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Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!


Nimravis

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2 hours ago, Plantguy said:

Yup some nice finds. Glad its warmed up. Those are/were crazy temps to even think about. 

 

Regards, Chris 

I agree Chris, I decided to take tomorrow off and maybe open some more.

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  • 1 month later...

It has been about a month since I have posted to this thread and I am going to have to start getting back into "Whacking" open concretions, today is a little different post though. I believe around the November time frame I put 3- 5 gallon buckets of concretions outside to freeze and thaw throughout the winter. Each bucket contained between 100-110 complete concretions from various sites. I filled each bucket with water and let nature do it's best to unlock the hidden treasures inside the 300 million year old time capsules. This Winter was a great one to do the freeze / thaw method since there were great fluctuations of temperatures and for an extended period of time it was really cold. Unfortunately, Nature was not as persuasive as I would have like. Out of the 100-110 concretions that I checked today from one bucket, only 6 concretions opened and the remainder are just as solid as they have been for the past countless millions of years, and that is why I like to "Whack" them, I am a little more persuasive.

 

Here is a picture of the concretions that did not open- I used a standard 12" / 20 CM ruler for scale so you can see the various shapes and sizes. The elongated, larger concretion that is seen on the lower left hand side of the picture had a crack along the mid section that I did not see until I was placing them back into the bucket. Unfortunately, this Annularia did not make it. 

 

IMG_8790.jpg.e97122381558fb03df52c30a04f9a670.jpg

 

Here is that Annularia, this is one of the problems with freezing, sometimes they just shatter ti pieces after freezing.

 

The original break-

 

IMG_8797.jpg.730548ea2cc892e7abe26572009f531a.jpg

 

Showing what was inside-

 

IMG_8798.jpg.777fc0f4e44062f64756170db72b1253.jpg

 

After a little tap-

 

IMG_8799.jpg.6444c00ac70409cc792ff9d3a879928c.jpg

 

The other end-

 

IMG_8800.jpg.65c0092caf73730dd99724e2a4df7685.jpgIMG_8801.jpg.3e04e851abfeda56d130498b5f05d37f.jpg

 

 

Here are the other things that opened-

 

Essexella asherae Jellyfish-

 

IMG_8791.jpg.996ff454eddb7634622885ee447ef2f3.jpgIMG_8792.jpg.7fe5770d6a1c45dbb8bae8cca0b42e13.jpgIMG_8793.jpg.15ad1c4cbb7442b3e035001455ff8844.jpg

 

Sub surface bark- Taeniophyllum latifolium.

 

IMG_8794.jpg.1973abe134456e6d2d031d30e167b687.jpg

 

MIsc. plant material, one piece had a Microconchid right side picture.

 

IMG_8795.jpg.71cb04305385a2cb3f4969fac71d9c50.jpgIMG_8796.jpg.841a6bdb0bb3eb4c24c6f0f3432e6a61.jpg

 

When I go through the other 2 buckets, I will post what if anything opened.

 

 

 

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Hi Ralph just court up on your thread love your squirrel friend. Great thread thank you.

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6 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Hi Ralph just court up on your thread love your squirrel friend. Great thread thank you.

Thanks Bobby, I will get this going on a regular basis soon.

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Well I went through my second bucket of concretions from my Winter freeze / thaw and this one was even more disappointing than the last last bucket that I went through.

 

This bucket contained at least 94 concretions, though I think that there was more and that they just disintegrated.

 

Here are the remaining 91 concretions that I will continue to freeze and thaw. I am using a standard 12” / 30 cm ruler for scale.

 

17815E87-7211-4CB1-8123-C4C39D4F5FA9.thumb.jpeg.6721df59ea497f3d787b32ccbdfbcca5.jpeg

 

 

Only one one concretion opened and it was a large one, it contained bark.

 

A3EB6D35-E602-424D-B12D-9BA0C961DFC9.thumb.jpeg.ec3714d46cf1471ec522c3ec6a482bfa.jpeg

 

This next concretion just broke apart and it not worth putting back together- it contains some miscellaneous flora.

 

65721552-C146-480F-A16A-9E5BEDF50C78.thumb.jpeg.89595546a0a21f60a75adedf0a62b894.jpeg

 

I have one more bucket to go through, hopefully something will pop out.

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I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms from the lack of whacked nodules (or frozen and thawed ones). 

Good to see this thread operational again. 

Sorry about the breakages but good luck with the final bucket! :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms from the lack of whacked nodules (or frozen and thawed ones). 

