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Showing results for tags 'marias river shale'.
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While out on a hunt in the Marias River Shale (Cretaceous) near Fort Benton, MT, I found what I believe to be either a holoscaphites or clioscaphites, based on the research I have done. The rocks in the exposure are quite segmented and eroded and don't take much force to break apart; a few small taps from my hammer made the rock, and the fossil inside, essentially fall apart into several pieces. My question is not one of ID, but rather of how to best prepare this fossil. From looking around this forum, it seems that many people use super glue for repairs that aren't very large. Would super glue be smart to use here, or should I order some Paleo-Bond? My best guess is that this fossil is only about 10 cm across or so, but it's hard to tell because it's in pieces. I am also about 95% sure that I got all the pieces, but I'm sure there's small fragments missing here and there. Is it important/necessary to fill in missing bits with epoxy, clay, etc.? My next question is about the white powder that covers this fossil. Most every fossil I found still in matrix had some amount of white powder on it, so I can assume it's either part of the shell or a chemical/geological effect of the fossilization process. Is this powder important to the integrity/aesthetic of the fossil, or is it something that can/should be cleaned/removed? There are some very neat internal structures visible on the breaks, plus some crystallization. The white material rubs off at the slightest touch. I have tried my best to minimize how much white comes off the main segments (this one was a swipe off a piece of the negative). I have not done anything to this fossil except attempted to fit the larger pieces together to make sure I'm not missing any other major pieces; I've already made one return trip to the site to recover some bits that I know I left behind the first time. Please let me know if I need to upload more pictures. I would love to repair this gorgeous ammonite and do it justice by not destroying it even more. Thank you!