Download - Oct-Dec 2012 Issue

October 2011

The Fossil Club NSW October 2011! www.fossilclubnsw.org.au

THE FOSSIL NEWS October - December, 2012

INSIDE THIS EDITIONThe Inverell Rockarama (and

sundry points down the road)...

Yass under the microscope...

THE FOSSIL CLUB OF NEW SOUTH WALES. Inc.

THE CLUB OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE 2010-2011

President: Gary Davies, (02) 9618-1254

Vice President: Jennie Hall

Secretary: Albert Sequeira, [email protected] Club of NSW Inc. C\- The Secretary, 2 Hugh Place, Kings Langley, NSW 2147 0402879266

Minute Secretary: Albert Sequeira

Treasurer: Carrie Wang, [email protected]

Newsletter Editor: James Strong, 0405 400 030, [email protected]

Public Officer: Albert (Albie) Gamble, (02) 9651-1920

Field Trip Coordinators: David & Diana Hindmarsh, (02) 4234-1468 or 0414 383 076 [email protected]

Webmaster: Albert Sequeira, [email protected]

Website Address: www.fossilclubnsw.org.au

Sub Committee Members: Katherine Smith, Ron Williamson & Diana Hindmarsh

Meetings: For the latest information about Club/Social Meetings, please contact the Secretary for time and place.

Correspondence: To the Secretary - Albert Sequeira

Newsletter material to the Editor - [email protected]

Subscriptions: Fees are due for renewal 1st June each year. New members joining after 1st

April are financial until 30th June the same year - fee is half of the Single or Family rate.

Insurance payments are payable from July through to June each year. New members will need to renew their insurance each new financial year.

Payments made to:Fossil Club of NSW Inc., 9 Florence Ave, Denistone 2114 NSW

Front cover picture:

Conodont at the tip of a pin, from the Bowspring Limestone Member, Silverdale Formation, Silurian, near Yass, NSW. Species TBD. Photo: James Strong, 2012.

Taxonomic Disclaimer:

This publication is not deemed to be valid for taxonomic purposes.

Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Fossil Club of NSW or its sponsors. Material presented in Fossil News may be copied for personal use or published for purpose, provided that any extracts are fully acknowledged. Where any material is credited to and/or copyright to another source, the original author must be contacted and permission gained.

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The Fossil Club NSW October - December, 2012! www.fossilclubnsw.org.au

mailto:[email protected]








http://www.fossilclubnsw.org.au






IN THIS ISSUEFrom the Editor 3

Belanglo 3

Inverell Rockarama 4

Club Members Contribute to Geological Survey Publication 6

Glen Innes: Basalt Columns 6

Club on Facebook 7

Yass: Under the Microscope 7

Word Search 10

Field Trip Insurance Details and Safety Suggestions 12

Club Activities, Field Trips and Notices 12

FROM THE EDITORHello friends! Another year draws to a close, and we both look back at a year of great trips - and forward to adventures to come.

We also pause to celebrate the life of Yvonne Davidson who passed away recently, and reflect on her years with the club and her dedication to it. Our thoughts are with her loved ones; she will be missed.

Your intrepid editor is just back from dig #2 at Yass, working on my thesis - and looking forward to another trip in February or so. In this issue I’ve included some photos of the critters that acid-leaching, thin-sectioning, and microscope work reveals; in latter issues I’ll describe these laboratory techniques in detail. And - fingers crossed! - I’ll have some new, larger Silurian beasties to share, too... quite a menagerie is being unearthed at Yass, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

- James Strong, Editor, Sydney

BELANGLO- Text by David Hindmarsh, Trip Leader

Saturday 13th October 2012

The second attempt to get to this quarry this year was abandoned late on the Friday, before, due to the severe weather event of those days. Speaking to the owner late that day, I was told that the area was receiving heavy snow, rain and very strong winds. Who am I to argue, when trying to get a group of rockhounds into a working quarry!

Considering that the January trip was also canned at the last minute, due to similar

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weather- although without the snow- it makes me think that we are being told something

However, the invitation still stands for us to visit. Who is going to put their hand up and claim a pleasant, mild, summer day for a club visit?

The quarry shuts over Christmas/ New year, but we could try again late January or February.

