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jort68

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Hey all,

 

Apologies for my hand in the photos, they're the only pics of the fossils I will be able to take for a while. Here are two fossils found at the Topanga Formation, or The Ampitheater, a roadside sandstone and siltstone bed in Topanga Canyon, Southern California housing middle Miocene fossils. 

 

The clam was my best find, but I'm not sure of its exact categorization. 

It measures about 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide and thick. (10.16 cm x 6.35 cm x 6.35 cm)

 

T1.JPG.ae9cdc6e251b0d69906d3026ecc35c44.JPGT2.JPG.ce2cd31ab5b8496b567822b0f284653b.JPG

T3.JPG.829b5622dd3c67ef84efee9fc75664d5.JPGT4.JPG.a911cb1d3e1a34c7dfefb3727d1ac679.JPG

 

I had some thoughts based on this list that it may be Chionopsis temblorensis (Anderson, 1905), or Saxidomus nuttalli (Conrad, 1837). 

 

Also found were these segments which I inadvertently snapped apart, but which revealed some kind of crystallization of the interior.

 

T5.JPG.5320c0e0aaeffd408b95721ef646074b.JPGT6.JPG.6e0d4b3ac302c0f6eb7171fbe4074973.JPG 

 

It would be really nice to know what kid of process made that, I tried to start the ID process myself and was unable to find a resolution. 

 

Your help is much appreciated, o wise ones. (;

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Second photo looks like fish vertebrae.  I found similar bones, but much older.  Yours could be a shark or very large fish by the size of it. 

image.png.6caf2d4a08ea563913ca6825aac730d9.png

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12 hours ago, jort68 said:

It would be really nice to know what kid of process made that

Seem to be pieces of a turritellid gastropod. They are filled with flesh or empty(?) inside during lifetime. After death (and decay of the flesh), sometimes the empty space / void will not be filled totally with sediment. The resulting empty space /void is later filled with minerals (most often calcite, sometimes other minerals) via the process of pressure solution and precipitation during diagenesis (burial). Sometimes, some empty space / void is left, resulting in some freely grown crystals projecting into the remaining void.

Franz Bernhard

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37 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Seem to be  pieces of a turritellid gastropod. They are filled with flesh or empty(?) inside during lifetime. After dead (and decay of the flesh), sometimes the empty space / void is not totally filled with sediment. The resulting empty space /void  is later filled with minerals (most often calcite, sometimes other minerals) via the process of pressure solution and precipitation during diagenesis (burial). Sometimes, some empty space / void is left, resulting in some freely grown crystals projecting into the remaining void.

Franz Bernhard

More I look at it, you are right!

 

image.png.81999296eb46ceb50bb0ad8ba5d0aa28.pngimage.png.3fbbb4e98cd7d3f9af92d40943167685.png

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  • 2 months later...

This is very exciting indeed!    I found so many of those in the past two weeks, just on the side of the road, not even digging!     A couple looked like bone but no lightness or cavities n the inside, just solid.   Below is a strange looking rock, fossil; I have no idea.

IMG_5431.thumb.JPG.e154dbdd2c560bd5e4594334951be6fb.JPG

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Here are the others I found, although just a sample, I have a pile on my table.5e754836307bd_ScreenShot2020-03-20at3_48_05PM.png.e7dccd6a2bb4603caec61a2c13e33d16.png

 

I have a couple clams, a few snails, the long curly ones a few oysters and the bone looking things.   Also some still embedded into the rock, a few pieces with what look like dark triangle, maybe leaves or fish scales?!   This is all so exciting for me.

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  • 10 months later...

I was up there last Thursday, poking around. I did a little surface collecting and brought some rocks back to bust up afterwards. Here's my before and after. I too would like to find some good definitive source on this area, but there isn't a whole lot out there. Nice clam by the way! I kind of liken them to Geoducks! Ha ha. You're other shots are indeed broken Turritellas which this site is kind of famous for. Someone posted that earlier, but yours are more like this. I've found crystal filled versions too over the years.

141610785_10225503676284518_8142309896818686280_n.jpg

141936020_10225503676604526_1516194912854821216_n.jpg

142190888_10225512422143159_7891190211700945217_n.jpg

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