Devonian micromatrix

[Misha]

Hello everyone,

Recently @Shamalama showed me great kindness and generosity when he sent me some samples of matrix from three Devonian sites.

This package arrived yesterday and I have slowly been picking out all of the tiny fossils.

I want to use this topic to show off my finds.

Here is everything I received:

[connorp]

Ooo I'm excited to see what you find. I have probably a hundred pounds of Silica Shale material in my closet, would be nice to see if it's worth the time to start breaking down.

[Misha]

I began to go through the stuff by starting with the silica shale from Ohio as it seemed to contain the most matrix, but when I opened the other two I also decided to search the Kashong shale from New York.

I have yet to start with the last bag which is limestone from the 18 mile creek as it is a lot finer and I am not sure how to approach it yet.

 

[Misha]

Let's start with the Kashong shale:

These first 3 pictures have a nice little ostracod, a tentaculite which I found many nice examples of in this matrix, and a pretty little brachiopid all of these were surrounded by large numbers of crinoid columnals.

[Misha]

Bryozoans were plentiful in both samples but I found these two extra pretty, the bottom picture features something I do not have an ID for although it also looks very interesting.

[Misha]

Now for the highlights of the silica shales:

I have only taken 3 pictures so far but these also have some nice tentaculites, many beautiful ostracods, of course some crinoids and bryozoans and I even found a tiny Eldredgeops pygidium in there too.

[Misha]

I will post updates once I have processed more of this stuff.

[Pumpkinhead]

very nice

[Mediospirifer]

Oh, nice matrices! Devonian material has some cool specimens.

 

For sorting the North Evans limestone, I recommend using a needle to move things around on whatever surface you're spreading the material out on (I snipped the eye off a needle with wire cutters, then inserted in into a mechanical pencil. That works.), with a small natural-fiber paintbrush to transfer the micro specimens to your slide. I'll place a drop of water where I want to place the specimen (using my fingertip), then moisten the brush, touch the tip of the brush to the specimen I want, and let the water adhesion stick the piece to the brush. Dip the piece into the drop of water where you want it to go, and it will drop off. 

 

If you want to secure the specimens to a slide, I recommend painting the surface with dilute (50/50) white glue and water. A drop of water will soften the glue enough to hold the specimen when it dries.

 

Good luck with it! You should find some nice conodonts in there, and possibly a few scolecodonts. 

 

[Kane]

2 hours ago, Misha said:

 

Bryozoans were plentiful in both samples but I found these two extra pretty, the bottom picture features something I do not have an ID for although it also looks very interesting.

I think you may have a bit of placoderm armour.

[FossilDAWG]

5 hours ago, Kane said:

I think you may have a bit of placoderm armour.

I think I would go with a piece of a crinoid calyx plate on this one.  Arthrocantha for example has small spines decorating the surface.

 

Don

[Tidgy's Dad]

Excellent specimen's, I love micro-matrix and Devonian material. 

Beautiful otracods and tentaculitids.

Thanks for sharing. 

[Fossildude19]

7 hours ago, Kane said:

I think you may have a bit of placoderm armour.

 

2 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

I think I would go with a piece of a crinoid calyx plate on this one.  Arthrocantha for example has small spines decorating the surface.

 

Don

 

It is possible that it is a bryozoan: Taeniopora exigua.

 

 

Image from Dave's (shamalama) Blog :  Views of the Mahantango.

[Malcolmt]

I agree with Don ...not placoderm but crinoid calxy fragment..

[Kane]

Yeah, I see that now. Not thick enough to be placo. 

[Malcolmt]

6 minutes ago, Kane said:

Yeah, I see that now. Not thick enough to be placo. 

Also has that ridge down the middle

[digit]

I have searched a lot of micro-matrix in my time (mostly Miocene through Plio/Pleistocene and a little Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene) but I have not yet had the privilege of picking through micros as far back as the Devonian. Looking at micro-fossils can be a whole different world from the "macro" fossils of the same time period (and even the same site). Your material looks to be on the finer side of the material I normally hunt through from Florida. The larger size class material I can easily pick through with a floor-mounted large-lens magnifier of the type that folks would use for something like needlepoint or reading fine print books when old eyes find that too straining without some help. For the finest material that is held back by my 1/20", 1/30", or even 1/50" sieves, I have recently switched to using a (not too expensive) microscope fitted with a digital camera. If you are just picking a small sample of material, the extra cost of purchasing a scope just for this would not seem warranted but if you get hooked on picking fine micro-matrix and have a source for lots more material, I'd suggest this as a way to make your time picking much more pleasurable. You can see my (lengthy as usual) post here on the new scope I'm currently using:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/95821-optimizing-my-search-technique-for-picking-fine-micro-matrix/

 

I presently have this scope plugged into a spare 32-inch monitor (an old flatscreen TV from a friend). The HDMI output from the scope's camera allows me to see realtime high-def images on the screen as I push my micro-matrix around and pick out the fossils that I'm interested in keeping. Much more comfortable than looking down through a magnifier or binocular microscope--and vastly easier on the neck. 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing what other interesting micro-fossils you find. It's not often we get to see the micro-world of the Devonian.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shamalama]

Most likely a Calyx fragment for that mystery piece from the Kashong.  Arthrocantha's are common in the Mid-Devonian which is the age of the rock.  Likely not Taeniopora exigua either b/c the bumps are convex and not concave.

 

I'm glad you are finding some good stuff in what I sent Misha!

[Tidgy's Dad]

20 minutes ago, Shamalama said:

Most likely a Calyx fragment for that mystery piece from the Kashong.  Arthrocantha's are common in the Mid-Devonian which is the age of the rock.  Likely not Taeniopora exigua either b/c the bumps are convex and not concave.

 

I'm glad you are finding some good stuff in what I sent Misha!

Just wanted to say, I love your blog and often refer to it for help with ids. 

That brick wall is a legend. 

[Misha]

Today I got to explore the Eighteen mile creek limestone and I have a couple of pictures of finds from there:

I believe these first few are just some examples of the conodonts I found, I have been interested in these creatures for a while now and finally seeing them and looking for them is a great experience.

[Pagurus]

Thanks for sharing your finds. It's getting to be that micro-matrix time of the year.

[Misha]

These two images also have some nice conodonts, the one at the bottom is one of the sharpest I have.

[Misha]

Here are even more teeth, are the ones in the second picture the frontal tongue teeth or parts of the lip teeth?

[Misha]

The first of these pictures is another conodont, but the second two I am not sure about, are there other fish teeth that are found at this creek?

[Mediospirifer]

I have found a couple of micro shark teeth in the NELS, so fish teeth are possible. I don't have a good reference for ID, though.

 

Nice bunch of conodonts! There's a good reference NY conodonts on the USGS website (LINK). Enjoy!