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Post by pghram on Feb 3, 2014 19:40:55 GMT -5
That is an amazing fossil, great find.
Rich
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Post by drocknut on Feb 3, 2014 19:47:13 GMT -5
LOL foxtail maybe that was mine but I let Jean keep it and say it was hers hmmmm, did you think of that? I can't claim that though because she was the one who found it plus I don't really care much for fossils. It is pretty cool though. Jean I'll stick with my crummy blue rock and you can keep your crummy old fossil..lol...yours is cool but mine is prettier, so there Woody, missed you and Big Red this year so definitely hope you can make it to Brenda next year.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,600
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Post by Mark K on Feb 3, 2014 21:41:15 GMT -5
LOL, I wish I had missed the whole game. I did. Never cared. Did not care. Never would have cared. Never will care. Football sucks.
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Post by drocknut on Feb 4, 2014 11:23:15 GMT -5
Ok foxtail tell us what you really think....LOL.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,600
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Post by Mark K on Feb 4, 2014 17:04:34 GMT -5
Nope.
I try to be more mild mannered on this forum.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 4, 2014 17:36:23 GMT -5
That fossil fish is unfreakinglybelievable. That needs to be taken to a museum as it is undoubtedly extremely rare....Mel Mel, I did just that - took it to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Forgot that the museums in Balboa Park offer free admission to locals on the first Tuesday of the month... Finding a parking spot for the big truck was a chore, but managed to find one after a little bit. I was already there, wasn't going to come back another day.
I went to the front desk, and showed them what I had found. They called upstairs to the paleo dept and had someone come down (I've done this before). He was impressed with the fossil enough that he took me upstairs, into the backrooms where the work goes on, and we looked at it through a micro-stereoscope. Several other people came and took a look at it as well. A flat 2D picture does not do it justice! Through the scope, you could actually see the scales as well as the bones. He thought (as I do) that there is more of the fossil that is covered and could be exposed. He thought it was a really great find, and worthy of a museum collection.
Now, as exciting as all that is, the local museum is only interested in fossils found in San Diego county, pretty much. They do not have anyone here that has researched or is familiar with AZ rocks or fossils. He suggested next time I am out that way, to find a museum out there (near Brenda, AZ - maybe Tucson would have the closest one?) and show it to them. He said that it is so special that they would probably try to talk me out of it, into donating it to their museum. I'd be okay with that, if they could learn something from it (and share that with info with me).
So definitely a fish. He said the rock certainly looked volcanic, but suggested it was metamorphic, due to the bending of the layers in the rock.
I'll see if I can't get some better pics, and post them on fossil forum as well, see what they all think. Maybe I can do some online research into what museum may be interested in acquiring it.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,600
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Post by Mark K on Feb 4, 2014 18:53:35 GMT -5
I would bet that if you give it to a museum, it goes in a drawer and never sees the light of day until a scientist studying our culture unearths it in the rubble of the museum.
If it was not discovered by them or found in situ, I bet they would politely take it and toss it like they do with many things donated to museums. (I have heard a few behind the scenes stories about museums and finds)
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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 4, 2014 20:57:24 GMT -5
I would bet that if you give it to a museum, it goes in a drawer and never sees the light of day until a scientist studying our culture unearths it in the rubble of the museum. If it was not discovered by them or found in situ, I bet they would politely take it and toss it like they do with many things donated to museums. (I have heard a few behind the scenes stories about museums and finds) Foxtail, that sounds just a little bit pessimistic, but you're probably right. DH said the same thing. I think he just wants to be sure it stays here. Not that it's up to him, since I found it, lol!
It would be neat to just get more info on the fossil, maybe a better estimate on the age, how it formed, what type of fish. I would hope that if a museum would like to have it, they wouldn't just toss it.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,600
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Post by Mark K on Feb 4, 2014 21:40:13 GMT -5
I have heard of many times where something which has no location history gets tossed in the river or tossed in the trash so no one can "pollute" the ( I forget the phraseology). Stuff found in a river or other places where it could have moved are supposedly often disposed of because they have no scientific value. I think this is asinine, but they do it.
I wish it was pessimistic, but it is sadly supposedly true.
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Post by nowyo on Feb 5, 2014 2:14:07 GMT -5
Jean, that is great that you took that fossil over to the museum. I didn't even think about it until we were on the way home but I had a 10x loupe in the truck, we could have had a better look at it in the field although not as good as you got with a stereo microscope. The AZ geologic folks would most likely be interested in seeing it.