INVERELL ROCKARAMA- Text by David Hindmarsh, Trip Leader

October 2012

From Thursday 18th October, Diana and I joined others from our club, to visit the northern New South Wales town of Inverell, for their 2012 Rockarama.

This annual event is run by the Inverell Lapidary Club, which, like our club, is affiliated with the NSW Gem and Lapidary Council.

Pat Edwards, Joan and Bill Zealy joined us, as well as ten members of the Illawarra Lapidary Club.

Dealers and displays were held at the Town Hall, Friday and Saturday, with field trips to various localities, Friday to Thursday.

I had emailed a booking some six weeks earlier, to guarantee going on the only fossil trip, (for bulbs!), on the Monday, but was denied that event when the property owner was called away on the day.

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Field trips every day included Sapphires, of course!, with a mix of visiting very old mine sites, for minerals such as Tin, Lead, Silver, Pyrites etc or Quartz and variant crystals, and other locations having us collecting Tourmaline, Grass Stone, or sieving for Jelly Bean crystals, and some very lucky few, Diamonds. What Diamonds found were very small.

Other than a few “planted” Sapphires, of reasonable size, but questionable quality, all Sapphires found, including those taken from commercial fossicking localities, were of a small size, with very few “cutters” being claimed. This is now typical of the whole Inverell/ Glen Innes Sapphire area.

As usual, most people came home with a special find, with the more serious Sapphire hunters, giving up on sieving, and fossicking with their wallets at the Town Hall!

Going to Inverell, we stopped at the Singleton location recently visited by the Club, and collected a bucket of Glendonites, then the Tamworth quarry to get Lepidodendron fossils. This quarry, as typical, is used by the local

Shire, for road construction, and is being trucked out each day at a great rate!

Image: King Conrad Mine

A quick search gave us several nice finds. The Council workers present were, in the main, unaware of what they were carting away!

Returning home had us stop at Cessnock, to drive the fire trails. Several large, complete, special finds were quickly bucketed; A Spirifer with 9.5cm “wingspan”, and two “scallop “ type shells, 6cm and 8 cm. This location is still my favourite, and never fails to give up superb specimens. I will take them to the Christmas party for identification.

IF ANY MEMBER HAS CURRENT INFORMATION ON ANY LOCATION THAT THE CLUB MAY ACCESS OR VISIT AS A FORMAL CLUB OUTING, PLEASE EMAIL OR PHONE DAVID.

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CLUB MEMBERS CONTRIBUTE TO GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PUBLICATIONIt’s here - and it’s a beauty!

The June 2012 issue of the Quarterly Notes is on the “Permian fossils and palaeoenvironments of the northern Sydney Basin, New South Wales” and features perennial club favourite, the Mulbring quarry - and includes specimens collected by club members, some very rare. Ian Percival, Senior Palaeontologist at the Geological Survey of NSW and fellow member of our Club, will deliver a talk to the Club on the Mulbring fauna in February.

If you haven’t seen a printed issue, you can download a PDF copy here:

http://www.resources.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/447048/QN138.pdf

GLEN INNES: BASALT COLUMNS- Text by David Hindmarsh

Trip Leader’s ramblings:

Diana and I did a four day round trip to Glen Innes area to get a box trailer load of basalt columns as garden landscape decorations. This trip happened as the planned event following the

recent Inverell outing did not work to other people’s timing.

With the temperature forecast for mid thirties, it was a hot run North, from the South Coast of New South Wales.

We arrived at the property at 2.30pm on the Monday, thunder to the near South, very hot and calm.

The van was quickly unloaded, smaller – lighter- columns were gathered, and loaded, as BIG raindrops splattered on us. Quickly we reloaded our gear over the stone layer, the tailgate and rear window then shut to keep contents dry.

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With lightning all around us, thunder reverberating off the surrounding hills, and rain increasing, we quickly sourced a selection of longer columns, using a trolley and timber ramps to load the trailer. Everything loaded and covered, a well earned cool drink, and we headed back to the blacktop road two hours after arriving, now hot, wet but very happy with our haul.Having planned to spend the night at Glen Innes, but with black, lightning filled skies around us, there was no real decision but to turn South, keeping out of the heaviest rain, to spend the night at Uralla.

With the continuing forecast of very high temperatures, and more storms, we drove South, stopping at Singleton, for a quick bucket of Glendonites before heading on.

