Fern Fossil Plate

This fossil plate contains the remains of plants found at the famous St. Clair, Pennsylvania site.  This plate was collected in the early 1970s from the Llewellyn Formation.  The fossil dates to the Late Carboniferous or Pennsylvanian Period (about 310 million years ago). 

The collection this fossil was apart of is now being sold off.  If you are interested in buying check it out on eBay LINK HERE.

Fluorescent Mineral Video

UPDATE (November 2013): The web sites seems to have changed the location of the embedded video here is a link if above does not work: http://sciencefriday.com/blogs/10/24/2011/mineral-madness.html
Science Friday on NPR posted a very informative yet brief video about the minerals at Franklin, New Jersey. When it comes to shortwave ultraviolet fluorescent minerals, it is hard to top those found in Franklin/Sterling Hill, New Jersey. It is fun taking pictures of these minerals when lit up with ultraviolet light.

CLICK HERE for link to The Franklin Mineral Museum

CLICK HERE for link to The Sterling Hill Mining Museum

Here are some more pictures of a friend's mineral from that area. It is for sale if any one is interested.  Note you need a shortwave ultraviolet light to view the fluorescent colors.

Brown Puff Ball Fossil

Not sure what this is, thought it might be some sort of crinoid calyx but cannot find where the stem attached.  Reminds me of a brownish dinner roll or slightly deflated doughnut hole.  It is about 2 cm wide and 1 cm tall embedded in matrix with a lot of Cryptolithus trilobite pieces.  The brown material might be argonite.  Matrix is the Kope Formation of the Ordovician period found in Carroll County, Kentucky.

Also included is a picture of a fragment of an Ambonychia clam fossil located on the same matrix block as this mystery fossil.