MAPS (Mid America Paleontology Society), Sponsor of National Fossil Exposition

Field Trip Waiver

Blackhawk Gem & Mineral Society trip

to Fertile Quarry Saturday July 17th, 2010.

One of our sister clubs, the Blackhawk Gem & Mineral Society, will be hosting a field trip to the Feritle Quarry in north-central Iowa on July 17th.
Please note that it is possible this trip will be canceled on short notice:
You will need to RSVP with the Blackhawk Club's Glen Rocca to let him know you are planning on attending the trip, and send him your e-mail address so he can notify you if the trip is called off. There has been a lot of heavy rain all across Iowa for the past 6 weeks, so that may affect the trip. The Fertile Quarry also has some large jobs coming up soon, and they may be crushing rock on July 17th, in which case the trip will also be called off.

Please be sure to RSVP with Glen Rocca and check the weather forecast to possibly save yourself a wasted trip!


Planned schedule:
Meet at main gate at 9:45am to sign waiver forms & for safety talk.
Enter Quarry at 10:15 am;
Mid-day entry-exit: at 1:15pm, new arrivals will be let in, others may leave & gate will again be locked;
Leave Quarry: 4:00 pm.

The Fertile Quarry is a lock in quarry! So plan accordingly - bring plenty to drink, sunscreen, bug spray, pack a lunch, etc.
Please note that you need to have required safety equipment - and you must be a current member of the Blackhawk Gem & Mineral Society!
See the paragraph below for more info:

REQUIRED!!
Hard Hat, Safety Glasses, Class II Bright Orange or Lime Green Safety Vest, Jeans (No Shorts),
Work Boots (if they have the safety steel toe - even better), Work Gloves. You can pick up these items at Menards, Home Depot,
Ace Hardware etc. Cost: Hard Hat - $3 to $5, Orange safety hunting/work vest - $3 to $5.
If you have questions, don't/can't find the equipment - contact Glen Rocca as he does have some extra vests, hard hats & safety glasses,
but needs to know how many to bring. The Basic Materials Rock Hound Club Card must be with you at all times in the Fertile Quarry.
If you just signed up and don't have it yet, then I do have a signed copy of the application as well as blank waiver forms with me so
you will be ok to go in. You must be a member in good standing with the Black Hawk Gem and Mineral Society - Your Dues Paid.
If You Do NOT Have All The Safety Gear, You Do NOT GO IN!
You may update/pay your dues at the gate ($10.00 for an individual membership or $15.00 for a family membership).


Fertile Quarry & Sand - 3446 Fir Avenue Fertile, IA 50434


Directions to Fertile Quarry:


The Fertile Quarry is just west of Iowa Interstate I-35 and south of Hwy 9 as you are heading west toward Forest City on Hwy 9.
Please plan accordingly because from Cedar Falls, IA it takes about an hour and 50 minutes to, two hours travel time.

1. From I-35 (North or South Bound)
2. Take exit 203 for IA-9 West toward Manly/Forest City/Hanlontown
7. Turn at IA-9 & go west toward Hanlontown and Forest City (go west approx. 2.1 miles)
8. Turn left at Fir Ave. and go South approx. 1.4 miles, and the Quarry will be on your right.

Bring your own lunch or snacks and PLENTY of Water to Drink! Keep in mind there are No bathroom facilities at this quarry so plan accordingly.

The Fertile Quarry is both a hard rock and washed river rock quarry, so you will need the usual equipment - sledge & crack hammers,
pry bars, and an assortment of chisels, buckets, newspaper for wrapping specimens, extra water for misting or wash off of specimens
can be handy. This quarry has both agates and crystals (large calcite vugs).

The Fertile Quarry exposes Upper Devonian (Frasnian Stage) rocks of the Upper Cedar Valley Group, Shell Rock Formation, Fertile & Rock Grove Members.

Field trip to Conklin Quarry in Coralville, IA

Sunday, July 18th, 2010:


  • Please note this is a Cedar Valley Rock & Minerals Society trip, so you MUST be a current member of that club to enter the quarry.
  • You can join up & pay dues on site - the cost for a 1 year CVRMS membership is $10.
  • Line up at the entrance gate by 8:45 am to sign the needed waiver forms & permission slips.
  • We will enter the quarry at 9 am.
  • You can save some time by downloading the field trip waiver, printing & filling it out, and then bringing it with you on Sunday.
  • Conklin is a working quarry owned by River Products, Inc of Iowa.
  • It is necessary to bring safety equipment such as a hardhat, protective shoes, safety glasses, etc.
  • The rocks exposed in the quarry are very hard Devonian limestones, so you will need rock breaking and/or cutting tools if you have them.
  • Also please note- THIS IS A LOCK IN QUARRY once inside, you are not able to leave until either noon or 4pm. So, please bring a lunch, plenty to drink, and probably some sunscreen.

Travel to I-80 in Iowa City/Coralville. The quarry entrance is just north of I-80 at exit #242 (1st Ave), across the street from the Hampton Inn parking lot.

Conklin Quarry location from Mapquest

The rocks exposed at Conklin are of the Middle Devonian (Givetian Stage) Lower Cedar Valley Group - Little Cedar Formation: Solon & Rapid Members; & Coralville Formation: Cou Falls & Iowa City Members.
Some of these strata contain abundant fossils:
primarily corals & brachiopods; but bivalves, snails, cephalopods, echinoderms, trilobites & fish bones/teeth sometimes will turn up.

Scroll down this page to see some pictures from previous Conklin Quarry trips.

Field Trips

MAPS takes about a half dozen field trips each year, mostly to quarries exposing Devonian rocks in East-Central Iowa. About half of the trips are joint excursions with our sister local clubs: the Cedar Valley Rocks and Minerals Society and Blackhawk Gem & Mineral Society - (Contact is Glen Rocca). The first collecting trip usually takes place in April, and the last one can sometimes be as late as November, depending on the weather.

Please have a look at the trip pictures below, and take the chance to familiarize yourself with some of the faces and names of fellow MAPS members you might meet on our various field trips or at Expo, not to mention seeing some of the cool fossils you might find on club trips!

Conklin and Klein Quarries are the 2 spots MAPS trips visit most often, and are property of the River Products Company, Inc. We are greatly indebted to them for allowing the club to have field trip access to their quarries.

River Products Inc Conklin Quarry, Coralville, IA:

Mainly Middle Devonian (roughly 375 million year old) rocks are exposed at this working quarry.

Conklin Quarry composite outcrop section.

Conklin trip pics: June 2009 August 2007

River Products Inc Klein Quarry, Coralville, IA:

Mainly Middle Devonian (roughly 375 million year old) rocks are exposed at this working quarry.

Klein trip pics: October 2008



Usually we have a 'find of the day' on club field trips, but MAPS member Michael Moore and his daughter Anna had the find of a lifetime on a recent Klein Quarry trip! The entire surface of this boulder was covered with articulated crinoid fossils! Above is a closeup of one of the crinoids on the boulder!


The following are a few of the goodies that were found on the August 2009 trip:

MAPS member Tom Williams found this specimen of Strobilocystites calvini, the last species of cystoid, which went extinct in the Upper Devonian. The cystoids were a kind of echinoderm - related to crinoids, starfish, and sea urchins.

Found by MAPS member Charles Newsom, this is an enrolled specimen of the trilobite Phacops rana, which turns up quite often in the shaly limestones of the lower Rapid Member of the Little Cedar Formation.

Field Trip Waiver