Conasauga Shale

[Peat Burns]

Made it down to the Conasauga Shale as the last of 10 sites on a 4-state, 6-time-period collecting expedition in mid-august.  I'll post reports on the other sites (as well as other trips earlier in the summer) later.

 

I elected not to split shale on-site and just collected shale for splitting in a controlled environment. I'm only interested in trilobites that still have the exoskeleton (rather than just impressions).  I gently tap the shale until I see a fine crack in a bedding plane and then carefully pry it apart with an Xacto knife. 

 

The exoskeletons usually have a hollow space above and below them and are terribly fragile. One must hope that all the exoskeleton ends up on one side of the split.  Any still unexposed require tedious removal of matrix under a scope with a fine needle while trying to avoid poking through the exoskeleton into the hollow space underneath.  I wick consolidant under the exoskeleton to prevent it from flaking off.  Even blowing on it can knock it off.  Here are the keepers.

 

[Peat Burns]

And one pic of the lot

 

[Wrangellian]

I got that impression (pun not intended) about those fossils' fragility/porosity just by looking at the pics I've seen of them!

What are you using for consolidant?

[Peat Burns]

16 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

I got that impression (pun not intended) about those fossils' fragility/porosity just by looking at the pics I've seen of them!

What are you using for consolidant?

I'm using Butvar 

[Ludwigia]

Nice job on those fragile pieces. Well worth the effort!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Some lovely bugs there. 

I was sent a load of matrix by the awesome Ralph, @Nimravis and encountered the same problems. 

The exoskeletons are terribly fragile, and even with my finest needle I managed to damage a couple. 

But I love these trilos! 

[ynot]

Very nice. Nice that You took the time and effort to keep them as whole as possible.

[Monica]

Congrats on the successful trilo-hunt at home! 

[Scylla]

What species are those? They are beautiful 

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, Scylla said:

What species are those? They are beautiful 

They are Aphelaspis brachyphasis.

[Darktooth]

Nice trilos Tony!

[Peat Burns]

34 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Nice trilos Tony!

Thanks, Dave. I thought I had some pretty good complete ones until Ralph showed me up on his second hunt with that near perfect one.

[TNCollector]

I too am only interested in trilos with the exoskeleton still intact. It looks like you did a great job keeping them that way.

 

I have been meaning to get down to Georgia to collect some, but haven't found the time.

[Innocentx]

Beauties! and nice work exposing and maintaining that.

[Peat Burns]

On 9/22/2018 at 11:08 PM, TNCollector said:

I too am only interested in trilos with the exoskeleton still intact. It looks like you did a great job keeping them that way.

 

I have been meaning to get down to Georgia to collect some, but haven't found the time.

 

On 9/23/2018 at 11:22 AM, Innocentx said:

Beauties! and nice work exposing and maintaining that.

Thank you 

 

It's a very interesting site.

[HynerpetonHunter]

Tibbs Bridge?

[Fossildude19]

59 minutes ago, HynerpetonHunter said:

Tibbs Bridge?

 

Yes. Now closed to collecting, unfortunately.