Fossils for Amateurs-- A Handbook for Collectors PDF
Preview Fossils for Amateurs-- A Handbook for Collectors
FOSSILS FOR AMATEURS FOSSILS FOR AMATEURS A Guide to Collecting and Preparing Invertebrate Fossils RUSSELL P. MacFALL & JAY WOLLIN We are the Ancients of the Earth, And in the morning of the times. Tennyson Van Nostrand Reinhold Company NEW YORK CINCINNATI TORONTO LONDON MELBOURNE Dedicated to all the fossils yet unfound Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Regional Offices: New York Cincinnati Chicago Millbrae Dallas Van Nostrand Reinhold Company International Offices: London Toronto Melbourne Copyright © 1972 by Litton Educational Publishing, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-149259 ISBN 0-442-25060-6 cloth 0-442-25061-4 paper All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, elec tronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or infor mation storage and retrieval systems—without written permission of the publisher. Manufactured in the United States of America. Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company 450 West 33rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10001 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 FOREWORD Some years ago, I clipped a sentence from an abstract in the program of the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, and pasted it to the bookshelf by my desk. I no longer remember who was the author of this quotation, and I don't know whether his tongue was in his cheek when he wrote: "Geologists are the most literate of all technical writers. Skilled in a descriptive science, strong on grammar, they are beautifully, even romanti cally fluent." Perhaps there is an affinity between the earth and writers—and between writers and the earth. Perhaps the thrills and pleasures of digging up clues to the history of our planet—tangible bits of the planet itself—require to be shared. This sharing can be seen on many levels. Specialists, popularizers, tyros, teachers, hobbyists: all have something to say, and all to more than one audience. Russell MacFall, for many years an editor of the Chicago Tribune, is a hobby collector of both fossils and minerals. His amateur standing with respect to the latter category was shattered two decades ago with the publication of his Gem Hunter's Guide. His amateur position in paleontology is shattered by the volume now before us. Jay Wollin, briefly a landscape designer, holds degrees in horticulture and paleobotany and currently teaches earth science at Oakton Community College in Morton Grove, Illinois. Both authors remain authentic members of the far-flung community of amateurs of paleontology; for both remain keen collectors and happy devotees of the thrill of uncovering and preserving fossils. It is to their fellow collectors that they address this book. In presenting it, the publisher has chosen well, for one could look long and far to find authors so well established in the affections of their fellows. Both have come up through the ranks of local collecting societies to the presidency of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies. EUGENE S. RICHARDSON JR. Curator, Fossil Invertebrates, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Dr. Richardson and to the Field Museum of Natural History which they can never hope to repay. Dr. Richardson read critical parts of the manuscript, masterfully extricating the authors from pitfalls of fact and phraseology into which they had blundered. The museum staff patiently gave access to fossil col lections and preparation rooms and gave freely of their own ideas. The book also owes much of its value to the close cooperation of Mrs. Betty Crawford of Mansfield, Ohio, who supplied photographs and made pencil drawings and detailed state maps for it. Dr. Dwayne Stone of Marietta College, Dr. Kenneth E. Caster of the University of Cincinnati, and Dr. Frank M. Carpenter of Harvard University generously lent photo graphs; and a number of state geological surveys supplied useful material. Hands appearing in some photographs are visual evidence of the coopera tion of Alice Wollin, Philip Olsberg, and Orville Gilpin. The manuscript was neatly retyped several times by Mrs. Diane Bowden, Miss Nadine Abicht, and Miss Beth Burgess. Photographs, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Jay Wollin and printed by Michael Gibson and Tom McCleary. Finally, the authors wish to thank the several editors of our publisher who have guided the manuscript to completion, and especially Patricia Hor- gan of New York, who has the supreme wisdom to know how and when to ask the right questions. vi CONTENTS I Treasures in the Dust 1 II The Nature of Fossils 12 The Earliest Paleontologists 12 How Fossils Are Formed 14 Miscellaneous Fossil Forms 32 III The Naming of Fossils 39 Classifying Plants and Animals 39 IV Where Fossils Occur 45 Sedimentary Rocks 46 V Time Before Time 69 Relative Time 71 Absolute Time 74 VI Where to Look for Fossils 79 Limestone Quarries 79 Shale Quarries 83 viii CONTENTS Coal Mines 86 Pits 89 Washing Plants 90 Waste Piles 91 Gravel Pits 94 Metal Mines 97 Road Cuts 99 Railroad Cuts 103 Natural Exposures 104 Other Areas 112 VII Practical Field Tripping 116 Preliminary Preparations 116 Safety Precautions in the Field 119 The Etiquette of Collecting 124 VIII Maps and How to Use Them 133 Road Maps 133 Topographic Maps 134 Geologic Maps 139 IX Preparing and Cleaning Fossils 142 Field Work 143 Cleaning at Home 148 X Special Techniques 179 Thin Sections 179 Plastic Embedment 188 Casting Fossils 192 X-Ray Examination 197 Fluorescence 199 XI Cataloging and Displaying Fossils 201 Labeling 201 Cataloging 202 Displaying 204 Photographing Fossils 209 Trading and Swapping 215 XII Microfossils 217 Conodonts 218 Ostracods 220 CONTENTS ix Foraminifera 220 Radiolarians 222 Diatoms 222 Other Microfossils 224 Collecting and Preparing Microfossils 224 XIII Fossils and their Families 231 Plants 233 Animals 246 APPENDIX 287 State Maps Showing Fossil Areas 288 Public Sources of Further Information by State 321 Dealers in Fossils 323 Recommended Books 324 INDEX 333
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