Ricky’s Mazon Creek thread

[gieserguy]

Another possible bark piece, but it just didn’t split right (also found by me)

 

[gieserguy]

I’ve always thought this one was something since I cracked it...

 

[gieserguy]

Here is a nice little case of flora that I purchased at the ESCONI sale this year, marked down to $3 simply because of the crack in the glass! Gorgeous fossils!

 

[gieserguy]

Back to fauna! 

This guy is likely Didontogaster cordylina (Annelida)

 

[gieserguy]

Mazonomya mazonensis, or Clam-Clam!

 

[gieserguy]

This one has stumped me since it cracked. I swear I see a shape that looks like a claw, but I’ve never been able to match this fossil to anything in my book...

 

[gieserguy]

I always assumed this was a jellyfish, but it seems too square, now I’m not so sure of what it is anymore

 

[gieserguy]

Yet another that leaves me baffled

 

[gieserguy]

Wow! Another unknown! Who’d have guessed that?

 

[gieserguy]

That’s all I’ve got to share for now, I’ll update this thread as more come along. And please feel free to share your Mazon Creek fossils as a couple other members have! I’d love to see them!

 

As I’m sure you can tell, Mazon Creek fossils really are just a guessing game, full of ever-changing knowledge, and it’s a game I quite like to play!

[Bronzviking]

1 hour ago, gieserguy said:

This is is a really unusual one, there is a fossil on both sides of this single piece!

 

 

That is a cool one!

[Bronzviking]

1 hour ago, gieserguy said:

Here is a nice little case of flora that I purchased at the ESCONI sale this year, marked down to $3 simply because of the crack in the glass! Gorgeous fossils!

 

That's a great buy and some nice fossils! Love the first fern leaf.

[Bronzviking]

59 minutes ago, gieserguy said:

Yet another that leaves me baffled

 

Is it possible to just have a nodule without a fossil inside?

[Bronzviking]

1 hour ago, gieserguy said:

Mazonomya mazonensis, or Clam-Clam!

 

Love the two valves of the clam butterflied!

[gieserguy]

7 minutes ago, Bronzviking said:

Is it possible to just have a nodule without a fossil inside?

It’s very possible! Most of the modules have nothing in them. I seem to remember reading a statistic somewhere that said about 1 out of 10 will have a fossil in it. 

Theres definitely the possibility of that one having nothing in it, but the fact that it has two distinct colored areas is what’s made me keep it. 

 

Here’s some empty nodules that I’ve saved

 

[Bronzviking]

2 hours ago, gieserguy said:

@Bronzviking order up, some plants are on the way!

(disclaimer: where we collect doesn’t seem to have many plant fossils, mostly fauna, so most/all of these were either gifted or purchased)

 

I believe this is a Pecopteris (as most are) and this was found in my great grandmothers freezer!

Thanks for posting the plant fossils, I enjoyed seeing them. This fern fossil I bought and was found from Pennsylvania. It's about an inch by a half of a inch. I was amazed by the detail and that both sides were intact. The second one is a fern pressed in shale from St. Clair PA. I love the silver on the black shale.

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 hours ago, gieserguy said:

Back to fauna! 

This guy is likely Didontogaster cordylina (Annelida)

That's a beauty! 

Here's the last pieces I have, all courtesy of the marvelous @Nimravis

Thanks once again, Ralph!

Annularia.

Pecopteris :

Lycopod leaf and coprolite :

Myalinella meeki bivalves :

Not forgetting the simply marvelous Belotelson magister part of which is shown to the right of the Cyclus I posted, but I haven't got another pic at the moment. 

I love this stuff. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

1 hour ago, gieserguy said:

I always assumed this was a jellyfish, but it seems too square, now I’m not so sure of what it is anymore

 

Probably a poorly preserved dorsal view of Anthracomedusa turnbulli

[Mark Kmiecik]

39 minutes ago, Bronzviking said:

Is it possible to just have a nodule without a fossil inside?

Yes, and depends on the specific location where collected. It can range from 2% to 98% chance of containing a fossil. However, you won't know until it's open, so one collects them all and opens them later. 

[Mark Kmiecik]

36 minutes ago, gieserguy said:

It’s very possible! Most of the modules have nothing in them. I seem to remember reading a statistic somewhere that said about 1 out of 10 will have a fossil in it. 

Theres definitely the possibility of that one having nothing in it, but the fact that it has two distinct colored areas is what’s made me keep it. 

 

Here’s some empty nodules that I’ve saved

 

There are spots where 9 out 10 will contain a fossil, mostly on private property. Some of the "duds" may be just poorly preserved jellies and other soft-bodied creatures that deteriorated too quickly to be preserved. The other possibility is that the concretion split in the wrong plane. I have found fossils in some of my duds by crazy gluing them back together and freeze/thawing again. Sometimes a stain in a concretion is just a stain in a concretion, higher concentration of iron siderite.

[gieserguy]

56 minutes ago, Bronzviking said:

Thanks for posting the plant fossils, I enjoyed seeing them. This fern fossil I bought and was found from Pennsylvania. It's about an inch by a half of a inch. I was amazed by the detail and that both sides were intact. The second one is a fern pressed in shale from St. Clair PA. I love the silver on the black shale.

Of course, I’m glad you liked them! Those ferns are beauts! And there is definitely a lot of similarity between the PA and Mazon fossils!

[gieserguy]

 

59 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

That's a beauty! 

Here's the last pieces I have, all courtesy of the marvelous @Nimravis

Thanks once again, Ralph!

Annularia.

Pecopteris :

Lycopod leaf and coprolite :

Myalinella meeki bivalves :

Not forgetting the simply marvelous Belotelson magister part of which is shown to the right of the Cyclus I posted, but I haven't got another pic at the moment. 

I love this stuff. 

 

 

Thanks!

Those are all fantastic! I’m a big fan of that Belotelson magister, it’s great! I’d love to find a nice crustacean some day. 

[Wrangellian]

5 hours ago, gieserguy said:

Back to fauna! 

This guy is likely Didontogaster cordylina (Annelida)

 

 

6 hours ago, gieserguy said:

Pecopteris unita 

 

These are my two fav's out of your lot. Love the plants when the tips are present.

I'll have to get busy and finish photo'ing my Mazon collection. I've got my own Mazon thread started somewhere. But my collection isn't nearly as extensive as I've never been able to collect the site myself and had to purchase everything. I do have one Tully (incomplete of course).

 

BTW you could crop your photos, and they don't always have to be portrait orientation. Also some of your photos are good but others are kind of dark and hard to see detail. Whatever you did with those jellies in the first pic was good - keep doing that! I know it's a pain to get the right lighting on a fossil which is maybe why I haven't finishing photoing mine..  Seems only direct sunlight works for me.

[gieserguy]

@Wrangellian I’ll have to find that thread, I’m very curious to see what you have!

And thank you for the tips, I’m mostly just using an old ikea lamp and my iPhone for the pictures. But for the jellies at the beginning, it was with indirect sunlight in my garage to get those details to pop! The jellies are especially hard because they’re just texture, not color. 

[Nimravis]

6 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

Is it possible to just have a nodule without a fossil inside?

Yes, that is what happens with a great number of concretions.