Some Fossil Crinoids from New Mexico
My collection of terrestrial fossils grows a bit
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While this is not directly related to my Martian fossil findings, I have a rather good collection of fossils that I have excavated from various sites and I present some of those images so readers of this site can learn a little more about what to look for and why I am certain of my findings on Mars.

It has been pointed out by many that I am not a geologist, archaeologist, or professional in the field of mineralogy.  Nevertheless, I am very experienced at identifying and locating fossils and the study of rocks and minerals was my first interest in science as a child.  So while it is true that I am not formally educated in any of the fields mentioned above, my practical and real-world experience has a great deal of worth.  My detractors are sadly unaware of my experiences and are therefore unable to render a reasonable or informed judgment on the matter.

My last fossil hunting trek took me to a soft shale deposit that I commonly visit not far from Taos, New Mexico.  The scenery there is spectacular and the findings are exceedingly rich.  This is the view from one particularly rich site that I visited on this trip.  
The ground in this area is completely exposed from weathering and shows an amazing scene.  This area is nothing but rotten shale and is somewhat treacherous footing.

The hills show layering dating back many millions of years and is a prime spot for finding fossils, even for a novice.  They literally drop out of the soil into the gullies and streambeds here.

A glance at the ground shows hundreds of disarticulated crinoid stems, there simply to be scooped up.

  
A closer view shows at least a dozen nice specimens right on the ground.  No digging required, these are easy pickings and are easy to recognize.

At my fingertips is a bivalve and just past it and above, another flat shell- just above a black section of crinoid stem.

Lower right of center, you will see a disc shaped object which is another crinoid segment.  Again, this area is loaded.

  
With no more than your fingers, you can select just about anything you would like to find.  These crinoid stems are everywhere.  Also you can see shells, small arthropods, branching coral-like bits, and other things that only a professional might identify.

Because the substrate is so soft here, it is futile to try and remove them intact.  When you find something in this soft rock, it is going to fall out as you touch it.

This soft shale is the remains of seabed ooze and very fine mud that solidified after millions of years of compression and compaction.

  
These long, unbroken crinoid stems happen to be in a harder section of the rock.  I left these undisturbed.

The stems are about 1.2 centimeters across and run from 20-30 cm in the rock.  You can see that many exhibit branching points here and there.

Dissolved iron has colored these glossy blue-black.  If you were to apply the instruments of the Mars rovers to them, they would say "hematite" but this is not true.  There is only a small trace of the iron oxide compound present in these but it is enough to color them.

  
The quality of these fossils is amazing.  The details preserved in this shale can be revealing with no more than a hand magnifier.

This is a small spiral seashell that looks deceptively like a trilobite.  This has no central lobe, as a trilobite would.  From the side it is clearly a shell.

  
A few minutes of looking for "dropouts" showed that they were coming from a region just above.  Look at the ground and see where fossils have eroded out and been carried by wind and water.  This can reveal the located of the parent rock.

Once you have tracked the fossil dropouts to their source, you have a good chance of finding something really worthwhile.

This large crinoid stem, while broken, is really an excellent piece.  The rock was literally falling apart around it and it took just a few minutes to lift the soft layers off it and reveal more.

  
In the end, this one turned out to be well over 40 centimeters in length.  Here is much of it laid on my clipboard for scale.

The large Y shaped pieces show a perfect branch in the structure.  The rest of the lower stem (which ran to the upper right) is laid below it on the clipboard.  The rest would not fit on the paper.

Some other smaller specimens are laid at the bottom.

  

Overall this was a good trip and I managed to find many nice bits and pieces.  None of these would be considered exhibit quality without a great deal of cleaning and work, although they are helpful to people learning about the structure of crinoids and fossils and so they are useful learning tools.