The offices of NSW Trade & Resources & Energy, 516 High Street, Maitland, is well worth the visit for Geology and fossicking information and maps.

CLUB ON FACEBOOKHi all:

Well our Club has taken another step in the direction to try and keep the Club interactive for all members. We now have a Facebook group page called The Fossil Club of NSW and you can request to join by searching the folowing link:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheFossilClubofNSW/

This is an interactive site that is designed only for members of The Fossil Club of NSW where all members can upload comments, questions, start coversations and put up as many photos for everyone to see. So far we have four members and the disscussions have already begun about fossils and fossil locations.

-Mick

YASS: UNDER THE MICROSCOPE- James Strong, Editor

What follows are a few micro-snapshots from specimens collected at Yass as part of my studies. The work will conclude in the latter part of 2013 - but I’ll be sharing some preliminary discoveries and write-ups with you during the course of the year.

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Top left: delicate Aulopora coral emerges from an acid bath (Bowspring Limestone)

Bottom left: cross-section of a horn (rugose) coral from a thin section (Barrandella Shale)

Top right, 3 images: microscopic sponge spicules (Bowspring Limestone)

Bottom right: bryozoan colony (Barrandella Shale)

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Above: We have no idea (yet) what this is... a small number have turned up in the thin sections. The main body is about 3 millimeters across, with a “spine” on both sides. It is also in the image below.

Above: A thin section from the Barrandella Shale: a slice of rock is mounted to a glass slide and then ground down to translucency - and then it’s put through a microscope scanner. Expanded to full size, each pixel in this image is only 1.7 microns (millionth of a meter) - which makes for an enormous image. Seen here are brachiopods (the “large” crescents), crinoid debris, trilobites in cross section, minute corals, and various mysteries. In the coming weeks I’ll mark up several of these images in detail - stay tuned!

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WORD SEARCHThe Fossil News! 10




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The Fossil Club NSW October - December, 2012! www.fossilclubnsw.org.auThe Fossil Club of New South Wales Inc. RVer1

Membership Renewal 2012-2013

(Please use the New Membership Application form if you are going to change any of your detail)

The Treasurer, 9 Florence Ave. Denistone N.S.W. 2114 - Phone: 0433891318, Email: [email protected] DATE............................................. Name ...................................................................................................... ............................................................................................. .................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................

MEMBERSHIP $30 or $25 for electronic magazine $ FAMILIES $40 or $35 for electronic magazine $ PLUS COMPULSORY personal injury insurance for every member and child - $3.50 per person per year $ EXTRA postage if you live in NZ/Pacific - AUD$20.00, USA - AUD$30.00 $ TOTAL $ Method of Payment: EFT deposit Payable to: The Fossil Club of NSW BSB: 032 086 Account No.: 380 185 Branch: Westpac Lindfield EFT – to the above BSB and Account No. with our Reference: Mship and your initial & surname (e.g. Mship J Smith). Tick the EFT deposit box then scan the Application Form and email it or print and mail the form to the Treasurer above. If you require a receipt, please provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your application. I hereby renew my membership for The Fossil Club of New South Wales Inc. In the event of my admission as a member, I agree to be bound by the Rules of the Club and its Code of Ethics as registered under the Associations Incorporation Act, 1984 as amended. SIGNATURE ...............................................................................................

The Fossil Club Of New South Wales Inc.



FIELD TRIP INSURANCE DETAILS AND SAFETY SUGGESTIONSINSURANCE & TRIP INFORMATIONPersonal accident insurance is compulsory for all members attending field trips.The annual cost is $3.50 per member and must be paid before registering for the 1st field trip.If you are a member of another lapidary, gem or mineral club and pay insurance you will already be covered.Please contact Trip Leader at least two weeks before a field trip.If it is a LONG WEEKEND TRIP then at least three weeks notice will need to be given so arrangements can be made.If numbers are insufficient, then trips maybe cancelled.If there is any question due to weather conditions please contact David or Diana Hindmarsh on (02) 4234-1468 or 0414 383 076.Members should plan to arrive at the meeting locations well before the given departure times, which will be strictly adhered to. If you are unavoidably detained/delayed then contact. David on his mobile (0414 383 076) so special arrangements can be made.

