Some Fossils from the Plabutsch-Formation of the Palaeozoic of Graz, Styria, Austria (Devonian – Eifelian)

[Innocentx]

@FranzBernhard. Very pretty corals and stromatoporoids, and I think the dark gray green material is quite beautiful contrast to the fossils.

[Barby]

These are just awesome--and great pix, too!

[FranzBernhard]

On 12.12.2018 at 4:59 AM, Innocentx said:

Very pretty corals and stromatoporoids, and I think the dark gray green material is quite beautiful contrast to the fossils.

Thanks for your appreciation! Interesting that you see some green, on my screen everthing is a little bit reddish (but my screen is not good - old, cheap laptop).

 

On 13.12.2018 at 12:46 AM, Barby said:

These are just awesome--and great pix, too!

Thanks for your interest and appreciation!

 

Two polished slabs from the Eifelian Plabutsch-formation:

First one with quite a mix of things: Rugosa, Thamnopora/Striatopora, brach shells, crinoid fragments,...

North of Fürstenstand, northwest of Graz, width of specimen ca. 14 cm, collected 02/26/2016, Nr. AN3710.

 

Second one again a Favosites styriacus and nothing else...

Buchkogelsattel southwest of Graz, width of specimen ca. 16 cm, collected 12/10/2015, Nr. AN3668.

[Wrangellian]

More nice ones, and as already stated, the photography is great. Are you using scanner? Of course I don't know what color they are in real life but you're doing a good job considering the old laptop screen.

[FranzBernhard]

2 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

More nice ones, and as already stated, the photography is great. Are you using scanner? Of course I don't know what color they are in real life but you're doing a good job considering the old laptop screen.

Thanks! Yes, for the polished ones I am using a very old flatbed scanner.

The scanner pics are ok colorwise (grey on my screen, with some brownish in between). The photos of the other specimens, which I take with a scrapy, cheap camera and an incandescent lamp, all have a slight reddish tint. But this doesn´t really matter to me, and my color perception isn´t very good at all.

Franz Bernhard

[Wrangellian]

I've gotten similar results with my scanner, on flat/cut rocks, but you're getting much better results with your camera_incandescent light (if they are among those I've seen in your recent posts) than I get with mine, and it wasn't cheap. Incandescent and fluorescent lights always make my photos way too false-colored.

[FranzBernhard]

Sometimes polished slabs are a little bit more "colorfull". Rugosa, tabulate and a brachiopod shell. North of Fürstenstand, collected 10/30/2015, Nr. AN3633.

 

Or even somewhat more bright. Tabulata etc. in beige matrix. Admonter Kogel north of Graz, collected 04/11/2007, Nr. AN1070.

 

And now going back to totally black:

Franz Bernhard

 

[FranzBernhard]

Another one of the most abundant corals from the Plabutsch-formation. This specimen is rather nicely weathered outside (you can get a glimpse of it at the upper right corner), but it was unfortunately scratched by earth-moving equipment. So I had to cut and polish it and it turned out ok.

Franz Bernhard

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

These do look so great cut and polished. 

I normal like natural stuff, but these are beautiful and, of course, sections are needed for accurate id. 

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

These do look so great cut and polished.

Thanks!

I am living on two opposite sides: I like total natural fossils - or flat cut and polished ones .

Btw, these polished goniatites and orthocerids from morocco are very nice, but I don´t like the way they are shaped. I would only like them, if they were flat cut... But I have never seen one!

Franz Bernhard

[Tidgy's Dad]

3 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks!

I am living on two opposite sides: I like total natural fossils - or flat cut and polished ones .

Btw, these polished goniatites and orthocerids from morocco are very nice, but I don´t like the way they are shaped. I would only like them, if they were flat cut... But I have never seen one!

Franz Bernhard

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks, @Tidgy's Dad, that´s the way I like it, beautiful! (except, you know... )

Franz Bernhard

[Tidgy's Dad]

[Wrangellian]

Wow! Love it. To go with it they need a rough piece with the fossils prepped out in 3D. Not polished, but prepped out, with their outer surfaces intact, right? There's something you never see...

[FranzBernhard]

Carbonate rocks of the Palaeozoic of Graz (around 400 Ma old) got locally reworked and redeposited during the Miocene, about 15 Ma ago, resulting in a conspicuous breccia composed of clasts of carbonate rocks set in a red calcitic matrix. This breccia is locally called "Eggenberger Brekzie", after its main occurrence at the foot of the Plabutsch mountain in Eggenberg, a western district of Graz. Not many outcrops of this breccia can be found nowadays there; the area is densely populated, but it can be observed in some old stone walls* or at construction sites.

 

This specimen was found on a small rock dump higher up the Plabutsch mountain. I don´t know exactly, where it comes from, as there are also other occurrences of "Eggenberger Brekzie" farther away from Graz. It is mainly composed of various "dolomites"** of the Emsian Flösserkogel formation and it contains at least one clast of the fossiliferrous Eifelian Plabutsch formation - can you spot that clast ? It contains some cross sections of the tabulate coral Striatopora? suessi.

 

* This breccia can not only be used for building purposes, but also objects have be made, like vases and sculptures. At least the clasts polish quite good and the rock has a nicely contrasting pattern and warm color overall.

 

** Interestingly, all these dolomite-like clasts are calcitic. Could be the effect of calcitization. I have observed largely calcitizised dolomite clasts within a crack in the same formation, associated with some manganese mineralisation.

Franz Bernhard

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very pretty. 

And it's great it's got the coral cross-sections in it as well.