Ludwigia Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 (edited) The day before yesterday I was roaming the hillsides in the backwoods of the Wutach Valley in search of new sites. Had a nice day out, but didn't really find what I was looking for, which was at least one good exposure which could keep me busy for a while. I did however find a large loose concretion which could prove to be interesting. I'd noticed a bit of exposed rock on a steep incline and the concretion was just lying at the base. When I flipped it over it showed me that it was actually an ammonite halved vertically through its keel. I haven't done any work on this side yet, but there appears to be a bivalve attached. I wasn't sure what species it was, since most of the good side was still imbedded in marly, sandy, oolitic limestone, but I packed it away anyway since I was pretty sure that I didn't have anything like it yet. I started working on it today and now I think I've got a Teloceras sp., perhaps blagdeni, from the Humphresianum zone here with some of its spines preserved. The stone is partially very solid, particularly when nearing the center, which makes for slow work, since I'm working mostly with the air abrader in order to get close enough to the shell and hence the spines without damaging them. Already invested 5 hours on it and there's guaranteed a lot more to come. Here's what it looks like right now. This was a relatively large creature. What you're looking at is just the phragmocone and that measures in with a circumference of 20cm. With the living chamber it could have measured up to 50cm. I'm hoping at this point that the inner whorls and accompanying spines are well enough preserved for a keeper, but only time will tell. At any rate, I thought I'd show it to you and I'll keep you posted on it as the preparation progresses. Edited August 17, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewcuse Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Nice find, so far at least With any luck, you'll have a keeper on your hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CH4ShotCaller Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Hey! that's a nice find! I like it! Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. -Albert Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Awesome! Keep those photos Rollin as you prep, some potential for a great piece "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Hey Roger, that looks like a neat project. Best of luck with the prep! That looks oh so much more fun than the washer faucet repair I'm looking at messing with tomorrow. Keep us posted on your progress. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I really appreciate being able to share your finds and your prep process. Thanks for all the blow-by-blow details. Mike Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Awesome ammonite! I've found a couple of fragments, you've got a good one there!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Thanks everybody. Keep your fingers crossed. I'll be back at it after breakfast. Nice to have holidays. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Looks like a tuff prep job, but those spines are cool. Cant wait to see the finished project. Good luck RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Thanks RB. Just took a break from prepping. I'm starting to get down deep now and it's becoming obvious that this shell was lying exposed for a long time at the bottom of the sea. Many of the spines are broken off, but happily some are still intact. There is also an awful lot of epizoa like bryozoa and tube worms everywhere. Some of the worms have even replaced some spines, which makes things somewhat confusing. It's not gonna be something I'll be giving to a museum or anything, but it sure is interesting. I'll post more pics later. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) Looks good so far! Have you thought of grinding and polishing the broken half of the other Ammo? And then prep out the other side. Edited August 18, 2014 by fossilized6s ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Looks good so far! Have you thought of grinding and polishing the broken half of the other Ammo? And then prep out the other side. Thanks! You must have misunderstood. That's the backside of the same block that you're referring to. I did wonder about doing what you're suggesting, but it's not mineralized, so it probably wouldn't be worth it. I've come along considerably with the preparation today and am down to the "bottom of the barrel". As I already mentioned above, it's turning out to be a "very interesting" find which shall probably be filed away in a drawer when I'm done. At any rate, it's a keeper. It turned out that the inner whorls are nonexistent, but that's ok. It is engrossing to look at. Here's how things developed after another 5 hours' work. The first thing I did before continuing was to study the anatomy of this species in order to determine where I might find the spines. After chopping the matrix down with the air pen to the stage in the left picture, I figured I'd play it safe and make a little window with the air abrader. I just didn't feel like decapitating a spine. And there they are on the right, or at least what's left of them. Then it was possible to dig on deeper as seen below without a great danger of damaging anything. