The Inner Atrypa

Above is a diagram of a North African Atrypa reticularis from the Middle Devonian Period.  It is on display at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.

This next image is of both sides of a Pseudoatrypa found in the Jeffersonville Limestone of Clark County, Indiana. 

This last picture is another example of the Pseudoatrypa from the same locality though in a little rougher shape.

SEM of Cornulites

In early March 2010 I sent a number of samples to ASPEX Corporation to be imaged with a Personal Scanning Electron Microscope (PSEM).  It was part of their free scanning promotion talked about in this February 26, 2010 post. One item sent was Cornulites tube from the Ordovician Period.  The fossil was found in the Kope Formation of Carroll County, Kentucky.  Yesterday, I received the results which I now present in this posting.

Binyam of ASPEX Corporation was the analyst and report preparer. He used the PSEM eXplorer (image below) to analyze this fossil (above).  A manual SEM and EDX Analysis was done using Backscatter electron detector (BSED) to collect images under variable pressure conditions (0.15 Torr) and 20 KeV. 

Here is a SEM image with 200 um scale of the area between multiple growth rings.

A even more close up view provided by this image at 100 um scale.  Yikes, I need to clean these fossils better!

Thanks to ASPEX for doing this analysis and imaging!  Visit this weblink for more information about their promotion.

Waldron Shale Fossils

Atrypa newsomensis brachiopod fossil found in Waldron Shale of Clark County. It existed in the Silurian Period.

Unknown holdfast of probably a crinoid.

My favorite cephalopod the Dawsonoceras sp. found in Silurian Period rock.  This one appears to be crushed and the growth lines are not easy to see.

A fragment of the Eucalyptocrinites crassus crinoid calyx that was probably over 2 cm in width when in intact.

Next four pictures are of the Atrypa sp. brachiopods fossils.

Eospirifer eudora brachiopod fossils that existed in the Middle Silurian Period.

Leptaena waldonensis that existed in the Silurian Period.

These horn corals appear to be Metriophyllidae.

Stegerhynchus whitii? found in the Middle Silurian Period.

While I was photographing fossils I started hearing the birds start chattering like crazy.  So I thought where is the cat stalking around making them so nervous.  As it turns out a raptor landed on the corner of roof and it eventually flew off.  All I got was the silhouette.