Pyrite disease! The pyrite oxidizes in humid air, converting to a mineral that takes up much more volume. If the pyrite is incorporated into the fossil matrix, that expansion causes the fossil to crumble.
I posted some snaps here when I first pulled them out of the ground of this batch. I haven’t polished the resin yet on most of the encased ones, but I’ll post a snap after my phone charges a little bit. I have some fossils that turned into clay, ancient wood fragments and belemnites in there too. All are from the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.
You can see what happens when the wood gets exposed on the little black one. The big guy is clay.
One that’s mostly polished up:
I am saving these for teaching tools. They were collected with help from a good friend of mine that does palaeontology. My research is only Holocene lol.
Hmm… Is it because fossils are undoubtedly damaged due to the conditions for making pyrite? Something something intrusion?
Pyrite disease! The pyrite oxidizes in humid air, converting to a mineral that takes up much more volume. If the pyrite is incorporated into the fossil matrix, that expansion causes the fossil to crumble.
They will decay within 2 years after hitting oxygen. Solution: Encase them in resin. Source: What I did with these pyrite fossils on my desk.
pics or it didn’t happen! (I just want rock photos fr)
I posted some snaps here when I first pulled them out of the ground of this batch. I haven’t polished the resin yet on most of the encased ones, but I’ll post a snap after my phone charges a little bit. I have some fossils that turned into clay, ancient wood fragments and belemnites in there too. All are from the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.
You can see what happens when the wood gets exposed on the little black one. The big guy is clay.
One that’s mostly polished up:
I am saving these for teaching tools. They were collected with help from a good friend of mine that does palaeontology. My research is only Holocene lol.