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I recently discovered an opalized fossil from Lightning Ridge, Australia, available for sale online. The seller asserts that it is either a mammal or primate tooth fossil. As I'm unfamiliar with fossils from the Lightning Ridge region, identifying it is beyond my capability. Can anyone help me in determining whether it is a mammal or primate tooth fossil?
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Timing of Opalization at Lightning Ridge, Australia: New Evidence from Opalized Fossils
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
George E. Mustoe and Elizabeth T Smith, 2023. Timing of Opalization at Lightning Ridge, Australia: New Evidence from Opalized Fossils. Minerals 13(1471):1-43. Christian Voiculescu-Holvad, 2018. The Opalised Fossils of Australia: Mineralogical and Paleontological Treasures from the Australian Outback Yours, Paul H.-
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A rangeomorph holdfast trace fossil from the Ediacara formation, Rawnsley quartzite of the Flinders Range, South Australia. This specimen is Medusina mawsoni, so called because it was until recently thought to be a jellyfish, but is now believed to be the attachment point of a fractal rangeomorph as Charniodiscus is the point of anchorage for Charnia sp. This one may have been the holdfast point for some species of Rangea. The diameter of the outer circle is 1.5 cm and the fossil is estimated to be 555 million years old.
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Hi All, Found these while gardening today in my backyard in suburbs in adelaide, SA. Are they fossilised bone? Of any significance?Both pieces are heaver than expected, the small fragment is kind of shiny. Both are quite hard and solid and make a tapping sound when tapped against something hard. Any guesses as to what they could be from? Thankyou! :-)
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I recently decided to try a new (for me) method of preparation which involves dissolving away bone in hydrochloric acid. This method was used on the specimens published in various papers on the Hunter Siltstone, an important Devonian fish locality in NSW. Fossils are dissolved in hydrochloric acid, leaving an impression of the bone which is then cast in latex and/or resin. This method is used because the rocks tend to split right through the bone itself, so you miss a lot of the features present on the exterior. After a cast of the specimen is made, it can be coated in black ink and photographed with a coating of ammonium chloride so all the details are clearer. Here is the specimen I decided to try - a partial acanthodian jaw. This is what it looked like as split, just a cross section of the bone. The first step is dissolving away the bone in hydrochloric acid. I don't have any photos of this step but I just used a store bought bottle I had laying around, not watered down or anything. I think it took 2-3 days for all of the bone to dissolve away on this specimen. Keep in mind hydrochloric is nasty stuff, definitely best to wear gloves, avoid splashing it and use it in a well ventilated space! After leaving the rock to soak in water for a few days after the acid bath, I was ready to make a latex cast of the impression. The first coat of latex should be super thin to ensure as much detail as possible is captured. After the second or third thin layer, I started to apply thicker layers. The latex I used ended up being from 1999, it was only bought a few years ago so mustn't be in very high demand! Here is a photo of the latex cast and the finished specimen. In the second photo I applied a coating of indian ink for good contrast when I eventually applied ammonium chloride for photography. This was my first time using ammonium chloride so it took a lot of attempts before I was happy with my results. I'm still a bit unsatisfied, not sure if it's because of the ammonium chloride itself or if it's just showing up imperfections in the cast more. This ended up being an ischnacanthid acanthodian jaw, either Grenfellacanthus or something new. Have linked the Grenfellacanthus paper here for those interested: LINK
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Six new species of Western Australian trilobites discovered
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Six new species of Western Australian trilobites discovered by Patrick Smith, Heidi J. Allen, Australian Museum PhysOrg Article the open access paper is: Smith, P.M. and Allen, H.J., 2023. Early Ordovician trilobites from Barnicarndy 1 stratigraphic well of the southern Canning Basin, Western Australia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, pp.1-58. Yours, Paul H.-
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Hello everyone, and hope you've all had a good day so far. I am currently having a break after putting most of my bookcase together. Here are some fossil plants found in the Triassic layers of the Sydney Basin I would like identified if possible. As before, I would like the most specific identification possible, but don't mind genus or clade names if they'd be more accurate. I know the general location for these, so don't worry about that. If you need more photographs for a proper identification, I can take more in a couple of hours or tomorrow. Specimen 1: Shale plant fossil This fossil was found by a friend in the shale rock layer in the Northern Beaches region. This makes it Triassic in age. I read this document (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gregory-Retallack/publication/241677571_Geological_excursion_guide_to_the_sea_cliffs_north_of_Sydney/links/55d2119008ae0b8f3ef776a9/Geological-excursion-guide-to-the-sea-cliffs-north-of-Sydney.pdf) and after comparing the plant to various images on the document, I came to the conclusion that the plant was a specimen of the seed fern Dicroidium. Is this an accurate identification? Specimen 2: Plant Assortment This assortment of various plant fossils was found by another person I used to know in the Sydney Basin. I assume it is Triassic, as the vast majority of exposed sedimentary rocks in Sydney are of that age, although it might be Permian. I do not know the exact region. There seem to be multiple different plants on the slab, and they seem to be more poorly preserved than the shale layer plant. Does anyone know what they are? Also, do any of you have any tips for getting better images? If I take any more, I'll probably use my SLR camera, as my phone's camera is terrible. Thanks for the help! Edit: Changed the title to make it more obvious this is a new thread.
