DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Here is a short trip to keep those of us still in quarantine entertained. I collected this before our quarantine started. Something I have wanted for a while ever since seeing one but was not able to collect was in my trip through Utah's Paleozoic (link here: ) is a trace fossil called Skolithos. For those without much experience with trace fossils, Skolithos is a vertical tubelike burrow in sand on a sandy high-energy beach. The little critters would have to dig relatively deep vertical burrows so that they weren't washed away the next time a storm rolled through. A common name for this particular trace fossil is “piperock” because the number burrows could get dense enough in one area that the rock looks a bundle of straws. Just like a lot of trace fossils, it is not certain what made these burrows but it is known that it probably went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous as there are not any specimens after the dinosaurs’ doomsday. My particular specimen is made of calcareous sandstone that has been slightly metamorphosed into a quartzite. It is most likely from the Lower Permian of the Oquirrh Group based on the location and the nearby rock formation it appeared to have fallen out of but I found it in a gravel pile from the shoreline of Lake Bonneville so the exact stratigraphy is unknown. 2 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 The "pipes" of the pipe rock are nicely shown with a darker shadow showing the entrances. 1 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Maybe it is not obvious from the weathered top but it is pretty obvious to me from a side view. The burrows are the darker bands extending from the top of the rock to the bottom. 1 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Here it is in-situ, a beautiful burrow from an ancient ocean shoreline unearthed by a newer freshwater shoreline, exposed to the hot Utah sun overlooking the remnants of that freshwater shoreline from a much cooler and wetter Utah. 1 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 The Great Salt Lake off in the distance Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 One last look at the whole specimen Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkdoctor Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 love these! We have tones of skolithos in VA and MD. Thanks for the site pics! Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 1 minute ago, sharkdoctor said: love these! We have tones of skolithos in VA and MD. Thanks for the site pics! Beautiful! In a few places in Utah you can find them but I hadn't ever collected any because most of them were in huge boulders. It's not the prettiest part of Utah but it's pretty in its own way. Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkdoctor Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 You just need to upgrade your field equipment 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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