ESCONI member William Morgan, a retired professor from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has a new book called "Collector's Guide to Fort Payne Crinoids and Blastoids". The Fort Payne Formation of Kentucky dates to the early Mississippian Period.
The focus of this book is on the Fort Payne Formation and the fossil crinoids and blastoids, which are found there. Although, it is not widely known outside of academic programs in geology and/or paleontology, the Fort Payne is one the largest Mississippian-age formations in the middle and southeastern United States.
Unlike the crinoids found in the Edwardsville Formation, which are world-renown for their completeness and aesthetic qualities, crinoids from the Fort Payne are rarely complete. Therefore, the first chapter of the book introduces the anatomy and the descriptive terminology essential for identifying crinoids collected from the Fort Payne.
The second chapter of the book introduces the ongoing revision of the classification of crinoids. This process was still ongoing at the time that is book was written.
The third chapter briefly reviews the better known of the fossilfiorous formations found in the Mississippian. More detail is provided for the geology and paleontology of the Fort Payne.
Collections of crinoids and blastoids from the Fort Payne are rarely publically displayed. Therefore, Chapter four proves high quality color photographs of some the best preserved specimens curated at major museums in the United States. In almost every case there are two photographs of each specimen, one unlabeled and a second with key features labeled and identified.
The fifth chapter reviews the morphology of blastoids and discusses the blastoids species currently known from the Fort Payne.
