Happy Fossil Hanukkah

Today marks the opening of Hanukkah or Festival of Lights which will last 8 days. As a greeting to those who celebrate this event and also enjoy paleontology, this graphic was created with some Mississippian (Carboniferous) fossils and a lot of Adobe Photoshop.  The fossils are a Fenestella bryozoan in remarkable intact 3-D form and a Pentremites blastoid.  Both specimens were found in Indian Spring formation of Crawford County, Indiana.

The picture below shows the two fossils used to create this graphic. The bryozoan was photographed under the microscope at 23x. If you found this graphic interesting, visit the blog on December 25th and see the Christmas tree graphic!

The Black Blastoid

This blastoid takes on a blackish appearance in its photos. Identified as a Pentremites from the Glen Dean Formation of Grayson County, Kentucky. It is dated to the Mississippian Period.

This area is also known for color banded blastoids. See this link for one:
https://twitter.com/Clarkeocrinus/status/478722583790370816/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Clarkeocrinus/status/365284115316088834/photo/1

Turrilites Ammonite

The Turrilites sp. ammonite fossil displayed at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (July 2011). The creature swam the Western Interior seas of the Upper Cretaceous (Mesozoic Era).  Its Carnegie museum accession number is CM 7635.

Visit the Carnegie museum web site:  http://www.carnegiemnh.org/