Salem Limestone Microfossils

Images for this post are microfossils from Washington County, Indiana that exist in the Salem Limestone.  This first fossil is worm called Spirorbis annulatus.  The drawing below is of one from Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources 13th Annual Report by W.S. Blatchley, 1905.  Can be found on Google Books HERE.

Images were taken with an Intel QX3 microscope which has three settings 10x, 60x and 200x.  This device is somewhat old so its resolution is 512 pixels wide and there is quite a bit of noise at 200x magnification.  It also has plastic lens so not the greatest but I got it for $50 years ago so not a bad deal.

This next fossil is what Salem Limestone is famous for... the foraminifera.  This one is called Endothyra baileyi (at least in the 1905 Indiana Geology Report).  This first image is of a set of drawings from that report.

 This next picture is one I took at 60x magnification.  I have found maybe 30 so far after looking about a measuring cup worth of sand material.

These next set of 1905 drawings are the gastropod Solenospira vermicula, S. turritella, and S. attenuata. 

I am not sure which species this gastropod is so I will just call it Solenospira sp.

This last image is of an elliptical crinoid stem piece that reminds me of a Platycrinites.  I found 3 so far.

Thanks to Herb for the Salem Limestone sand to study.

Silurian Atrypa Brachiopod

Brachiopod fossil found yesterday in the Waldron Shale in Clark County, Indiana.  It appears to be some sort of Atrypa brachiopod.  This post originally labeled it a Homoeospira evax (Hall) using the Indiana State Museum as an identification.  Note the Waldron Shale was formerly the Niagara Group.  This creature existed in the Silurian Period.

 

Here is a link to the Indiana State Museum collections showing a Silurian brachiopod.
http://museumcollections.in.gov/detail.php?record=0&v=2&s=Indiana%2C+Shelby+County%2C+Waldron&type=browse&t=objects&f=place_made&d=

Mississippian Period Foraminifera

This fossil is a foraminifera from the Salem Limestone of Indiana.  It was found in Washington County, Indiana.  The little creature existed in the Mississippian Period.  I believe this is my first microfossil posted since I tend not to look for these animals.  After finding a binocular microscope to use, I searched through some cleaned sand that my friend Herb gave me.  With a vague idea of looking for a multi-segmented bubbly looking rolled up worm shape, I found about nine fossils in about 45 minutes.

Reading about this limestone layer ahead of time gave me the impression that it had a lot of micro fossils.  It lived up to its billing with fragments of bryozoans, small snail shells, spine looking shapes, and crinoid discs were among the fossils I visually encountered.  According to my research, the fossils pictured might be an Endothryra baileyi or Globoendothyra baileyi.

The pictures were taken through the microscope viewing lens using a 4 megapixel Kodak camera set to macro mode.  Forgive the picture quality.  I believe the microscope magnification was set between 20x-30x.

The last three pictures were taken at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis.  They are specifically from the Mississippian Period display which is describing fossils in the Salem Limestone.

 

A model of one of these micro-sized fossils.

 

Learn more about these tiny creatures at the German website www.foraminifera.eu run by Michael Hesemann.  If you can, help him out by sending fossil samples for him to photograph and document.