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Fossils show giant spiders have been creeping around Australia for 16 million years (msn.com) Amazing fossil, are these real fossil color ?
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Geologists Unravel the Mysteries of Australia’s Rare Pink Diamonds
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Rocks & Minerals
Earth's biggest cache of pink diamonds formed in the breakup of the 1st supercontinent 'Nuna' by Stephanie Pappas, LIveScience, September 19, 2023 Geologists Unravel the Mysteries of Australia’s Rare Pink Diamonds The dazzling, blush-colored gems likely emerged from Earth’s mantle some 1.3 billion years ago, when a supercontinent named Nuna broke up, study suggests by Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian, September 20, 2023 The open access paper is: Olierook, H.K.H., Fougerouse, D., Doucet, L.S. et al. Emplacement of the Argyle diamond deposit into an ancient rift zone triggered by supercontinent breakup. Nat Commun 14, 5274 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40904-8 Yours, Paul H.-
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Any suggestions on this tiny bone? I found it while dissolving chunks of matrix from the lower Cretaceous Mackunda Formation collected in western Queensland, Australia. The matrix is rich in shells, crustaceans, fish and shark teeth but terrestrial species are known from the formation. It doesn't look like any of the fish bones I've seen from here so am considering bird? They've been found in the neighbouring Toolebuc Formation by @Mike from North Queensland so it seems possible! Thanks for any input:)
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it is from Lightning Ridge, Australia.
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From the album: My Echinoid Collection
Clypeaster gipplandicus Bairnsdale Limestone Middle Miocene (16-11 Ma) Nowa Nowa, Victoria, Australia Acquired from a collector during a local trade show, September 2023 This specimen has some nice plate division, but most of the apical disc is missing. This specimen is almost twice the size of my first specimen of this species. -
Yesterday we had a day in the Southern Highlands region of NSW, Australia looking for Triassic fish fossils but had time to check out a nearby site we were told about. The Cenozoic plant fossils from this area have been known for decades, although no work has been done on them yet so I'm not sure how old they are. Our fossil insect friend has been interested in this site for a while and he tracked down a property with a great deposit of the material, here we spent an hour or so and found some great specimens! I look forward to revisiting the site and collecting more. These specimens will be given to the Australian Museum collection so they can be worked on (hopefully) one day. I'm still photographing the rest of the specimens we collected but here are three for now. The first is this weevil(?) elytron: A tiny conifer cone: A complete beetle(?), I prepared what I could but I'm not game to go any further without magnifying equipment. More to come!
