Sponge Holdfast Fossil in New Albany Shale

Conodont (on right side) with sponge holdfast fossils found in the New Albany Shale. It dates to the Upper Devonian Period. Specimen from the Barbara Conkin collection and was probably found in Clark or Floyd County, Indiana USA. Thanks to Kenny for the image. Field of view about 6 mm.

 

New Albany Shale Conodont Fossil

Conodont fossil found in the New Albany Shale. It dates to the Upper Devonian Period. Specimen from the Barbara Conkin collection and was probably found in Clark or Floyd County, Indiana USA. Thanks to Kenny for the image. Field of view about 3mm.

 

Unidentified Conodont Fossils

Conodont fossils found near Brookville Lake, Franklin County, Indiana USA and Waynesville Formation dates to the Ordovician Period. Images have a field of view is 1 mm.

Thanks to Kenny for the images

 

New Albany Shale Conodonts

 

 

Here are two freshly found conodont fossils in the New Albany Shale (Late Devonian Period). The first appears to be some sort of Spathognathodus sp. (Branson and Mehl, 1941). The second appears to be of the genus Elictognathus (Cooper, 1939). Both were found on a shale plate about 4 cm by 4 cm. Field of view for images was about 1 mm. Specimens were collected in Floyd County, Indiana, USA. Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 41, Conodonts from the Jacob Chapel Bed (Mississippian) of the New Albany Shale in Southern Indiana by Carl B. Rexford (1969) was used for the identification of these fossils.

Icriodus Conodont Fossil

This microfossil appears to be an Icriodus sp. conodont. The field of view (FOV) is about 1 mm. It dates to the Devonian Period. The fossil was found in the Beechwood Limestone of Clark County, Indiana USA.

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Conodont Microfossil Polygnathus longiposticus

This image shows what appears to be a Polygnathus longiposticus conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Spathognathodus sp. Conodont Microfossil

This image shows what appears to be a Spathognathodus sp. conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Spathognathodus crassidentatus Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be a Spathognathodus crassidentatus conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Conodont Spathognathodus macer Fossil

This image shows what appears to be a Spathognathodus macer conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Ozarkodina Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be an Ozarkodina conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Spathognathodus macer Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be a Spathognathodus macer conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Ozarkodina Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be an Ozarkodina conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Lonchodina Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be a Lonchodina conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Polygnathus lobatus Conodont Fossil

This image shows what appears to be a Polygnathus lobatus conodont fossil. This creature existed in the Mississippian Period. Fossil was found in the Jacob Chapel Shale of Clark County Indiana USA.

Source for ID is Conodonts of the Jacobs Chapel Shale by Carl B. Rexroad, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 41 (published Bloomington Indiana 1969).

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Polygnathus Conodont Fossil

Here is a picture of a recently found conodont fossil fragment. It appears to be a Polygnathus sp. The fossil was found in the Jacobs Chapel Shale of Clark County, Indiana, USA which dates to the Mississippian Period.

Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Bryantodus mundus Conodont Fossil

Here is a picture of a recently found conodont fossil fragment. It appears to be a Bryantodus mundus. The fossil was found in the Jacobs Chapel Shale of Clark County, Indiana, USA which dates to the Mississippian Period.

Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Siphonodella duplicata Conodont Fossil

Here is a picture of a recently found conodont fossil. It appears to be a Siphonodella duplicata. The fossil was found in the Jacobs Chapel Shale of Clark County, Indiana, USA which dates to the Mississippian Period.

Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Icriodus expansus? Conodont Fossil

Here is a freshly discovered conodont fossil found in the Beechwood Limestone of Clark County, Indiana. It is Middle Devonian Period in age. It appears to be an Icriodus expansus? conodont fossil.

Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Calcium Acetate or the Lemon Meringue Pie Effect

A while back I was working with some North Evans Limestone samples looking for conodont fossils. Dave at Views of the Mahantango blog had left me with some specimens to work with. He told me to dissolve the pieces in vinegar and then look for small fossils.  This worked (see pictures at bottom of post) and afterwards I left the samples in the sun room where I do most of my photography and microscope work.

Several weeks passed when I noticed something interesting in the container, formations of white crystals were forming. As it turns out a chemical reaction was taking place, one in which the limestone samples (calcium carbonate) were interacting with the vinegar (acetic acid) to form water, carbon dioxide, and calcium acetate (calcium salt). The carbon dioxide floated off into the atmosphere, the water eventually evaporated, which just left the limestone and crystallized calcium acetate.

Limestone + Vinegar =  Calcium Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide

CaCO₃ + 2CH₃COOH = Ca(CH₃COO)₂ + H₂O + CO₂

The calcium acetate formed a texture and color that reminded me of the layer of meringue that one finds on lemon pies.

Lemon Meringue Pie - photo by Renee Comet (1994) - wikipedia.org

The last three pictures are of some Devonian Period conodont fossils I found in the limestone. Not sure of their names but if I had to guess maybe a Prioniodus sp. Learn more at the web site of North Evans Limestone fossils found at Penn-Dixie Cement Quarry in Hamburg, New York.

Icriodus Conodont Fossil

This fossil appears to be an Icriodus angustus? conodont found in either the upper Devonian New Albany Shale or Middle Devonian Beechwood Limestone of Clark County, Indiana.

Conodonts have been found in the southern Indiana for a while. In 1938, a new species found at the Falls of the Ohio was named Icriodus latericrescens by E.G. Branson and M.G. Mehl

While doing some conodont research, I came across an article about a researcher at the University of Houston named Glen Merrill.  Dr. Merrill is a professor of Natural Sciences and has been publishing papers for over 50 years. His laboratory has collection approximately 750,000 conodonts. The article states that "Each conodont animal had seven kinds of elements that were surrounded by soft tissues and grew layer on layer."

Another item gleaned from the article is that the fossils change color when exposed to heat. From amber they go to brown, grey or black and eventually opaque and then vaporize. Oil companies became interested in this property as they found gas/oil in layers that had been heated and these fossils could be studied as thermal markers.

Read this informative article entitled UHD's Award Winning Faculty Series: Meet Glen Merrill from June 23, 2011 at the University of Houston Downtown web site: http://uhdnews.uhd.edu/news/stories.aspx?articleid=245&zoneid=1