Search the Community: Showing results for tags 'pyrite'.
Found 18 results
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I went on my first ever fossil hunting trip at Mazonia Lakes last week. I found a few fossils in what I think is limestone and chert (?) and a few possible concretions. I hit this one with a hammer and it opened easily. I have been trying to identify what it is by looking online. Thanks for your help.
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From the album WhodamanHD's Fossil collection.
At this so oxidized, limonite is almost more proper. Don't know where it came from or the species. -
Just finished prepping this juvenile keichousaurus and thought it was worth a view as all the bones are totally pyritized. I've never seen this on any keichousaurus before. All the bones have a burnished gold patina. Mother Nature is awesome!
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Last week, after checking the weather wunderground numerous times, I decided to drive 3.5 hours from Chicago to St. Paul Stone Quarry. It was the last "open house" day according to the ESCONI website. I arrived at 7:45, the first and only person there. Shortly thereafter, after a brief safety instruction, I followed the manager to the collecting site, heaps and heaps of Waldron shale. Even though I dressed in layers, I still had to take breaks and warm up in the car for a few minutes, but I much rather prefer collecting in cold weather as opposed to hot summer sun with mosquitoes, any day. It didn't take too long to start finding fossils. Here are just a few of my finds: Eospirifer Platystrophia brachiopods with pyrite Platyceras niagarense encrusted with strophomenid, bryozoa and pyrite. front: back: Partial Dalmanitid Trilobite in matrix When prepping, it's really wonderful how the waldron "butter" shale just crumbles apart around the predictable morphology of an enrolled trilobite. The trip just wouldn't seem complete without a short drive east to the Cincinnati Arch roadcuts. I first went to South Gate and found a flexicalymene eroding right out of the cut. It is interesting to see the comparisons here. The trilobite on the left is from St Paul (Silurian) and has beautiful pyritized eyes. The one on the right is from South Gate (Ordovician). Both trilobites have 21 articulated segments; does this make them both the same age as "adults"? Interesting to note the difference in size, being 40 million years apart, same species.. Thanks for looking!
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Found this in the TXI Cement Quarry in Midlothian, TX. It is 1.25 inches tall and about .5 inch at the base of the fossil. This is the ATCO contact between the Eagle Ford Shale and the Austin Chalk formations. Other finds in the area are Cretodus, Pytchodus, Squalicorax and other shark teeth, as well as fish verts. It has pyrite crystals up the middle of the fossil. Thanks for any help with ID
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Is there a way to clean pyrite? I have a Athyris spiriferiodes that is trimmed in pyrite that looks better to the eye than the photo shows. I think it will be better if there is a way to clean it
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I found this piece about a month ago while hiking near Starved Rock, IL with my girlfriend. It is so strange that i thought TFF may enjoy it. I've never seen anything like it and it is my biggest piece of pyrite to date. It is a large 18cm x 5cm piece of pyrite encapsulating a piece of Lepidodendron fossil from the Carboniferous period. Unfortunately when i collected it the piece was in a shale wall and when extracting it some of the lepidodendron had broken off and was too shattered to save. But here she is. Continued....
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From the album Ischua
A nice brachiopod with pyrite trim -
Hello I went on a trip to Hungry Hollow this summer and found some fossils I am uncertain of. Except for the piece of fish bone they were all found in the south pit and are pyratised. 1: Is a piece of a fish? -27mm in length 2: I think this might be a starfish arm? It measures 14mm in length. 3: Fish earbone? Never seen anything like it -10mm in length 4: I really have no idea.. -12mm in length If anyone could confirm or come up with some ideas for the ID's I would appreciate it Phevo
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I was fossil hunting in France on some hill a few years ago and found this interesting rock. I brought it home with me to Canada and remembered about it now. I have no idea what this could be. The only thing that gives it away is the smooth surface on the so called fossil. There seems to be two clams facing each other, but of completely different shapes. They are on opposite sides of the rock and don't seem likely to be a brachiopod.
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So I have a few pieces of pyritized concretion that I found at Penn Dixie last week. One of them has a really odd shape though and weighs substantially more than other pieces it's size and seems to be almost entirely pyrite. Thoughts as to why this might be? You can see a penny-sized piece of Fenestella to the right of my thumb in this pic and the one below.