SAFETY SUGGESTIONS WHEN REGISTERING FOR A FIELD TRIPIf you are travelling on your own, can you arrange to give meeting locations well before the given departure times, which will be strictly adhered to. If you are unavoidably detained or delayed then contact a contact number of family/friend in case of an accident.

ALWAYS remember to bring a hardhat if we are going into a quarry. Re: Insurance Cover, Always bring extra fresh water with you. Carry a small personal first aid kit/bag. The Club

always has a FIRST AID kit available – people do move around and become separated sometimes through the day. FIELD TRIPS

No visitors on field trips. The trip organizer and designated officers are in charge at all times and given instructions must be adhered to.MEETING TIMES AND PLACES WILL BE ADVISED WHEN YOU REGISTER FOR EACH TRIP.

*****IMPORTANT NOTICE*****AT THE END OF THE DAY IF YOU ARE LEAVING THE FIELD SITE PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS ALWAYS A COUPLE OF CARS THAT ARE LEFT TOGETHER. NEVER LEAVE A SITE LEAVING SOME- BODY ON THERE OWN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LEFT LOCKED IN QUARRIES.

CLUB ACTIVITIES, FIELD TRIPS AND NOTICESDecember - January: Gondwana Coast Fossil Walk, Ulladulla

Daily from 21st December to 30th January – except 25th December, 31st December to 5th January and 15th to 18th January. Phone 02 4455 1269 for bookings and times (subject to tides).

The Gondwana Coast Fossil Walk operates from Ulladulla Harbour. Each 2 ½ hour walk begins with a hands-on briefing session and is followed by an easy stroll, with a guide, across 500 metres of wave-cut platform. A great introduction to Early Permian marine fossils.

February 3rd : FOSSIL CLUB GENERAL MEETING AND SOCIAL DAY

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10.00AM Parramatta-Holroyd Lapidary Club rooms, 73 Fullagar Road, Wentworthville

This will be a very special day. Ian Percival, Senior Palaeontologist at the Geological Survey of NSW and fellow member of our Club, will give a talk on the Mulbring fossil fauna, as a follow up to his (et al) paper which appeared in the June 2012 issue of the Geological Survey of NSW Quarterly Notes. As Mulbring is a favourite field trip destination of The Club, Ian’s talk will have special significance.

Following Ian’s talk there will be the usual BBQ (please advise the Secretary if you require meat at small charge). Please bring a plate of salad and/or dessert to share. Also, Show and Tell and raffle of fossil from the Club’s stash.

February 9th Field Trip - Jenolan Caves

Meet at the Caves car park

This field trip will be led by a National Parks ranger and visit fossil sites in and around Jenolan Caves. Entry fee will be payable for the underground cave tour. Meeting time to be advised.

Contact David or Diana Hindmarsh ([email protected]) or 02 4234 1468 or 0414 383 076) at least one week before departure to advise participation and receive directions. Check your email and/or phone before departure to verify trip has not been cancelled due to weather or site conditions.

March 9th Field Trip – Belmont/Newcastle

Glossopteris leaves and, if lucky, an insect or two.

March 29th- April 1st (Easter) Field Trip – Yass, Bowning and Wee Jasper

Trilobites, Graptolites, Corals, etc.

On the 2 collecting days, $10 per person per day is payable to the property owners. It is intended to devote one non-collecting day to visit Ian Cathels’ collection of Devonian fish fossils at Wee Jasper and Shearsby’s Wallpaper at Taemus Bridge.

June 8th-10th (Queen’s Birthday) Field Trip – Nymboida, Tamworth

Dicroidium flora fossils, corals and Lepidodendron plant fossils

October 5th-7th (Labour Day) Field Trip – Gunnedah, Aberdeen, etc.

Diprotodon bones, Trilobites, shells, crinoids, etc.

To be advised Expedition – Central West New South Wales

Age of Fishes Museum, Canowindra; Cottons Hill Quarry, Forbes (Trilobites); possibly Fossil Hill and two other closed quarries (fish). This expedition has been postponed pending finalisation of details.

Annual fees were due by 30 June for the 2012-2013 year.

Financial members only are eligible to attend the above activities, except for non-Fossil Club activities.

Personal Accident insurance is compulsory for all members attending field trips, except those over 80. The annual cost is $3.50 per member and must be paid before registering for the first field trip. If you are a member of another lapidary, gem or mineral club and pay insurance to that club, you will already be covered.

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