Graphtolite fossils in slate

[user 4386]

You might look at the book "Geology of Victoria" 2002? edition (not earlier editions) - editor W. Birch

 

[Hunting the yellow]

mick I've got some info on the Graptolite fossils if your interested ? ill scan them out of my old mining mags

No worries,fire away mate

pm sent

 

[Mick Cov]

Here is a very small trilobite (thorax section)
Im still looking to find a complete specimen.
This was found in Kilmore,Victoria.

 

[Hunting the yellow]

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

 

[Mick Cov]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

Nice find :Y:

 

[Mick Cov]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

It goes to show that if you split the rock in the right place you find the fossil...
A couple of mm either side of it and you miss it!

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

It goes to show that if you split the rock in the right place you find the fossil...
A couple of mm either side of it and you miss it!

Fortunately that is usually because fossils lie on bedding planes (old sea or lake floors that they settled on), and many rocks split most easily along those planes

 

[Hunting the yellow]

I'm no expert, but I would not have thought that slate would be the right rock to explore for trilobites

sometimes yes in victoria but mostly found in siltstone or mudstone witch is a crumbly type of rock and subjected to cracking in the heat and cold.

 

[Hunting the yellow]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

It goes to show that if you split the rock in the right place you find the fossil...
A couple of mm either side of it and you miss it!

quite right there

 

[Hunting the yellow]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

It goes to show that if you split the rock in the right place you find the fossil...
A couple of mm either side of it and you miss it!

Fortunately that is usually because fossils lie on bedding planes (old sea or lake floors that they settled on), and many rocks split most easily along those planes

cleavage planes of the strata yes.

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/68/1531670599_p1040058_-_copy.jpg

starfish not well developed/formed I find better ones in certain beds.

It goes to show that if you split the rock in the right place you find the fossil...
A couple of mm either side of it and you miss it!

Fortunately that is usually because fossils lie on bedding planes (old sea or lake floors that they settled on), and many rocks split most easily along those planes

cleavage planes of the strata yes.

Cleavage and bedding are different things - cleavage forms during later folding. Unfortunately cleavage is often not parallel to bedding, so you need to find where they are parallel. Cleavage is best developed in slates, and in Victoria the folding is so tight that one can find plenty of places where cleavage and bedding are parallel. Cleavage is usually far weaker in coarser grained sedimentary rocks such as siltstones and sandstones, and they more often break along the bedding.

 

[Milz82]

Have been very successful finding graptolites in Bullengarook between Baccus Marsh and Gisbiorne. Turn right off Coffey Rd and a track down to a stream with some tunnel diggings into slate. Cheers, Mick.