KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 A couple of months ago I collected a small bucket of shale from the Stark Shale Member in the Dennis Formation of the Kansas City Group. My purpose was to find conodonts. Today, I had a chance to look at the shale and I found a conodont this afternoon--the first one I've ever found . I was able to extract this with a small needle in a pen vise. I took the pictures with a Celestron MicroCapture Pro. For any locals that are interested, this came from the Firemen's Memorial. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 I know next to nothing about conodonts, but that is extremely beautiful and so very tiny! You must have felt pretty good when that was discovered. Diligence pays off! Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Congratulations on your first! I know those things are fragile and hard to get out of the black shale. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 20 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: so very tiny Yep. I am glad I did not loose it somewhere in the extraction and photographing stages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Nice one! Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 18 minutes ago, Bullsnake said: fragile and hard to get out of the black shale Well, it was partially beginner's luck. I had never even identified a conodont before, and the first one I saw came out easily, entire, and photogenic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Nice find! I would like to find some conodonts one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Nice! I don’t have any yet, but formations near me are rumored to contain them (that being said, they are also supposed to contain many other things I have yet to find) “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 They're normally extracted by treating samples with formic or dilute acetic acid,washing the residue with deionized water, more often than not followed by heavy liquid separation( e.g. sodium polytungstanate)(apatitic fossils*!). *mostly francolitic Looks slightly gondolellid*,but the preservation is mediocre *that's not a "taxonomic assignment",which would not be warranted in this case Glad you like your find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arizona Chris Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 You might want to take the rock it was found in and do the acetic acid bath to see if any more are inside! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona Chris Paleo Web Site: http://schursastrophotography.com/fossiladventures.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 9 hours ago, doushantuo said: gondolellid Thanks, doushantuo. I know little about conodonts, but one of the two fossil-invertebrate reference books I own is Moore, Laliker, and Fishcher's Invertebrate Fossils (1952), and I saw on a page of drawings of conodonts (p. 735) that the genus Gondolella was similar and that it is known in the Pennsylvanian subsystem. So, I was pleased to find something similar to my specimen and to see that you saw the similarity too. My interest is piqued, so perhaps if I find more with better preservation I'll be able to confirm an ID. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 10 hours ago, doushantuo said: treating samples with formic or dilute acetic acid,washing the residue with deionized water, more often than not followed by heavy liquid separation( e.g. sodium polytungstanate)(apatitic fossils*!). *mostly francolitic Thanks for the information. I plan to try some of this. I am of thinking of using white vinegar. Is there another readily available source of formic or acetic acid? I see some undiluted acetic acid available online. If I got this, how would I dilute it? Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 4 minutes ago, KCMOfossil said: If I got this, how would I dilute it? Water, just measure it out to whatever dilution you would want and mix. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 " Approximately 1 kg of bulk material was processed for each sample. Limestones were dissolved in 15% (by volume) acetic acid, and shales were disaggregated in bleach (5.2% or 7.5% sodium hypochlorite) or 12% H2O2. Shale samples took up to six months to break down in bleach, although 12% H2O2 disaggregated gray shale in 2–24 h. Black shales disaggregated more rapidly in H2O2 than in bleach but still required several months. After dissolution/disaggregation, we used tetrabromomethane (Austin, 1987) and a magnetic separator to concentrate the conodonts." (Bright et al(GCA /2009)) THIS IS NOT a recommendation from me to be fooling around with miscellaneous chemicals. I hope everybody realizes that A lot of Carboniferous(/(Paleozoic) shale is chemically heterogeneous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 2 hours ago, doushantuo said: THIS IS NOT a recommendation from me to be fooling around with miscellaneous chemicals. Thanks for the information and the reminder. I need to do more reading. I am readily finding conodonts on the surface so I assume there are more in the matrix. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 27 minutes ago, KCMOfossil said: Thanks for the information and the reminder. I need to do more reading. I am readily finding conodonts on the surface so I assume there are more in the matrix. Russ Thought I would add, be careful when diluting any acid other than acetic (in Muriatic f and others it will start to heat up and boil the water, shooting acid everywhere which is not ideal) “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 1 hour ago, WhodamanHD said: Thought I would add, be careful when diluting any acid other than acetic (in Muriatic f and others it will start to heat up and boil the water, shooting acid everywhere which is not ideal) It’s not a problem if you add the acid TO the water which is standard lab practice as the endothermic reaction will be negligible. John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMOfossil Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 3 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: be careful when diluting any acid other than acetic Thanks for the word of caution. I have no experience with this at all. 2 hours ago, JohnBrewer said: add the acid TO the water Thanks, John, for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 1 hour ago, KCMOfossil said: be careful when diluting any acid other than acetic No, be careful with all acids acetic or otherwise. I use glacial acetic acid amongst many other chemicals. It’s particularly nasty on skin John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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