Flatonia Texas Eocene Diatomite thread

[bill2penn]

Greetings fellow diatom enthusiasts!

I accidentally came across a reference to a newly discovered (in 2016) Eocene diatomite deposit near Flatonia Texas a couple months ago.
 
https://www.gcags.org/exploreanddiscover/2016/00060_davis_et_al.pdf
and
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0269249X.2022.2141345


I was excited to get some of the diatomite since Eocene material from other parts of the world like Oamaru, NZ show some remarkably intricate forms. I contacted the papers' senior authors, Diane Winter(diatomist) and Tom Yancey(geologist, now retired) who gladly shared the site location and other information with me. I then convinced one of the USA Diatom Forum members (Kurt Maurer) to take the 45 minute drive from his home and collect samples. Working closely with the quarry owner, Kurt collected 16 different samples, most of which I have quickly cleaned and examined.
Anne Gleich and I have assembled an outstanding international group of diatomists to examine this material. Diane Winter is also working closely with the group since she has already published on the site (see above), and I expect many more new things to come out of this working group and make it into the literature.

I will start with a few images from some of the cleaned samples. I expect other Flatonia Working Group members will add more images shortly.

Let the games begin!!
Bill

[bill2penn]

A few more images.
Bill

[Peter T.]

Hi Bill,

great images! Exciting to see diatoms from this new destination.

Thanks for sharing.

Kind regards

Peter

[bill2penn]

A couple more images.
Bill

[Carsten Wieczorrek]

Hallo,
sieht sehr interessant aus.
So eine Probe hätte ich auch gerne... 

Carsten

[anne]

Greetings fellow diatom enthusiasts from me too!
I am delighted to be a member of the group again and to be able to contribute to it; it is a great honor. Bill has already done some fantastic work and discovered many new forms that have not yet been described. It is therefore extremely exciting to have this material in my hands.

At the moment, I only have a very limited amount of samples (a few grams) available, which I am sharing with the team in Europe working on the project. Therefore, I ask for your understanding (dear Carsten) that at this point in time, we can only enjoy the results together.


I hope you enjoy this contribution.

Best
anne

[bill2penn]

Here are a few more forms found in the Flatonia Texas Eocene material. Some are very rare.
Bill

[bill2penn]

And a few more. I especially like the forms that have all the spikes!
Bill

[Michael K.]

Hello Bill,

This seems to be an interesting sample with unusual shapes. I'll try to post some decent pictures in the forum.

Best regards,
Michael

[bill2penn]

Hello Michael,

I am looking forward to your images, and possibly finding a previously unknown Kittonia in this sample, if there is one! You are such a good Kittonia-hunter!

Best regards,
Bill