Foxtail is being a little pessimistic, although I do know of such things happening. You have gps data on where you found it, correct? And a bunch of witnesses. Hence, the specimen has provenance, and may well turn out to be a significant find. As cool as Diane's blue chunk of stone is, that fish may turn out to be the coolest thing found. While it may not have much monetary value, it may have scientific value. Post your pictures on the fossil forum (I'm actually a member there, although I haven't been very active in a while) and see what some of those folks have to say. Personally, I think the folding was due to tectonic activity rather than metamorphism due to the exposed rocks in the area. I wouldn't turn over possession without checking with the AZ folks just because it's a heck of a neat find.
Russ
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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 5, 2014 10:10:59 GMT -5
... You have gps data on where you found it, correct? And a bunch of witnesses. Hence, the specimen has provenance, and may well turn out to be a significant find. As cool as Diane's blue chunk of stone is, that fish may turn out to be the coolest thing found. While it may not have much monetary value, it may have scientific value. Post your pictures on the fossil forum (I'm actually a member there, although I haven't been very active in a while) and see what some of those folks have to say. Personally, I think the folding was due to tectonic activity rather than metamorphism due to the exposed rocks in the area. I wouldn't turn over possession without checking with the AZ folks just because it's a heck of a neat find. Russ Thanks, Russ. Yes, I have GPS coords for the find - well, within ten feet, anyway. I can pretty much pick out the spot on ACME Mapper link. As for witnesses, your wife Cindy was the first person I showed it to. And that was before I lost it then found it again, lol. After that, I quickly showed it to Diane and to Jim, so I had more witnesses.
I'm going to take the time today to get some better pics, and will post on the fossil forum. I'm also a member there (fossilpicker), although have not been active there much lately (this place sucks up enough of my time!). I'll post the new and improved pics here, too.
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Post by drocknut on Feb 5, 2014 16:44:00 GMT -5
Oh yeah, Jean, upstaging my pretty blue rock with your old dead fish rock I think you found that just because you wanted to outdo me...lol. Seriously I am glad you found it and that you took it to the museum. I'm not sure about any museums near Brenda (you do remember how small Brenda is don't you?) although there is a small museum in Quartzsite though more geared to gold mining and pioneer history as far as I know. There used to be a gem and mineral museum in Phoenix but it is closed. There is an Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa. I don't know about Tuscon but maybe. The museum in Mesa says they do active field research and I'd wonder if they caught wind of your find if they would move to get a dig started in Brenda and close off the area to hounding. It would be neat to get more information on the formation, etc... You can always tell the museum people the "Brenda Rule" is "Finder's keepers"...lol.
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Post by 1dave on Feb 5, 2014 18:28:14 GMT -5
Back in 2003 the museum in Deming NM got a new director that took a dislike to the Geode Kid. Luckily he had a lawyer draw up the agreement between him and the museum so he had control, but she wanted to pitch out all of his stuff.
There was a case back east where a new college president ordered the entire mineral collection dumped out for road gravel. "If I don't like it, how could anybody else?"
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otroo
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2014
Posts: 5
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Post by otroo on Feb 6, 2014 9:45:15 GMT -5
Our intrepid RTH rockhounds stealing road gravel. It was somewhere along here that Diane threw a flying cross-body block on Jim and grabbed that rock. Since my foot found the second piece, I guess I have dibs on it, eh? Great bunch of folks, had a really good time, saw some neat country and found some cool rocks. Russ, thanks for adding your pics. It was exactly there that the rock was found!
We also enjoyed meeting new people, such as you and Cindy, and had a really great time.
To those of you that missed out, it's never to early to start planning on going next year...
It isn't her sense of direction, it is the fact that she is just plain magical. She and I went out into the area by Brenda and we headed east. When we came out, we were coming from the west, on the other side of the road. Either that or she had ether, a rag, and a really weird sense of humor. That's funny, foxtail! We are talking about Diane, right? Actually, she does have a really weird sense of humor, so you might not be far off the mark on what happened!
I don't understand how you could have gone behind the town of Brenda and headed east, though. It seems all the roads from the end of Perry Lane go either west, northwest or north. Maybe you share Diane's marginal sense of direction? Don't matter too much out there, as you had said, there is more material out there than anyone could ever need. Driving down the road, I just look out the window until I see a spot full of shiny rocks! Since we were leading the pack, it was easy to just pull over and park. I get GPS coordinates on all the good locations...
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