unknown stuff that was growing on cretaceous age wood

[davidcpowers]

Looking to have growths id present on late cretaceous wood. The growths are the scales present on the wood. They appear to have been growing between wood layers.  Wood is partly carbonized and not fully mineralized. Wood was drift wood mixed in with baculites and scaphites. Fossil taken in situ from upper part of Kevin mb of Marias Fm in Montana.

[DPS Ammonite]

What are those disks composed of? If they are made of sediment then I suspect that they are sediment filled burrows made into the wood. It looks like an imprint of parallel wood grain lines in the area bounded by the yellow lines. The carbonized wood has eroded away around the burrows.

[Norki]

Hey there,

I've encountered similar structures in fossil driftwood myself, and the conclusion made by a few people is that they represent sediment-filled burrows, likely from a wood-boring clam. The wood was carbonized and very flaky, and had clearly eroded away from around the burrows. My example comes from an exposure of the Bearpaw formation in Saskatchewan, which you might know is also present in northern Montana and likely of similar age to the Marias formation, judging by the presence of baculites and scaphites. Anyway, I know they're not the same shape exactly, but I think that the similarity is more than superficial.

 

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

ps, That's a pretty cool slab. It's really like a snapshot of the sea floor.

[supertramp]

I would check for "teredolites" (wood borin clams in this case, I think)

http://www.clastics.com/teredolites.htm

 

ciao

 

[Oxytropidoceras]

 

Some online PDFs about Teredolites:

 

Gingras, M.K., Maceachern, J.A. and Pickerill, R.K., 2004. Modern perspectives

on the Teredolites ichnofacies: observations from Willapa Bay, Washington.

Palaios, 19(1), pp.79-88.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279566206_Modern_perspectives_on_the_Teredolites_ichnofacies_Observations_from_Willapa_Bay_Washington

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Murray_Gingras/3

 

Rajkonwar, C., Ralte, V.Z., Lianthangpuii, P.C., Tiwari, R.P. and Patel, S.J., 2014.

Miocene ichnofossils from Upper Bhuban succession, Bhuban Formation

(Surma group), Mizoram, India. Paleontol. Soc. India Spec. Publ, pp.247-255.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269164305_MIOCENE_ICHNOFOSSILS_FROM_UPPER_BHUBAN_SUCCESSION_BHUBAN_FORMATION_SURMA_GROUP_MIZORAM_INDIA

https://www.academia.edu/21354666/Teredolites_clavatus_from_the_upper_Bhuban_formation_of_the_Aizawl_district_Mizoram_India

https://www.academia.edu/people/search?utf8=✓&q=Teredolites

 

Savrda, C.E., Counts, J., McCormick, O., Urash, R. and Williams, J., 2005.

Log-grounds and Teredolites in transgressive deposits, Eocene Tallahatta

Formation (southern Alabama, USA). Ichnos, 12(1), pp.47-57.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233000812_Log-Grounds_and_Teredolites_in_Transgressive_Deposits_Eocene_Tallahatta_Formation_Southern_Alabama_USA

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Counts

 

Related papers;

 

Shipway, J.R., Altamia, M.A., Rosenberg, G., Concepcion, G.P., Haygood, M.G.

and Distel, D.L., 2019. A rock-boring and rock-ingesting freshwater bivalve

(shipworm) from the Philippines. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1905), p.20190434.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333879933_A_rock-boring_and_rock-ingesting_freshwater_bivalve_shipworm_from_the_Philippines

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Reuben_Shipway

 

Shipway, J.R., Rosenberg, G., Concepcion, G.P., Haygood, M.G., Savrda, C.

and Distel, D.L., 2019. Shipworm bioerosion of lithic substrates in a

freshwater setting, Abatan River, Philippines: Ichnologic, paleoenvironmental

and biogeomorphical implications. PloS one, 14(10).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336950278_Shipworm_bioerosion_of_lithic_substrates_in_a_freshwater_setting_Abatan_River_Philippines_Ichnologic_paleoenvironmental_and_biogeomorphical_implications

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Reuben_Shipway

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[davidcpowers]

Hey thank you everyone for your help in Identifying these as Teredolites. 
Thanks @Oxytropidocerasfor the articles on these trace fossils. I now have some reading to do.

[GeschWhat]

Very cool find!

[Fischcrazy]

Very much Teredolites. Since they are Bearpaw you may want to read Kelly (1988). Borings produced by the tracemaker Turnus have similar morphologies to this and two fossil species are known from the area at that time (T. lacombi Mclearn and T. (goniochasma) crockfordi Warren).