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Hi all, I recently found this on the beach, on the eastern side of Australia. I am wondering if it is some kind of marine tooth fossil. Any help appreciated.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66446925
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I found this shell fossil 6 or so years ago on the fossil walk in Ulladulla, NSW, Australia. What I find strange about it is that it's a common species at this site, only it's deposited in a rock from after the species inhabited the area. The fossil is deposited in a stone transported to the area when glaciers moved though and, to the best of my knowledge, the fossils in Ulladulla are all from far before the glaciers arrived. Does anyone have any ideas how this fossil came to be here? Thanks
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Fairly recent bit of opal fossil research
The Amateur Paleontologist posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
After learning about Weewarrasaurus, I thought it'd be nice to report the 'lesser-known' recent bit of research about the opalised fossil site Lightning Ridge (New South Wales, Australia) It's basically the most up-to-date paper dealing with the geology - including age, stratigraphy and lithology - and vertebrate paleontology. The paper provides many new details about the Griman Creek Formation (GCF), a Cenomanian (mid-Cretaceous) formation which crops out in the area around Lightning Ridge. The GCF is a formation especially known for its diverse vertebrate paleo-ecosystem; of which many species are represented by quite a few opalised fossils The paper is also rather neat as it contains a nice overview of all the vertebrate groups represented at the GCF - an overview complete with a comprehensive (and up-to-date) list of vertebrate taxa, and several nice pictures of opalised vertebrate fossils Finally, the paper also indicates that a new ornithopod genus (Fostoria) from the GCF is soon going to be published Bell, P. R., Fanti, F., Hart, L. J., Milan, L. A., Craven, S. J., Brougham, T., & Smith, E. (2018). Revised geology, age, and vertebrate diversity of the dinosaur-bearing Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Abstract: The mid-Cretaceous Griman Creek Formation (GCF), which crops out near the town of Lightning Ridge in the Surat Basin of north-central New South Wales, Australia, is noteworthy for its opalised vertebrate fauna. The fossil assemblage comprises remains of aspidorhynchid teleosts, lamniform chondrichthyans, dipnoans, chelid and possible meiolaniform turtles, leptocleidid-like and possible elasmosaurid plesiosaurians, anhanguerian pterosaurs, titanosauriform sauropods, megaraptoran theropods, ankylosaurians, several forms of non-iguano- dontian and iguanodontian ornithopods, crocodylomorphs, enantiornithine birds, and stem and true mono- tremes, making it one of the most diverse mid-Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate faunas in Australia. A detailed stratigraphic survey of twenty subterranean opal mines provides new information on the geology, age and pa- laeoenvironment of the main fossil-bearing beds. Vertebrate remains derive from the ‘Finch Clay facies’, lat- erally-extensive but discontinuous lenses of claystone that likely accumulated relatively rapidly in near-coastal but freshwater embayments (i.e. lagoonal conditions), and probably represent a single, roughly con- temporaneous fauna. U-Pb age dating of detrital zircons extracted from a distinct layer of volcanogenic claystone immediately overlying one of the opalised fossil-bearing layers yields a maximum depositional age of 100.2–96.6 Ma. These new dates confirm an early to mid-Cenomanian age for the fauna, rather than Albian, as has been reported previously. The GCF at Lightning Ridge is therefore equivalent to the middle part of the Winton Formation (Queensland) and several million years older than the sauropod-dominated fauna at Winton. For those who want the paper, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you -Christian
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Is that opalised rock is an opalised Plesiosaur remains? the rare opal patterns is just incredible. IMG_0811.mov IMG_0812.mov IMG_0812.mov IMG_0812.mov
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Can anyone help me identify this fossil? Possibly from Dinmore, Queensland Australia. Front and back photos. Thanks!
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Where to get permission into Mulbring Quarry NSW?
FrostbyteFossils posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Does anyone know how/where to get permission into mulbring quarry, NSW and if possible any contact information? -
The attached microscopic images are from a boulder opal from Australia, so more than 100 million years old. The fossils are very small, maybe a few millimeters in length. Could any of them be a flower? If no, what they are ?
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Unidentified as yet
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Is this the first one ever photographed an opal fungus?
Vopros posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Here is another “forest floor” opal and this one has an opalised fungus, I believe. Here is a video of it and I attached some microscopic stills. What do you think? Is this one a fungus?
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Could it be a bone? it is from Lightning Ridge, Australia. it is 30.000 x 20.000 x 6.000mm
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Hi everyone! I found these formations when walking along the banks of the Murrumbidgee river near Wee Jasper in New South Wales, and was chatting with a friend of mine about what they might be. They're circular, and we saw them mostly on two large rock shelves at the waterline, where it looked like the rock around them had eroded preferentially. Some of them were filled with what appeared to be quartz, and I was wondering if they might be trace fossils or e.g. rudist shells? That said, I believe the rocks around here are Devonian so the latter seems unlikely. Thanks in advance for any input !
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