Pyrite Stegerhynchus Brachiopods

While this brachiopod is common in the Waldron Shale, these in pyrite form are rare. Field of view of the microscope is about 8 mm.  Internally, the fossil is calcite which is covered in a thin layer of pyrite.

Fardenia subplana? Brachiopod

This fossil was an interesting find in that is both sides of what I think is a Fardenia subplana brachiopod.  Usually, they are just found with one side of the shell. The big surprise was when it was put under the microscope.  Magnification revealed that some of the plications had fossilized as pyrite.  The pyrite section almost looks like little Tentaculites. if they only were conical and not cylindrical.

Marcasite or Pyrite Blastoid

This is a very interesting fossil. The fossil shown here is a paratype of the blastoid Orbitremites kentuckiensis.  This fossil is one of two left in the personal collection of Dr. James Conkin who named it.  The holotypes are stored at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM PAL 127316): CLICK HERE TO SEE.   The Smithsonian has imaged these specimens in their database.

The larger blastoid was profiled in an earlier blog posting that can be read here:  http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2011/10/orbitremites-kentuckiensis-blastoid.html

The scale in the next image is in inches so the fossil is about a half an inch wide.

Bottom of blastoid can be seen in the last image.  It appears to have green modeling clay on it.