Good to see this thread operational again. 

Sorry about the breakages but good luck with the final bucket! :)

Thanks Adam, I have to get back to them, but this weekend is the ESCONI Show and next weekend is the MAPS Show.

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7 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Thanks Adam, I have to get back to them, but this weekend is the ESCONI Show and next weekend is the MAPS Show.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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On 3/19/2019 at 9:40 PM, Nimravis said:

Thanks Adam, I have to get back to them, but this weekend is the ESCONI Show and next weekend is the MAPS Show.

I'll be at MAPS on Sunday.  There is usually a good selection there.  I like to get there Saturday, but can't this year.  I've bought a few "Mazon Creek" fossils from Missouri and Indiana the last couple years. 

 

See you at the ESCONI show.

 

Cheers,

Rich

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I've been whacking too this winter , but fauna from the mid Jurassic ( Oxfordian) . Must say it worked quite well ! A few fauna pics for a change ...

IMG_1600.JPG

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IMG_1606.JPG

IMG_1607.JPG

IMG_1608.JPG

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I stopped at the ESCONI Show again today and I say Rich @stats and we were discussing Mazon Creek fossils and I mentioned that I had to check my last bucket that I had freezing over the Winter. Even though I am not feeling the best, I decided to check the bucket. It would have been better if I just stayed on the couch. Out of 100 concretions that I was freezing in that bucket, 96 are still the way they have been for 300 million years. 3 opened and they were void of anything and 1 just  disintegrated. LIFE IS GOOD.

 

F524459F-8D38-45CB-A857-BC45ECA1E401.thumb.jpeg.fa2c30aaee6e5ad050701c7ae18d5a4a.jpegB68A8D0C-79A7-4EF9-8C1B-BD7B6CB9D79F.thumb.jpeg.9301b5f78d06188e23f9c6580921c0dd.jpeg

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7 hours ago, Nimravis said:

I stopped at the ESCONI Show again today and I say Rich @stats and we were discussing Mazon Creek fossils and I mentioned that I had to check my last bucket that I had freezing over the Winter. Even though I am not feeling the best, I decided to check the bucket. It would have been better if I just stayed on the couch. Out of 100 concretions that I was freezing in that bucket, 96 are still the way they have been for 300 million years. 3 opened and they were void of anything and 1 just  disintegrated. LIFE IS GOOD.

F524459F-8D38-45CB-A857-BC45ECA1E401.thumb.jpeg.fa2c30aaee6e5ad050701c7ae18d5a4a.jpegB68A8D0C-79A7-4EF9-8C1B-BD7B6CB9D79F.thumb.jpeg.9301b5f78d06188e23f9c6580921c0dd.jpeg

Sorry, Man... soon!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well after visiting two Rock / Fossil Shows today and seeing that this has been the warmest day in about 5 months, I decided to try and Whack open some concretions today. Nothing special was found, but one piece that I have not found in a while was opened.

 

I do not recall finding a pecten in a while, here is an okay example.

 

IMG_9851.jpg.b41e4c6bb9312b567d57d9cba7a23b8a.jpgIMG_9852.jpg.33485a82ffdeacc3ac8815850c5aaa4c.jpg

 

Here is a small piece of Lepidodendron bark.

 

IMG_9867.jpg.00ade646c1f00a8abae31d7920331741.jpgIMG_9868.jpg.c050ecd80028a685247e74ace83db22b.jpg

 

Myalinella meeki with multiple Microconchids.

 

IMG_9859.jpg.9631c66de4d3faf4a834bad8c5d22fe2.jpgIMG_9860.jpg.061948f07c148ca7b20d2918130af0c4.jpg

 

Neuropteris-

 

IMG_9843.jpg.a6fe3bad6301eced6cbb27bc4f543b32.jpgIMG_9844.jpg.2a5525c771288851bd0c14df45baec7f.jpgIMG_9858.jpg.f0b95ab058618143e36a3073b6faecfa.jpg

 

Pecopteris-

 

IMG_9848.jpg.e1ad65091b3800f054eec45887c24f3e.jpg

 

Myalinella meeki-

 

IMG_9850.jpg.058643da60ec1b53094d0b6d09f16485.jpg

 

Misc. pieces of bark / sub-surface bark-

 

