Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!

[Nimravis]

33 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

What's this thing down here? Mineral inclusion or biological?

 

 

 

Mark, that is just the outer crust of the concretion.

[stats]

Love the pyrite ghosts!

 

Is that soft tissue on the bivalve?

 

As for the id... are there little hook like shapes?  Maybe Pectopteris squamosa.  I believe P. squamosa has very small pinnules.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

Jacks- ID on the above pictured piece should be included in this link, that is if I copied it correctly, and thanks to Connor for the ID too.

[Mark Kmiecik]

13 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Mark, that is just the outer crust of the concretion.

 

I don't know. Looks kind of wormy to me, and I've seen, as I'm sure you have, specimens that span the edges of concretions or lie across multiple layers. Have you checked it with a loupe? There's interesting things happening all around the edges of this specimen. 

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

 

I don't know. Looks kind of wormy to me, and I've seen, as I'm sure you have, specimens that span the edges of concretions or lie across multiple layers. Have you checked it with a loupe? There's interesting things happening all around the edges of this specimen. 

I have not checked it Mark, but will in a few minutes and post a picture.

[Nimravis]

@Mark Kmiecik Mark- here are closer pics. Not a worm, but there is chalcopyrite around that area. I do see what you are talking about, but it is just banding of the concretion. Here are pics from both halves.

 

 

 

 

 

[jdp]

You got a good closeup of texture on the big showy unidentified piece? I'm wondering if it's a stethacanthid brush-spine complex.

[Nimravis]

52 minutes ago, jdp said:

You got a good closeup of texture on the big showy unidentified piece? I'm wondering if it's a stethacanthid brush-spine complex.

This concretion is what I believe is just a large coprolite.

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Today was not very productive as far as finds go, but I was able to go through a number of concretions that had nothing inside.

 

Here are my finds in order-

 

This bivalve looks like a Sedgwickia.

 

 

 

Here was a little Myalinella meeki.

 

 

This piece looks like a possible worm.

 

 

I have not found a piece like this in a long time- crystals inside.

 

 

 

These next pieces appear to be plant material.

 

 

 

Here is a Macroneuropteris that split and broke after a light tap.

 

 

I glued it together-

 

 

Here is one half after a little cleaning.

 

 

Here is a Pecopteris.

 

 

Here is another one, not the greatest preservation, but I will try to clean it up a little more. This one also split apart with a light tap, this is indicative of many Pit 4 concretions.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Nimravis

[stats]

A little vinegar... might be Pecopteris squamosa?   It has tiny pinnules.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

7 minutes ago, stats said:

A little vinegar... might be Pecopteris squamosa?   It has tiny pinnules.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

I did have it sitting in vinegar, but some of these Pit 4 ferns are really stubborn. Thanks for the ID, they are very small pinnules. 

[Mark Kmiecik]

3 hours ago, Nimravis said:

I did have it sitting in vinegar, but some of these Pit 4 ferns are really stubborn. Thanks for the ID, they are very small pinnules. 

I'm leaning towards P. squamosa as well.

[Nimravis]

Today I did not crack any closed concretions open. Instead, I went through one of the 5 gallon buckets of concretions that I freeze-thawed over the Winter. When I brought them inside after the Winter, I did an initial check of them. This time I tapped them to see if anything wanted to pop.

 

When you first go through the buckets, you are left with remnants of concretions, like below.

 

 

Here are some pictures of the type of concretions that I like to freeze-thaw, I do not do it with all concretions like this, but I usually try to select concretions that have a nice shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the fossils that were either or a slight tap did the job.

 

Essexella asherae Jellyfish 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coprolite-

 

 

 

 

This looks like a poor example of a Fertile Pecopteris.

 

 

 

 

Pecopteris-

 

 

 

Here is a shrimp that was in a nice concretions that fell apart, luckily I could glue it back together. I believe it might be Kallidecthes richardsoni .

 

 

 

 

 

A poorly preserved stem-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Nimravis

[stats]

Nice ones!  Some very good shapes there.

