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The Encyclopedia of Alabama includes about two dozen short articles about the geology of the state. Including this one, about the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site, in Walker County. This site is one of the best in the world for its abundance and diversity of trace fossils:

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1371

The encyclopedia is written for the general public.

Here are photographs of some of the fantastically preserved trace fossils found at the site:

 Insect jumping traces.

Horseshoe crab trackway.

Two crossing millipede trackways.

 Amphibian trackway.

Reptile trackway.

Giant amphibian footprint next to a small trackway of a different amphibian.

 Fish fin trails.

Insect wing impressions.

Trigonotarbid, an ancient spider relative.

A new book about these exciting Pennsylvanian trace fossils describes their discovery, their makers, and the environment in which they lived:

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=

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the last frog on Earth
floats belly up in the creek
hey man nice shot

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this toad's tongue
unfurls at the speed of light
it burns oh it burns

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313 million-year-old trace fossils. Attenosaurs were reptile-like amphibians.  This footprint is about the size  of an adult human hand. The amphibian trackway is called Nanopus reidiae. Its maker would have looked like a salamander. There is a third trace fossil on the slab. Can you find it?

Read a lot more about this in our book "Footprints in Stone."

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469797628&sr=1-1&keywords=%22footprints+in+stone%22

This book helped the American museum solve an 87 year old mystery:

https://www.ua.edu/news/2018/01/ua-book-helps-solve-87-year-old-fossil-mystery/

"Footprints in Stone" — 30% discount with coupon code

"Footprints in Stone," the book I wrote with Ron Buta about trace fossils in Alabama, is on sale from the publisher. Either print out the coupon below and mail it in, or call your order in and give them the discount code.

Trace fossils are any marks made by ancient animals that are not actually parts of their bodies. Footprints, burrows, borings, tail drag marks, and so on. It just so happens that a coal mine in Alabama turned into the most important trace-fossil site of its age in the world. This book is about the discovery and preservation of the site and about all the marvelous fossils that have been found there.

We wrote the book for the general public. It would be a great gift for any kid who likes fossils.

If you live in or near Alabama, it is not difficult to get permission to visit the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site. The book should be interesting and useful to anybody interested in trace fossils, even if they don't live anywhere near Alabama.

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newts stroll
under the ice
winter pond

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the frog prints
he rules the linoleum
with 18 toes

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Okeefenokee By Me


Negotiations broke down,
the lawyers settled into the muck,
papers wicking brown from the branchwater.

The bullfrog boys backed the long black car around,
opened the sunroof, and headed into Waycross,
looking for some long-legged leopard-frog gals
and a steamy red-lit bar where the flies buzzed till dawn.

More Pennsylvanian traces, Minkin site

Barnes and Noble in Tuscaloosa has signed copies of "Footprints in Stone," my book (with Ron Buta) about this great trace-fossil site.

Amphibian trackways (small, four-toed, forefeet)

Reptile trackways

Gas bubbles, large trackway (right), small trackway (middle)

New book about the site:

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469578003&sr=8-1&keywords=kopaska-merkel

Animals alive, animals dead

Isn't it just a matter of temporal perspective?


Be that as it may, Ron Buta and I will be talking tonight about our new book, "Footprints in Stone," which is not just about dead animals. The book is about the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site: discovery, study, preservation, and what was found there. We will be speaking to the Alabama Paleontological Society, which meets at the Birmingham zoo, tonight, from 7 to 9 PM.

Links:

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469797628&sr=1-1&keywords=%22footprints+in+stone%22

APS: http://alabamapaleo.org/Alabama_Paleontological_Society.html 

Footprints in Stone update

Reviews of Footprints in Stone.


There are two 5-star reviews of Footprints in Stone on Amazon. I would be overjoyed if anybody else who reads the book also reviews it.

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469797628&sr=1-1&keywords=%22footprints+in+stone%22


Not exactly a review, this article about the site showcases the book.

http://alabamanewscenter.com/2016/07/22/footprints-in-stone-fossils-of-coal-age-animals-attract-global-visitors/


Announcement about upcoming signing at the Alabama Museum of Natural History:

http://almnh.ua.edu/


The video about the site and about the book is once again online:

http://www.lightscameraalabama.com/secure/videopages/stone.html

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this four-footed thing
seeking to assuage hunger in tidal mud
maybe an ancestor
of a cosmologist or carpenter
maybe today's lunch
but its footprints will last
300,000 millennia
and that's something

Reviews of Footprints in Stone

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/44885

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/footprints-in-stone-ronald-j-buta-phd/1123112917 and a low price on the Nook version

https://www.bibliovault.org/BV.titles.epl?tquery=Paleontology -- a short review

2 reviews on Amazon


If you read the book, please review it.


Barnes & Noble in Tuscaloosa has signed copies.

Footprints in Stone

I have been given an unbound pre-publication, copy of Footprints in Stone, the book I co-authored with Ron Buta about the Minkin footprint site in Walker County, Alabama. The cover looks really wonderful, and so do the interior illustrations. The publisher expects the book to be available at the end of May, which is sooner than they originally told us. You can preorder the book from Amazon right now:

http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460989262&sr=1-1&keywords=%22footprints+in+stone%22

The trace-fossil fauna at the Minkin site is more diverse than at most Pennsylvanian sites. Vertebrates: 6 spp made by tetrapods & fish. Insects: at least 4 spp. Other arthropods: at least 4 spp. Other critters: at least 2 spp. There are also arthropod body fossils and diverse plant fossils.

The Minkin site is the best trace fossil site of its age in the world. It is one of the few world-class sites that you can visit, accompanied by knowledgeable guides from the Alabama Paleontological Society, and keep most of the specimens you find. If you find anything unusual it will have to be donated to a Museum, but so many specimens have been collected (well over 5000 so far) it is pretty rare to find something you can't keep.

Talk to me if you want to arrange a visit to the site.

Video about "Footprints in Stone"

Here is the link to a 16-minute video about trace fossils. In particular, about 300 million-year-old footprints from North Alabama. Prof. Ron Buta and I wrote a book called Footprints in Stone. It is about the discovery of the site by amateur fossil collectors, their successful efforts to get it preserved by the state of Alabama, and thousands upon thousands of tracks and trails made by reptiles, amphibians, horseshoe crabs, and many other creatures on a mud flat so long ago.

http://vimeo.com/114215060

Video about "Footprints in Stone"

Here is the link to a 16-minute video about trace fossils. In particular, about 300 million-year-old footprints from North Alabama. Prof. Ron Buta and I wrote a book called Footprints in Stone. It is about the discovery of the site by amateur fossil collectors, their successful efforts to get it preserved by the state of Alabama, and thousands upon thousands of tracks and trails made by reptiles, amphibians, horseshoe crabs, and many other creatures on a mud flat so long ago.

http://vimeo.com/114215060