dshamilla Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 fossilcrazy, I forgot to tell you that if you acid treated any of your Linton specimens that it's best to neutralize them in a weak solution of NaOH. According to Baird, many of the specimens collected by J.S. Newberry were cleaned with acid in the 50's and 60's and after some period of time began deteriorating. These had to be treated with a base solution to stop that process. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshamilla Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 fossilcrazy, Got your answer for the shark "jaw". Yes it's definitely a Chondrychthian. No! it's not a jaw. Yes, it's a branchial arch (gill support). I've attached a file called "A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan.pdf" to somewhat explain. A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan.pdf 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 dshamilla, Excellent detective work! Thanks for posting the PDF - really quite interesting. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazy Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 fossilcrazy, Got your answer for the shark "jaw". Yes it's definitely a Chondrychthian. No! it's not a jaw. Yes, it's a branchial arch (gill support). I've attached a file called "A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan.pdf" to somewhat explain. A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan.pdf Good detective ground work, dshamila, Thanks! I will make sure it ends up in a researcher's possession. The person who introduced me to the site (S. M.) knew and worked with some of the scientists you previously mentioned. He has also donated much Linton material to the Field Museum and Carnegie. Were you ever able to collect at the 7-11 mine or the 5 point strip mine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshamilla Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 fossilcrazy, I know Scott also. We've had some Linton conversations in the past, I'm pretty sure he'll remember me. As far as the 7-11 mine, my friend Greg McComas was the first to collect there and with him and his wife, we collected through the entire time the mine was accessible ......up to the time it was reclaimed (but that's another story, for a later posting). I collected at five-points a few times but that was essentially McComas, Hook and Baird who worked on the assemblage; I was a bit too involved with the Linton material. By the way, I’m leaving on a trip with Greg to Linton Friday (for me first one there in about 20 years), I’ll let you know the results sometime next week. Very soon, I intend to start up a new post on the Linton fish, just getting things together for it. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazy Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 This little hard to spot fish appeared as a tapered brown spot. It seemed hardly worth looking at. With a little washing and a peek through the microscope, Some beautiful fish scales appeared. I think I've narrowed it down to being a Conchopoma exanthematicum juvenile specimen. Sure doesn't look like much Under a microscope are scales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Interesting! Any chance of picking away some more matrix? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Very cool find, John! Thanks for showing it to us. I had never heard of this one before. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Another interesting find, John. Congratulations and thanks for sharing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiggieCie Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastoid Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Amazing fossils, amazing photographs, and amazing contributors to this forum! Of course, when you're done splitting all that coal, you're still not done! Think of all the fun you could have, going back over it, seeing if you missed anything and splitting it even thinner! Backyard collecting really is the best. Thanks for sharing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineeringstudent Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Is there any chance you or someone else doing similar work could post a description or couple of pictures describing the actual "splitting" work? As someone who has only ever handled coal as a single lump for a gag gift I'm struggling to imagine how you're finding these fossils with a butter knife. What people are talking about when they say split them thinner? Are you cutting the coal paper thin to search the entire lump and ending up with very thin fragile sheets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Is there any chance you or someone else doing similar work could post a description or couple of pictures describing the actual "splitting" work? As someone who has only ever handled coal as a single lump for a gag gift I'm struggling to imagine how you're finding these fossils with a butter knife. What people are talking about when they say split them thinner? Are you cutting the coal paper thin to search the entire lump and ending up with very thin fragile sheets? This isn't the coal you are thinking of. It isn't the anthracite coal that you burn. This is Cannel Coal. It is a form of bituminous coal that is actually considered more of an oil shale. It can be black or brown in color. It is layered in thin sheets like shale, an thus is splittable into thin sheets by carefully sliding a knife through it. Hope this helps. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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