I have spent countless hours investigating roadcuts, streambanks, and outcrops for fossils. The vast majority of the time, I am not successful. Experienced fossil collectors know that many rocks are barren of fossils, especially in early Paleozoic sediments. Many sedimentary rocks are just vast sequences of shale, sand, and limestone. Whatever lived in the seas or on the seafloor did not always become part of the rock.
If you want to find fossils, you must look in rock sequences conducive to hosting life and preserving fossils. Thick beds of shale, sandstone, and limestone often did not have the right conditions. Shales formed from vast deposits of mud, and sandstones can sometimes represent rapid deposition from alluvial fans or river deltas that could not preserve animal bodies. Limestones, especially early Paleozoic limestones, at times formed from solely chemical precipitates and carbonate mud and often do not have visible fossils.
However, a significant feature that you may encounter in otherwise barren shales, sandstones, and limestones is an ancient coral reef. Coral reefs formed in relatively warm shallow waters and were often full of life. A fossil coral reef is virtually guaranteed to have fossils.
HUNTING FOR CORAL REEF FOSSILS
While coral reefs were undoubtedly extensive, they can often be hard to find, as they are only visible where sections with the reef components are exposed. These exposures may be in roadcuts, stream beds, cliff sides, or in quarries. The reef’s presence is often indicated by the remnant structure of corals and other materials that formed the reef.
This story is from the October 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
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This story is from the October 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
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