 

The poorly preserved "pecopteris" could be fertile.  I agree on the shrimp.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

28 minutes ago, stats said:

The poorly preserved "pecopteris" could be fertile.

It is Rich, I was typing that at the time and some pictures did not post, so I backed out and went back in and did not continue. 

[Nimravis]

On 7/2/2022 at 4:30 PM, stats said:

A little vinegar... might be Pecopteris squamosa?   It has tiny pinnules.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

@Mark Kmiecik 

 

Rich and Mark,

 

I cleaned it up and I agree with you on the ID as Pecopteris squamosa. It is not the best preservation, but I will take it for this uncommon fern.

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

So many of these are quite extraordinary and so beautiful.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

So many of these are quite extraordinary and so beautiful.

Thanks Adam.

[Nimravis]

Well the plan was to whack open more concretions today, but there was a call for rain, which has since started, so I decided to finish going through the concretions that I had froze over the Winter. The process that I use it to lightly tap each concretion a couple of times and see if it pops, 98% will not, but some do, and here are the results. 
 

I am out on my deck, under an umbrella with our “Rescue” parakeet (Sky). We found Sky about 2 years ago, flying around our neighborhood and we were able to catch her. She enjoys hearing the rain falling on the umbrella.

 

 

This first piece split very nicely and before I opened it, I decided to let my wife do the honor, since she has never opened a concretion. I told her that she was going to be the first person to see this wonderful fossil that was enclosed. Well she opened it and asked what it was, I advised her that it was a big coprolite and the responded- “Great I get a piece of poop”’ though she did not use the word poop. Lol

 

 

I also popped a few nice Essexella asherae Jellyfish. Although these a common, they still remain to be one of my favorites.

 

This first one came from the Braceville Shaft Mine.

 

 

 

This next one is a fossil that older collectors would have referred to as a “Blob with Character”, because of the way that it looks, this would have also been the same for the one above.

 

 

These next couple are typical jellyfish.

 

 

 

This last jellyfish I will leave alone. It shows a portion of it and the rest still remains hidden in the concretion.

 

I also came across a couple nice ferns.

 

This thin one was my favorite- it I had whacked it outside, I would have destroyed it, and that is why is was in a bucket to freeze. I am not positive on the ID of this piece, so any help would be appreciated.
 

 

 

This Pecopteris would also have broken if I whacked it. Though the preservation is not great, I still like it.

 

 

Here are a couple smaller pinnules.

 

 

 

I only have one half if the below piece.

 

 

This next piece may also be piece of coprolite, but I will have to take a closer look.

 

 

Here are a couple unknown piece that I will also have to look at a little closer.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Nimravis

[Tidgy's Dad]

Love the budgerigar and your wife's reaction to her find. 

[stats]

It's the stories you tell... the parrot and your wife's reaction are priceless!

 

Nice blobs with character.  They all have a Braceville look to them.  I think the fern is Laveineopteris rarinervis.  I like the orbicular pinnules, too!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

5 minutes ago, stats said:

It's the stories you tell... the parrot and your wife's reaction are priceless!

 

Nice blobs with character.  They all have a Braceville look to them.  I think the fern is Laveineopteris rarinervis.  I like the orbicular pinnules, too!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

Thanks Rich

[Nimravis]

Today I was off of work and wanted to whack open a bunch of concretions, but my back was bothering me a bit and only opened about 40. It was almost all Myalinella meeki bivalves, but they are still nice fossils. Here they are below-

 

 

With the shape of this next concretion, I knew it was one before I even opened it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple more-

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next pieces are made up of misc. flora material and a poorly preserved fern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last piece I do not think it is anything, but kept it because it looked weird.

 

 

 

 

[stats]

Nice, Ralph!  Isn't this a shrimp?

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

4 minutes ago, stats said:

Nice, Ralph!  Isn't this a shrimp?

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

 

I don't see a shrimp here, but I also don't see a Myalinella. I think it's a Mazononmya, an Edmondia, or perhaps even a Schizodus.