Latest Images

Fluorescent Exogyra by Daylight.jpg

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 01:39:58 +0000

In the daylight, this is an articulated Exogyra shell from the Cretaceous New Egypt Formation as it runs through Mullica Hill, New Jersey. I brought it home because it had an interesting bit of vivianite replacement covering half the surface of one valve. When I brought it home, I noticed some white material inside the cavity of the broken shell. I figured it might be calcite, which sometimes fluoresces. So, I pulled out my UV lamp. To my shock, not only did the white material glow an interesting powder blue color, but the majority of the one valve glows an intense, bright red! Meanwhile, the other valve doesn't glow at all.

Scroll right to see what it looked like in the dark with the UV lamp.

Freaky Flourescent Fossil Shell

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 01:39:31 +0000

In the daylight, this is an articulated Exogyra shell from the Cretaceous New Egypt Formation as it runs through Mullica Hill, New Jersey. I brought it home because it had an interesting bit of vivianite replacement covering half the surface of one valve. When I brought it home, I noticed some white material inside the shell cavity. I figured it might be calcite, which sometimes fluoresces. So, I pulled out my UV lamp. To my shock, not only did the white material glow an interesting powder blue color, but the majority of the one valve glows an intense, bright red! Meanwhile, the other valve doesn't glow at all.

Fluorescent Bacculites.jpg

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:52:18 +0000

I was playing around with the UV lamp in my lab, seeing what might unexpectedly glow this afternoon. This was a nice surprise. It's an internal mold of Bacculites sp. with sutures that fluoresce orange under 345nm UV light. Bright orange like this usually indicates calcite, a mineral that makes up fossil shells and some modern ones, too. Between the mud-filled chambers, the shell was preserved while the exterior of the cone wore away. The shell material was either calcite to begin with or, more likely, began as aragonite (same chemical compound as calcite, but different crystal structure and glows yellow instead of orange) and changed over millions of years to the more stable configuration of calcite. Meanwhile, the mud looks like it may have a little bit of some fluorescent minerals in the mix, but it's mostly a daylight-only affair. The blue may be some residual glue from a label.

This specimen is from the late Cretceaous Pierre Shale Formation in South Dakota.

Flourescent Fossil Clam

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:27:28 +0000

Stewartia formani viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Clam

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:29:38 +0000

Stewartia formani clam viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Clam

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:31:37 +0000

Stewartia anodonta clam viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Clam

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:34:01 +0000

Stewartia anodonta viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Volute Snail

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 01:45:12 +0000

A volute shell, Scaphella sp., viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Clam

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:42:04 +0000

A clam shell of the family Veneridae viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.

Flourescent Fossil Oyster

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:50:05 +0000

Pycnodonte mutabilis, viewed under natural light at left and under short-wave ultraviolet light at right.