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 The following photo was taken after a considerable amount of time teetering back and forth between the pen and the abrader. As can be seen, time and the elements had done their work as the shell lay on the ocean floor. At some spots the shell has disappeared, many spines have broken off and all kinds of tiny creatures have set up house. Besides many serpula, there are some very nice bryozoa on the outer whorls which I'll show later. If you look closely, you'll notice that the section of shell which has the last 2 large spines on it has broken away from the rest and been shoved a bit towards the inside. The photos below show the stage that I've reached today. As mentioned, the inner whorls are missing, which is a pity, but at least the spines on the next rounds are fairly well conserved and the epizoa are interesting, particularly the 2 tube worms on the left which have replaced the spines. It's roughly finished now, but there's still a lot of fine work to do, like digging under the broken piece and exposing (hopefully) a couple more spines. I'd also like to check out that bivalve on the reverse side. I probably won't get back to this until the day after tomorrow, since I'll be off to Munich for the day in the morning. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Heck of an interesting specimen you have there, Roger...I've never seen anything like it. Great job so far... . "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 This is cool, watching the progress. Thanks for posting this and I hope to see it to the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 This is looking good Roger. A bunch of us did Ridgemount , Penn Dixie and James Dick over Friday to Sunday, would have been great to have you with us.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) Heck of an interesting specimen you have there, Roger...I've never seen anything like it. Great job so far... . Teloceras blagdeni is isolated over here to one specific horizon called appropriately the "blagdeni-Schichten". They're pretty few and far between, so I'm happy to have found my first sample. It's sort of the "bull" of the ammonites with its horns and bulky appearance. Although it's not perfect, it certainly does have some character(s). This is cool, watching the progress. Thanks for posting this and I hope to see it to the end. Just keep tuned in. I'll probably be able to post the end result in a couple of days at the latest. This is looking good Roger. A bunch of us did Ridgemount , Penn Dixie and James Dick over Friday to Sunday, would have been great to have you with us.......... Thanks Malcolm. Love to have been there with you. Always fun with you guys. I'll be over again for 10 days in October, so I hope we can work something out then. Edited August 18, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Well, I was back at it again this afternoon. I dug down under the broken off piece with the large horns to see what was under it. The inner whorls are more or less intact, although the spines could still be hidden away in there.Nevertheless I decided to do a bit of experimenting by removing the piece in the hopes that I could reattach it in a better position and perhaps find some more spines in it by the way. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and anyway I need the practice. Even if it doesn't work, the remainder looks just fine for me now that I got it off. Now I'm working on that little piece and have got so far. I'm not so sure if this is going to work, particularly since there appears to be another bivalve hiding under the spines. Im done for today. Expecting a visit any minute. Probably won't get back to this until Friday since I'm off again for the day tomorrow. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 The inner whorls are the icing on the cake: what an interesting fossil! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 The inner whorls are the icing on the cake: what an interesting fossil! I'm glad to have gotten them out relatively unscathed. Yes it is turning out to be interesting. We'll see what happens with the last bit. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 So. I got the rest done today. Managed to dig out a bit more of the outer whorls from that piece with the horns on it and stuck it back on, but it didn't make any sense to me any more to grind and form that piece so that it would fit onto the end somehow. Then I would have had to fill in a lot with plaster of paris or something similar, but then I thought you just might as well move to Morocco if you're gonna start doing that. I did however fill in the gap as you can see at the end with stonemeal which I'll color with water paints. Here's the end result. Teloceras blagdeni (Sowerby 1818) With the piece with the horns layed in supposed position. The lobes are really nice. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) The epizoic passengers are also interesting to observe. Two species of Bryozoa. Berenicea sp. Aspendesia sp. And a colony of Serpula sulcata tube worms everywhere. Edited August 22, 2014 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 I almost forgot. There's also the bivalve I dug out of the back side a while back. Pseudolimea duplicata Hope you enjoyed the show Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Yes, that was excellent. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 From start to finish! You're welcome! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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