What Are These Fragments?

[Bronzviking]

On 9/25/2018 at 2:38 PM, BLT said:

Thanks!  I will try the tests in a bit. Is this common in St. Louis Limestone & Warsaw Limestone? 

After skim reading; manganese is not common to these formations unless it was brought in like suggested. Are you located in St. Louis Limestone & Warsaw Limestone formations? I did read they contain chert nodules which is probably this little one.

 

Here's some geology info on the 2 formations. Read through when you get time.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/UnitRefs/WarsawRefs_4300.html

http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/5465/

 

[BLT]

55 minutes ago, Bronzviking said:

After skim reading; manganese is not common to these formations unless it was brought in like suggested. Are you located in St. Louis Limestone & Warsaw Limestone formations? I did read they contain chert nodules which is probably this little one.

 

Here's some geology info on the 2 formations. Read through when you get time.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/UnitRefs/WarsawRefs_4300.html

http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/5465/

 

Yes, I am in the St. Louis Limestone & Warsaw Limestone formations. ~ Thanks!

[BLT]

4 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Tracey- cool pics and thanks for sharing. Like Patty @Innocentx suggested, I would also go up the creek. Without a paddle -lol, but would bring a hammer, again as Patty suggested. I would also check on Google maps or the like and see where this Creek originates. It might have a different type of exposure and maybe sifting in the Creek May reveal things that you do not first see.

Thanks, and no problem!  Lol! I have been wondering about that for some time now. I need to look into it and find out. 

1 hour ago, abyssunder said:

May the crystals look like "dog tooth" calcite crystals ?

Thanks!  I just googled those, and the images I saw certainly resemble the ones in my rock. However, I thought the dog tooth calcite crystals appeared more pointy than mine. 

[ynot]

2 minutes ago, BLT said:

I thought the dog tooth calcite crystals appeared more pointy than mine. 

Calcite has over 120 habits (crystal shape).

[BLT]

1 minute ago, ynot said:

Calcite has over 120 habits (crystal shape).

Ah, gotcha. That’s a lot!  I believe I will simply stick to fossil collecting. 

[KimTexan]

If it is calcite it will fizzle when places in vinegar. If it is quartz it won’t fizzle.

I use acid, like 5% vinegar from the grocery store or really dilute muriatic acid to clean my calcite, aragonite and quartz. If it is dull it helps bring out the shine. You have to be careful to not over do it though.

[Nimravis]

7 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

If it is calcite it will fizzle when places in vinegar. If it is quartz it won’t fizzle.

If it makes water cold when placed in a glass, it is ice.

[BLT]

12 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

If it makes water cold when placed in a glass, it is ice.

Literally laughed out loud when I read that one! 

21 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

If it is calcite it will fizzle when places in vinegar. If it is quartz it won’t fizzle.

I use acid, like 5% vinegar from the grocery store or really dilute muriatic acid to clean my calcite, aragonite and quartz. If it is dull it helps bring out the shine. You have to be careful to not over do it though.

Gotcha, thanks! I’ve been wondering how to clean it. I wasn’t sure if using vinegar would be a good idea or not. 

[FranzBernhard]

11 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

manganese is not common to these formations

This is usual case, most limestones are poor in mangenese (xx ppm or gramms/ton).

However, during wheatering/dissolution of limestones, this low concentration can be enriched (under proper circumstances, e.g. suitable redox conditions) to form very localized and tiny deposits of manganese oxide minerals, usually as thin coatings in fractures ("manganese dentrites"!) or vugs.

Sure, it is not definitive that BLT´s samples have such manganese oxide coatings. Some testing would be needed. And there is still the posibility that some of the rocks on her property were brought in from elsewhere.

Franz Bernhard

 

[D.N.FossilmanLithuania]

On 2018-09-26 at 1:48 PM, BLT said:

Thank you! Busy hash plates have become my favorite fossils, but I still get excited each time I find a tiny fragment.

Your work is great I think.  I can say that many scientists miss the small elements of animals in rocks because they are trying to find something huge, massive and very rare.  But they loose very much because the small pieces in rock (also talking about vertebrates) can be especially scientifically important in some cases and it is the mistake that small find cannot be identified. Each scale, tooth or small material usually has the specter of features typical only to one narrow taxon.  Now I have the microscope that takes the pictures of small objects, enter the files in my computer and magnifies 500 times. For example, have you heard about especially shark like teeth, denticles and even jaw segments that grew on cartilage in Late Silurian dolomite rocks? Maybe not, but I collect these cases in erratics and there definitely are many species and primitive fish forms that are still unknown.  I am very proud of your work and I can suggest you to get the microscope, take the hammer and make disoveries of small fossil elements- you will be surprised for sure  

 

Kind regards

Domas