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Showing results for tags 'cretaceous'.
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I recently recovered this Cameleolopha bellaplicata valve from the Upper Cretaceous (Middle Turonian) Prionocyclus hyatti ammonite zone of the Carlile Shale here in New Mexico. I was initially delighted with its preservation and upon further inspection, noticed a feature on the inside of the valve... ...I thought it may be a blister pearl. I reached out to Dr. Spencer Lucas (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science) to get his thoughts. His response was: "years ago, we found a Texigryphaea near Tucumcari with a similar pearl in it." Pleased with that response I turned to the interwebs for more information. V. Friedman and A. Hunt (2004) wrote and abstract on Fossil Pearls from the Upper Cretaceous of Texas in which they are reporting Cenomanian and Turonian occurrences...I plan to reach out to Adrian Hunt to get his thoughts on this specimen as well. I also found a paywalled paper on Fossil Pearl-growths written by R. Bullen Newton (1908) in the Journal of Molluscan Studies and have requested access to that literature. Then I turned to our Forum. @LanceH found a pearl in the Kamp Ranch Limestone... ...as did @Mikrogeophagus ... ... @Bobby Rico has a blister pearl specimen from the Norfolk Coast (UK)... ...and @rocket is working on some Campanian Ostrea semiplana pearls from Hannover, Germany. There are numerous threads here on the forum where fossil pearls are discussed. These conversations, along with some modern representation from interweb imagery... ...have led me down an unfamiliar path. My understanding is that these fossils are uncommon. And with all that said, I pose this question... ...is this a fossil blister pearl? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for your time.
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So I am 90 percent convinced the site is Austin Chalk Formation. I have found a couple of fossils that lead me to that conclusion, a gastropod and a nautiloid specifically. That being said, I cannot quite figure out what these bacultes are. From the HGMS book the Boehmoceras arculus seems to be the closest but it says it is a curved shaft, which these most certainly are not. But the strong nodes on these are really not falling under any other possibility. Any insights? 3.5 inches 2 inches 1.5 inches this is the only one that you can really see the suture patterns. The nodes don't show up very well but they are there
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- 5
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- austin chalk
- baculites
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North Sulfur River in Texas - An attempt was made
Opabinia Blues posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
This weekend I find myself northeast of Dallas, hoping that I might manage to catch a glimpse of Monday’s solar eclipse. I figured while I was in there area I’d try my hand at fossil hunting the Cretaceous Ozan Formation in the North Sulfur River near Ladonia. It’s a fairly famous fossil hunting site which is open to the public, so I was quite excited to give it a go. When I arrived I noticed that quite a few people were in the same spot, some hunting for fossils and others enjoying the water on a cool day. Someone in the parking lot was showing off a huge Scapanorhynchus tooth they had found, which I was able to identify for them. My hopes were quite high, but pretty quickly I realized that the North Sulfur River wouldn’t quite be the fossil buffet I had imagined. Fossils seemed to be few and far between, so imagining that the area near the park entrance was simply heavily picked over I walked about a mile and a half west to try to get to fresher pastures. Alas, the only fossils I netted myself today were Inoceramid clams, some baculites (the red-zone ones, not the pretty black ones) and two fairly large grypheid oysters. Oh, and some petrified wood too. I found zero vertebrates, save for a bone fragment. I don’t fault myself. Although I was not the first to arrive, I was the last to leave. I combed over just about every gravel bar I came across, remembering @PaleoNoel’s advice: “It pays to be thorough.” At one point I walked back to my car to replace my sopping wet hiking boots for my water shoes, and kept on pushing. But it did not net me much. I have to say I’m slightly disappointed. Maybe I’m just spoiled rotten when it comes to fossils having grown up on the Front Range. But I will say, this is the hardest I’ve ever worked for a few crappy baculites. I talked to some other fossil hunters, and most seemed to be having about the same luck I had. But one person had managed to find about a half dozen shark teeth, a mosasaur tooth, very nice black baculites, and a partial mosasaur vertebra. The proof that there were treasures out there to be found drove my persistence, and ultimately amplified my frustration. Perhaps I went at a bad time - a lot of people are in the area for the eclipse and I was told that it had been a while since there had been good flow. Maybe that’s just the way it goes at this site. Nonetheless, I’m considering trying again within the next year. My sister lives in Waco, and I heard that unfortunately the North Sulfur River won’t be accessible to fossil hunters past 2025 due to the removal of the dam that exposed the rock unit in the first place. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day and it’s always fun to discover new things! As much complaining as I did in this post it is super awesome to find my own fossils from a new rock unit for the collection! I caught a diving beetle too, which I intend to take home and add to my aquarium (I have an aquarium specifically for diving beetles, but they aren’t out yet in Colorado)! Some pictures for your enjoyment:
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- baculites
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Hi everyone, This is first time I create a topic, apologies in advance if any mistakes. I am a newbie into fossils And I have been searching for a long time trying to figure it out some ID for this unidentified fossil bone. I got it some time ago and I would like to know if thanks to the knowledgeable members of the forum it was possible to get a closer ID. I know that getting species on isolated pieces is impossible, but I would be happy to get a group, family or closer genus of the type of animal it could belong to. *Could it be a pterosaur (as it has very thin walls that was my first guess)? Or some other reptile or even a bird? How to differentiate? * Is a radius as per seller description? Or could be a metatarsal, phalanx... It is from the Phosphate mines of Khouribga, which seeing the bit of matrix attached looks true. Internally is completely crystallized with a thin bone wall around. I took some pictures of the section. The only information I got from the seller is the following: - Location: phosphate mines, Khouribga, Morocco. - Age: Late Cretaceous 96-66 MYO - Probably radius - Unidentified species Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts! #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6
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From the album: Sharks
A rather cool association piece - a Cretodus with a Ptychodus nestled between the root lobes. -
From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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- cretaceous
- mosasaur
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Reptile Mosasaur cf. Russellosaurus Austin Chalk Formation
JamieLynn posted a gallery image in Member Collections
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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- austin chalk formation
- cretaceous
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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Reptile Crocodile Brachychampsa sp. Aguja Formation
JamieLynn posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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- cretaceous
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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Reptile Eusuchia Champsosaurus Aguja Formation
JamieLynn posted a gallery image in Member Collections
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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From the album: Texas Cretaceous Fossils: Reptiles and Amphibs
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