Ambonychia Pelecypod Fossil with Bryozoan

This fossil appears to be an Ambonychia clam fossil with both valves. It is has quite a bit of matrix covering detailed parts. The clam fossil has a colony of cyclostome bryozoan (see this web site image or called ctenostome type on this web site).

The fossil still needs to be cleaned to see if more shell and bryozoan detail can be revealed. It is rare for me to find clams with both valves intact so this was a happy discovery.

The fossil was found in the Kope Formation of Carroll County, Kentucky, USA. These creatures existed in the Ordovician Period.

Michigan's State Stone - Petoskey

Here are some pictures of Michigan's state stone Hexagonaria polished coral (aka Petoskey stone). It was named their state stone in 1965 by Govenor George Romney while their state fossil is the mastondon (Mammut americanum).

The Hexagonaria coral is from the Devonian Period and quite attractive when polished. According to Wikipedia.org they are found in Gravel Point Formation of the Traverse Group of Michigan, USA. The stones are named after an Ottawa Chief Pet-O-Sega (Petosegay) whose land the stones were found on.

Thanks to Vic for the fossil specimens.

Learn more at the Wikipedia.org entry on Petoskey stones.

Smithsonian X 3D Beta Web Site

I am excited to see this web site created by the United States premier museum. Museum collections tend to be vast and hard to show to the general public. So many specimens are kept in storage and probably hardly seen even by researchers and curators.  3D technology and the Internet have a way of unlocking these collections for a large segment of the population to share in the wonders of all these artifacts. Go to their web site at http://3d.si.edu/ to check it out! As of this writing they have 20 models to view including 3 whale fossils and a mammoth.

In order to view the Smithsonian X 3D Beta site your browser needs to support WebGL. As of this writing Google Chrome (version 30+) and Firefox (version 24+) can be used. Internet Explorer 11 when released should work. Apple Safari needs to have its default setting change to Enable WebGL. Apple iOS does not support WebGL right now.

The interface is smooth and rotation allowed with 3 axis rotation. It says powered by Autodesk and the software reminds me of using the Autodesk Maya program.

Below are some links to their YouTube videos describing the system.