Sunday, May 5, 2013

Strophodonta Brachiopod from Wisconsin



This is an updated posting of a fossil I have already listed. It is a Strophodonta brachiopod fossil found in the Milwaukee Formation of Wisconsin. It is from the Middle Devonian Period.

The fossil has now been cleaned to reveal more of its detail including a coral colony (possibly some sort of Aulopora). The matrix was a little stubborn and it took some time to remove it. I think the canister was refilled three times before I finished working on it. Some the fossil may have been removed by me exposing the surface too long to the sand stream. As you can see from the image below the matrix is a light gray while the fossil is a dark blue-gray color.


Here are some close up images of the coral colony. They were photographed wet since it tends to reveal more of the coral detail.




Thanks to Nathan for this fossil and Kenny for letting me use his sand blasting apparatus.