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From the album Isle of Sheppey Eocene
Lovely undeside detail on a pyritised crab from the london clay on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, Uk. -
When the wheels of industry grind to a halt, one looks for ways to occupy their time while on the clock. I was recently trained on using a scanning electron microscope, but I felt like I needed more practice . I've been wanting to see how some of my fossils might look at high magnification, soooooooooo...... First, I tried an Engonoceras serpentinum (the one on the right) that I recently found in the Waco Research Pit. Under the microscope, it looks like this... I also checked out a pyritized ammonite that my wife found. Under the microscope, it looked like this... This was fun, but it got me thinking. The more highly damaged, pyritized ammonite seems to have a different crystal structure than the better preserved Engonoceras. Could it be that one is pyrite and the other marcasite? Or has the more damaged specimen simply oxidized from pyrite to a different mineral form? Or are the crystals simply more tightly packed on the Engonoceras and therefore I'm just unable to tell that the minerals have the same general shape? Thanks for enduring my stream of consciousness...
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I have a bunch of petrified/coalified wood from Mazon Creek and have started a process to decrease the reactivity of the pyrite and sulphur in them. Thought I'd describe the process and results in case it is helpful to anyone else. Some of them are fairly quick to form decay and even create lovely hairy crystal gardens of possibly Pickeringite or Halotrichite. Here is an earlier post about that. Here's some images of the cool crystal hairs that formed awhile back. Anyway here's my process that I've started on a few items. Not at all sure if this is the best process but thought I'd try it as an experiment and see what happens. It is an adaptation of recommendations by Reiner Mielke. Any suggestions or critiques would be great. I'm currently at Step 4 with the first batch and debating about Step 5. Step 1: Neutralize in water with some baking soda. (I notice my pieces really fiz a lot and some of the material breaks a part in this reaction so one may need to be careful with fragile items.) Step 2: Dry in the oven at low temperature for several hours. Step 3: Immerse in WD-40 to displace all the water. Step 4: Let dry Step 5: Two options and I haven't decided between the two: One option is to immerse in motor oil. (This is the Mielke approach) The other option is to spray with Fluid Film (a lanolin product in a spray bottle to prevent rust) Then let dry.
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So i went with my local club (ESCONI) to a hill they lease for two weekends out of the year for a dig about a month ago. It's nicknamed "Fan Worm Hill" in Braceville, IL. This hill is a old spoil pile from the coal mining, and is filled with nodules from the Essex fauna. We get to dig there, so i was very excited to go! I killed my body and collected about two 5 gallon buckets full. Sadly, most are poorly preserved blanks, jellys or bivalves. I did find one decent polychaete worm and cool associated Jellyfish though.... But now i may have found one of the most interesting pieces in my Mazon fauna. It looks similar to the Sea Cucumbers i find from the South Unit, but i really don't think it is. It's too inconsistent in form and texture. So, I believe it to be a pyrite encrusted piece of coprolite. If anyone has knowledge of Braceville nodules id love to get a confirmation. Thanks for looking! For your amusement, Golden Poop.....
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I'll like to check out are these Arnioceras ammonites pyritized? They are from Yorkshire UK. I want to know in your opinion, are these ammonites pyritized or non-pyritized? Link to the picture: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201976908256821&set=a.3256541024913.135604.1608741583&type=3&theater
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From the album Christine's collection
Small shell found at Mazonia State Park in Illinois. Most likely from Pennsylvanian Epoch in the Carboniferous Period. -
My hubby and I were hunting for fossils along Choctaw Creek in Grayson Co. Tx. when we came upon several ammonoid's and gastropod's in a small and thin section of sandstone within gray shale/mudstone. I am still very wet behind the ears on formations, but I think that this is part of the Woodbine group; although I could be wrong. To our horror, they started falling apart when we would expose the fossils. They have this white and yellowish chalky substance all over them that I think is pyrite disease. I washed off as much of the chalky substance as possible on a couple of pieces, along with what was some amazing detail; but I have let the rest of them alone for now until I knew what would be the best approach to the situation. Is there any way to save these little beauties, or are they doomed?
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