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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Random hash plates from the Silica Shale

The megafauna of the Silica shale gets all the attention when I'm looking for fossils in the field. When I'm at a site I've been consciously trying to pick up pieces of the bedrock to bring back a study. One reason is to better understand the paleo-environment that the animals lived in and another is to search for smaller members of the community. These plates are often referred to as "Hash" plates in an effort to describe the large quantity of shelly debris that is often present. Presented for your viewing pleasure are three small matrix pieces. While the pictures are not of the best quality, see if you can pick out the following fossils:

Tentaculites
Hyolites
Phacops rana
Chonetes
Ostracods
Crinoid stem segments
Sulcoretipora
Bryozoans





2 comments:

  1. So beautiful and fossiliferous! Did you prep them at all?

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  2. Nope! No Prep needed on these pieces. The natural weathering of the soft calcareous shale exposes the Calcified and pyritized fossils readily.

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