cryptolithus trilobite and block of trilobites.

On the way out toward I35 we found this small quarry area.  There were NO fossils but there WERE some neat looking rocks and layers.  The east side of the quarry has horizontal layering BUT the west side of the quarry has what appears to be vertical layering caused by uplift and folding. The west side layers are very thin dark gray layers that split easily.

East side:

West side: