A visit to the Late Carboniferous



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A Test on Silurian Corals Stained with Alizarin Red S

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I've been slicing up Silurian corals in order to experiment with some histological carbonate staining techniques and analysis, mostly just to have fun following crystal diagenesis, observe morphological changes through coral life/death, mineralogy, etc.. I still have a lot of learning and work to do. This is just a first test using Alizarin Red S diluted with hydrochloric acid. For photos, I used my old Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP. Favosites sp. with Alizarin Red staining. Bridgeport Quarry, Chicago, IL Zoom I need to fix lighting! Above is an unknown specimen found at Hawthorne Quarry, Cicero, IL. It could be Alveolites sp or possibly a Chaetitid sponge. Above is another Favosites slice from the same coral, vertical slice. from Bridgeport showing corallites. Dolomite slice with echinoderm skeletal fragments. From Hawthorne. Zoom Mostly need to figure out a different lighting set up and timing of staining. These were all stained at the sa...
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Silurian in Indiana

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A couple weeks ago I made a drive east to check out some Silurian coral reefs in Indiana. I had about 5 different localities mapped out, however I was only able to collect at one because of No Trespassing posts. One interesting spot was a cemetery on a hill. Walk through the cemetery and on the other side is a river exposing Silurian rocks. I did not collect any fossils from this location as the rocks were partially submerged in water. Instead, I admired some of the old grave markers. I spent the most time at a small roadcut slicing through a coral reef. You can see the core of the reef clearly from this google earth shot. I collected mostly from the northeast side of the core. Here are some examples: Unknown Mollusk Platyceras Sphaerexochus romingeri Syringipora sp.
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Hawthorne Quarry, Part Two

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Early one January morning, I returned to Hawthorne. As I descended the hill to the frontage road, a couple of the men from the encampment appeared to be on their way to work. I decided to enter the homeless camp to see if I could find any promising looking rocks on the other side. There was a woman standing under a tarp. It was raining and getting colder. I gave her a few bucks. I didn't really want to bother her. I went about looking for fossiliferous rocks. Cement blocks, bricks and weird conglomerate deceptively weathered appearing as reef material. I didn't find much. Lots of trash, hundreds of malt liquor bottles everywhere. There was even a bed made out of bottles and cardboard. Eventually, I did find this one rock next to a bottle of King Cobra. I had to pry it out of the mud with a crobar and lug it back to my car. When I got home, I noticed a Calymene impression on the outside of the rock. When I split it open there was a large Bumastus   cephalon insid...
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