Mazon Creek Fossils - ID Help

[The Reno]

Hi everyone -

 

I need some help identifying a few of the Mazon Creek fossils my father and I found over the last two years.  I will first apologize for the blurriness of the images, I must have had something on my lens.  But, I can take more if necessary (just not today!).

 

Here's the link to the images:

https://imgur.com/a/yRaND6K

 

I have three plants, something that's just parallel lines, and something that looks like a shrimp.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

[Fossildude19]

Hello, and Welcome to the Forum.   

It is always best to post images directly here to the Forum.   

If the links go bad or photos are deleted, then the thread becomes useless. 

 

I took the liberty of posting them here. 

 

  

 

  

 

   

 

  

 

[ynot]

A bunch of ferns, a nice shrimp and I have no idea about the last one.

[Mark Kmiecik]

The plants (ferns) are all Pecopteris, the shrimp is a shrimp, most likely Kallidecthes Richardsoni, the parallel lines are wood/bark, possibly Calamites judging by the striations. There are two, possibly three different species of Pecopteris, but would need MUCH better photos and possibly better preservation for exact identification. You can research this online for yourself and make the ID.

 

Nice specimens. Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

 

Do not try to clean the white calcite from the fossils with anything more than warm water and a toothbrush. If you use an acid like vinegar it will remove the calcite and half the details in the fossil as it will also attack the iron siderite matrix. Best bet is to leave them as they are. Whenever you put the halves put back together, make sure you put a piece of toilet tissue or paper towel between the halves. Very thin packing foam sheets are very good too. This way the two halves won't abrade each other each time you open and close the halves.

[caldigger]

That's a very nice shrimp!

[Mark Kmiecik]

8 minutes ago, caldigger said:

That's a very nice shrimp!

Yes, very nice. That's why suggested that he not clean it. Mazon Creek material doesn't handle "prepping" very well. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice finds! 

I love the shrimp.

[Rob Russell]

I’ve had great luck cleaning Mazon material with vinegar, brushes, and dental picks. Out of the many hundreds I’ve cleaned I’ve never ruined one. The only way I’ve ruined them was with a hammer. lol 

[Mark Kmiecik]

8 minutes ago, Rob Russell said:

I’ve had great luck cleaning Mazon material with vinegar, brushes, and dental picks. Out of the many hundreds I’ve cleaned I’ve never ruined one. The only way I’ve ruined them was with a hammer. lol 

Vinegar does attack the fossil and erase detail. Take a throw-away specimen and soak it vinegar overnight. Of course, a brief exposure to acid does less damage than soaking overnight, but the point is that it does do some damage. Warm water, soft brush and very careful use of dental picks does much less to decrease the scientific value than soaking in acid. Soaking in acid blurs the image just like an out-of-focus photograph. In some cases of fern specimens the pinnule venation and rachis attachment are critical in identification down to species level. Without that detail the ID can at best be an educated guess. I'm not saying that you should do what I say. They're your fossils. If you have the experience and can do minimal damage, go for it. I'm just trying to let the folks who may only be starting their Mazon Creek collections that they should approach trying to improve the appearance of their specimens with caution and enough understanding to do it well if they try.

 

[The Reno]

Thanks everyone!  I'll try to get some better photos up.  I'm not sure why these turned out the way they did.

 

On the one fern where I have both halves, I did do some light cleaning with vinegar/water.  It removed some of the white stuff, but not much and I don't plan on doing it again.  The shrimp's calcite looks too embedded for lack of a better word to make a cleaning attempt even worthwhile.

 

All of the fossils here were found split.  The two halves of the fern I found about five feet apart, almost by accident. I have another one that I really like, but it's falling apart from the freeze/thaw.  I'll post that one when I take the other photos.

[Mark Kmiecik]

16 minutes ago, The Reno said:

Thanks everyone!  I'll try to get some better photos up.  I'm not sure why these turned out the way they did.

 

On the one fern where I have both halves, I did do some light cleaning with vinegar/water.  It removed some of the white stuff, but not much and I don't plan on doing it again.  The shrimp's calcite looks too embedded for lack of a better word to make a cleaning attempt even worthwhile.

 

All of the fossils here were found split.  The two halves of the fern I found about five feet apart, almost by accident. I have another one that I really like, but it's falling apart from the freeze/thaw.  I'll post that one when I take the other photos.

The one that's falling apart can be glued together with superglue. Dry fit and remove any loose grain between the two surfaces you're gluing. Remember, in a 3D jigsaw puzzle pieces don't want to fit into acute angles so keep the angles you create obtuse, greater than 90°.

[The Reno]

Here are some better shots of the shrimp - it's about  1.5 inches long.

[The Reno]

Here's a couple better shots of this fern.  It doesn't have much detail to it and its relatively shallow, so the camera really struggled with this one!   It's about 1.75 inches long.

[The Reno]

Here's some additional shots of this fern. It's also about 1.75 inches long.

[The Reno]

And here's the other one I mentioned.  It has started to flake with the freeze/thaw.  These aren't even all of the pieces.  I'm too scared to put it back in the freeze.  Any thoughts on what this one is? The longest part of the longest visible black piece is about 1.5 inches.

[deutscheben]

Very nice finds, the shrimp and ferns are quite lovely. The shrimp looks more like Belotelson to me. 

[Nimravis]

15 minutes ago, The Reno said:

Any thoughts on what this one is?

It’s an Annularia leaf. 

[deutscheben]

Agreed, that is an Annularia stellata. Once it is completely dry, you can try gently tapping at the edge of the part that has not split and you may be able to reveal more- as Mark said above, you can always glue it back together if you keep the pieces. 

[The Reno]

Thank you!  I think deutscheben is right about the shrimp, it looks like a Belotelson!

 

 

Thank you everyone!