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Black Hills Rock Box


Merry

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Hi All! I discovered a long-forgotten box of rocks in our science storeroom and would appreciate some id help with them. A previous teacher had moved out all of the fossils except a handful they used :( :( :(. I'm sure these only escaped because no one knew they were there. 

 

The box was filled with rocks, plus a few masking tape labels, all of which seem to be from the Black Hills, South Dakota area. Rockerville, Tin Mountain Mine, Hill City, and Spearfish are all named. Also in the box was a 1955 Random House book called All About Our Changing Rocks. 

 

Thanks in advance for any help with these. 

 

RockBox.jpg

20190327_Labels (1).jpg

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#1 - This one is shown in the center left of the rock box above. It's showing up as several tones in my photos here, but the grey is accurate. There are some areas that look like something was separated and an opalescent layer was left behind. 

 

2_20180327_150628.thumb.jpg.5c1fe6f48bcaccbca26bb8c27e062b93.jpg

 

1_20190326_133559.jpg

Edited by Merry
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#3 Opalescent, similar to the first rock. It doesn't fit into any of the spaces of #1.

20180327_145644.jpg

 

Edited by Merry
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And the other side of #4. That's all that I set aside as potential fossils, but when I can get the others photographed, maybe I'll run them by you expert eyes so nothing gets missed. :D

20190327_largecell4.jpg

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The fish looks like it is a Gosiutichthys parvus, from the Green River Formation in Wyoming.

3 to 3.5 cm (1.3 inches) is about right size for that.

Also, hard to say for sure, but I think I counted 36 vertebrae. 
 

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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#1 appears to me to be a Pierre Shale nodule that contained a Baculite.

 

#3 does appear to be a portion of a baculite.

 

If in fact that what these are they are Late Cretaceous in age.

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2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

The fish looks like it is a Gosiutichthys parvus, from the Green River Formation in Wyoming.

3 to 3.5 cm (1.3 inches) is about right size for that.

Also, hard to say for sure, but I think I counted 36 vertebrae. 
 

Thanks for this! There are more rocks than labels and there's always the possibility the box was added to.

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On 3/30/2019 at 9:06 PM, Fossildude19 said:

The fish looks like it is a Gosiutichthys parvus, from the Green River Formation in Wyoming.

3 to 3.5 cm (1.3 inches) is about right size for that.

Also, hard to say for sure, but I think I counted 36 vertebrae. 
 

It may be Knightia Alta. The dorsal fin looks a bit far forward to be G. Parvus. We'd have to check details that won't be visible in these photos to distinguish between the two. K. Alta is in the correct size range.

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Mark.

 

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

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