Merritt Island Microfossil Matrix (Pleistocene)

Images in this album are of micro-fossils found in matrix collected by forum member, Sacha, from a dredged spoil island located in the Indian River, near Cape Canaveral. According to Sacha, "The island was created late in the 19th or early in the 20th century when a deeper channel was dug in the river to allow ships and/or barges to take citrus fruit from farms in the area to ship it north."

The matrix primarily consists of modern shells (coquina and other), what appear to be calcite crystals, fulgurites, small clumps of fine silica particles fused with dark reddish-brown iron or petroleum based substance. The terrestrial fossils are primarily appear polished and are black to dark brown in color. They are believed to have originated from the Melbourne Bone Bed, which dates to the Pleistocene.