 IMG_9846.jpg.8a2c895c869e68f37034f6bd7a06130d.jpgIMG_9847.jpg.a176a5227abb44789adff63812041823.jpgIMG_9849.jpg.3279a4caaac6740093694ba8659806be.jpgIMG_9854.jpg.278d60a705ed38c0f978451edf04c084.jpgIMG_9855.jpg.d99186aebce9f9b04bbe924d338192dc.jpgIMG_9856.jpg.c43dc3a21e20738902a87982672e7356.jpgIMG_9861.jpg.cbcb71c677a5c7bc2a22e13cbd823c4f.jpgIMG_9862.jpg.01c965ca0d602011b0fcfb9efb73fe57.jpgIMG_9863.jpg.250c0bb142ce59beb1f53b80c6125798.jpgIMG_9864.jpg.aaa056e7eddd0a8c35192e5cbe286eb4.jpgIMG_9865.jpg.fca92de81704d5292d9b6a5f8c96bd8e.jpgIMG_9866.jpg.3ab6e8f634fba0ddea328250c01e68d0.jpgIMG_9869.jpg.c4cc9009cf878d20d1043f72401af6f8.jpg

 

 

IMG_9857.jpg

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Ralph - that pecten is a little cutie!  Congrats on finding it, along with some other nice things! :)

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I too like the little pecten. 

And I'm very interested in microconchids. 

Very nice, Ralph.

Life's Good! :)

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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On 5/27/2018 at 6:37 PM, Nimravis said:

Here is another "end" piece and as you can see, there is a hole in the concretion, indicating that a fossil is enclosed. And inside is another nice example of a piece of bark. Bark is always nice to look at under a loop, because sometimes you can find Spirobis worms or if you are lucky an insect.

And that's the reason you keep all the "floor tile" until you can examine it under magnification. After that I would give it to people who had no Mazon specimens as a starter. Floor tile is more common than Essexella.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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On 6/3/2018 at 9:14 PM, deutscheben said:

Wow, I'm a big fan of that fish too, even shattered. It has a real sense of liveliness to it.

 

Those massive nodules from last page blew my mind! I haven't found anything bigger than my palm at Mazon Creek. And there was some good quality plant material in yours too. 

Nice fish. I never found one, not even a blade.

 

Nodules that were "round-ish" from 9 to 12 inches and "long-ish" up to 18 inches were common back in the day. Most of those are in museums and old-fart collections nowadays. I've seen annularia in other peoples collections (collected, not purchased) that are 4 inches wide, 17 inches long and have 11 to 13 whorls with absolutely zero calcification and unbelievable detail. It is my belief that once the concretions are exposed to weathering it affects them internally and deteriorates the level of preservation. Twenty years ago they seemed much cleaner with better detail.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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On 6/4/2018 at 10:23 PM, Nimravis said:

Here is today's installment of some of finds that I found today, unlike yesterday, nothing real cool.

 

It is a real pain when you have a nice shaped concretion that cracks perfectly in the middle and it is void of a fossil. Here are two examples:

 

IMG_5283.jpg.c1df66637f5c4b5ba7d72de49724488b.jpgIMG_5282.jpg.7760fed2f1b9ec1a7b61037273c26c0c.jpgIMG_5302.jpg.cbddde5c3293c7a26b08f380eda8be57.jpgIMG_5303.jpg.4775682885733c8edce328dd5874945d.jpg

Sometimes they break in the wrong plane, either above or below the fossil. Sometimes the plane the fossil lies in is not the weakest in the nodule. When I come up with blanks that looked really good to begin with I'll crazy glue them back together and continue the freeze/thaw for 50 cycles and if they don't split by them, hammer again. If I get another clean split I repeat. Only then would I discard. I've gotten a few really good ones doing this. It seems that the specimen doesn't degrade as quickly in the "firmer" finer-grained nodules. You've probably noticed by that the finer-grained nodules have specimens with the best detail. 

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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1 hour ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

It is my belief that once the concretions are exposed to weathering it affects them internally and deteriorates the level of preservation. Twenty years ago they seemed much cleaner with better detail.

I do not believe that this is the case, those large, perfectly preserved pieces of flora most likely came from areas like Dresden, the pieces out of there were beautiful.

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On 6/12/2018 at 2:34 PM, Nimravis said:

Lepidostrobophyllum Cone bract

 

FFC86003-CD7F-43D8-9B1B-730A2A4C397C.jpeg.cba555f40830796f0592e7a1ee4028ea.jpeg

Is this bract lying on top of a cyclopteris? or something? or?

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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5 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Is this bract lying on top of a cyclopteris? or something? or?

I would have to look for that one, but if I remember correctly, it is just the way the concretion is.

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