Strange clear fibers on ammonite fossils

[Astrid]

Hello!

 

A year ago I collected some really nice pyritised ammonite fossils from Lyme Regis (UK), washed them when I got home and put them in a tin to try and keep them from oxidising. I've just opened it and some of them are growing some rather weird clear fibers and I cannot find any information about what on earth it might be and what I can do about it (if anything). It looks like a weird sort of thin plastic thread mould but they're definitely coming out of the fossils. I've attached a couple of pictures to illustrate. 

 

Any thoughts or advice?

 

Thanks!

 

Astrid

 

Edited April 1, 2017 by Astrid
One of the pictures turned out rather blurry!

[Kane]

Oh no!

 

Do a forum search for "pyrite disease." You'll find a list of symptoms and preservation tips.

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.  

 

Unfortunately, as Kane mentioned, it might be the beginning of Pyrite Disease.  

The Forum has many topics on this. 

Keeping them in an airtight container with dessicant  helps, but some people try to coat their pyrite fossils in some sort of consolidant. 

 

Here is the search. 

All you have to do is look through the 5 pages it came up with.  

Good luck. 

 

[Astrid]

Hi both,

 

Thank you so much!! I did wonder if it was pyrite decay but all the images I found on the internet looked like rusty powder, so I was getting a little concerned that mine looked more like there was some kind of weird growth coming out of them! (especially with the results that come up when you google clear fiber growth on fossils - which was a mistake!)

 

I guess I better separate them from the other specimens asap and then work out whether they can be saved or to concentrate on the others. Do either of you have any experience of what stage of decay this is and whether it's early enough to save them?

 

Thank you!!

 

Astrid

[Kane]

I haven't experienced that yet (knock on wood!). There are a number of methods to delay the process, but in the end the disease wins. It can generally be very slow. This link here discusses some different methods, pending money and materials: 

 

[Oxytropidoceras]

Kane wrote,

 

"There are a number of methods to delay the process, but in the end the disease wins. It can generally be very slow."

 

That being the case, I would find someone with a 3-D scanner; clean the fossils as best as they can be; and make detailed 3-D scans of them. Once a person has nice 3-D scans of them, a person would be at least be able to either create realistic replicas or look at a digital model on your computer of any fossil that crumbles to dust. For the digital model, a person should be able to merge a digital photograph with the model to create a virtual version of your fossil.

 

Emma, T.B., Hemphill, W.K. and Wallace, S.C., 2009, January. 3D

Scanning Fossils for Archiving and Animation: A New Frontier for

Digital Media. In American Society for Engineering Education,

63rd Annual Mid-Year Conference.

http://edgd.asee.org/conferences/proceedings/63rdMid/papers/emma_3D_Scanning_Fossils_poster.pdf

 

Johnston, R.A., Barnes, K., Lovell-Smith, T. and Price, N.B., 2004.

Use of a hand-held laser scanner in palaeontology: A 3d model

of a plesiosaur fossil. Image and vision Computing, 4, pp.21-23.

http://polhemus.com/_assets/img/Use_of_a_Hand-held_Laser_Scanner_in_Palaeontology.pdf

 

3D scanning in extreme conditions of African desert: A novice’s

success story, Artec 3D.

https://www.artec3d.com/news/precision-3d-scanning-in-paleontology

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[Ludwigia]

The substance being exhuded is, by the way, gypsum. The iron sulfide tuns into sulfate over time with the help of oxygen and calcium.