Unknown Kope Formation Fossils

Is this some sort of tooth or a spine?  While investing the trace fossil I presented in the post a few days ago with the microscope, I noticed this brown-amber colored object.  My cousin suggested it might be part of a conodont. Rock plate was found in Carroll County, Kentucky in the Kope Formation of the Ordovician Period.  All images on this page are at 40x magnification with a microscope.

This last fossil might be some sort of coral.  I magnified thinking it might be a bryozoan that are common in the area but the pores look too big.

Gas Exploration in New Albany Shale

 New Albany Shale Pyrite Polished

Iridescent pyrite magnified 40x

Clark County, Indiana

An article in the Evansville Courier & Press from March 6, 2010, talks about a Louisiana exploration company looking to lease land in Illinois.  They are attempting to drill 5,000 feet (1500 m) into the New Albany Shale to find natural gas.  The article states they need at least 640 acres (2.5 km ^ 2) and will pay $6 an acre a year.  Test drilling to hopefully begin by 2011.  Another item I learned is that it is sometimes referred to as the Devonian Shale.

UPDATE (07/04/2010): A while back HBO was shown on Dish Network for FREE and one movie that the DVR saved was Gasland.  If you plan on selling mineral rights to your land and have to use well water, it would be a good idea to view this movie.  The website is here.  In addition, one should read a rebuttal at the Energy In Depth web site that refutes some items in the film.  After seeing the film and reading the web site you then need to decide what to believe by two groups promoting their own agendas.  The country needs the energy sources but it appears we need cleaner methods of extraction that are economically viable.

 New Albany Shale Pyrite Polished

Pyrite magnified 40x

Clark County, Indiana

I guess that would explain why I saw a gas slick in the water container I was using to polish the New Albany Shale pyrite the other day.  Of course, the shale we find here is not 5,000 feet (1500 m) down. but very close to the surface. Looking at one of the guides produced by the University of Louisville, the shale is dated to the Late Devonian Period.  It is Blocher and Selmier Members.  When cutting the specimen in the 2nd image the water in the saw tray turned black-dark gray and smelled like a sewer!  Some of these pyrite samples can really stink when they are sawed (sulfur?).  The first pyrite specimen was more of light gray water color.  Definitely different chemical compositions/concentrations in the layers of New Albany Shale.

 New Albany Shale

Clark County, Indiana

One other surprise is the level of thoughtful comments on the newspaper web site.  I did not realize all that went into lease agreements for mineral rights.

 Magnified Coalified Fossil Wood

Devonian Period

New Albany Shale - Clark County, Indiana

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! This picture is of an Easter egg I created with the help of my nephews while trying to demonstrate to them how to make a multi-colored egg.

Looking at this egg, reminds one of the age old conundrum, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?"  Well, this link goes to the Live Science website with a story entitled, "Which Came First? Eggs Before Chickens, Scientists Now Say" by Jeanna Bryner.  It discusses the research of Francois Therrien, curator of dinosaur paleoecology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada and Darla Zelenitsky, a paleontologist of the University of Calgary in Alberta.  They studied a fossilized nest of eggs of small theropods.

Picture of an Easter lily growing in our flower garden in Louisville, Kentucky in a past growing season.