08/05/2022

Mold cropping up on fossil specimens is bad news. The growth of mold on bone often leads to the alteration of the specimens physical and chemical properties, which typically results in damages that inhibit research or exhibition. This leads to the looming question over the late stages of this project. How will we as conservators manage and inhibit mold growth while keeping the specimens in prime condition?

When it comes to fossil conservation, mold is a pesky problem. One might try to clean the mold off using water, and in many cases this can be an effective solution. In this case however, the mold is encased in a chamber that was built with the purpose of retaining humidity, and thus, adding water to the microenvironment increases its humidity, which is one of the primary causes as to why mold has begun growing in the first place. One may then turn to using a more potent fungicide such as alcohol, but this method is not without its own consequences. Alcohol is very effective at cleaning mold from fossil specimens and inhibiting future mold growth. Rubbing alcohol is strong enough to remove mold spores and completely destroy mold cells, ensuring the mold is completely taken care of. The problem is that alcohol dries very quickly, and the work done in this project was done specifically with the intention of reducing specimen damage resulting from rapid drying. This leads back to the looming question mentioned earlier: How can we manage the mold while also retaining specimen health?

 We here at the repository have yet to find the most adequate solution. The current solution involved using a solution of water and ethanol to remove mold from the specimens, but this method has yielded varying results. Mold may still grow in some of the cleaned areas, and it is very possible that this solution of diluted alcohol may be damaging the specimen by rapid drying. Ethanol soaked cotton balls were placed in a beaker and set inside of the drying chambers at the start of the project, but the current propagation of mold stands as evidence to this method's failure. This method is not being abandoned however, and will soon be attempted again using a more potent fungicide, e.g., thymol. Until then, efforts are being made to gradually reduce humidity and increase air circulation within the micro-environments to bring mold growth to a halt.