Triassic Bivalve Imprint from the Triassic Basin NC (~230 Ma)

[AlexSciChannel]

Here is a picture of a Bivalve imprint I found whilst in a Creek in Western Wake County. I was in the Triassic Basin and they have fossils dating back around 230 Ma ± 2 ma. It was part of the Carnian Stage of the Triassic part of the bigger Newark Supergroup. I presume it is a freshwater genus but I don't hear much about freshwater Bivalves when it comes to Triassic fossils.

[Fossildude19]

This looks like a paleozoic, transported fossil - the Triassic fossils are found in the red, gray, and black shales in the Newark Supergroup. 

[AlexSciChannel]

5 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

This looks like a paleozoic, transported fossil - the Triassic fossils are found in the red, gray, and black shales in the Newark Supergroup. 

Cool thanks. That's awesome. How exactly are fossils that are found in different periods carried to upper strata?

[Fossildude19]

Erosion, floods. Human interference. (IE: landscape rocks, fill from different parts of the state, or country.)

[Jeffrey P]

I agree with Tim. That doesn't look like a Triassic Supergroup fossil shell.  More likely a transported specimen from elsewhere. 

[AlexSciChannel]

27 minutes ago, Jeffrey P said:

I agree with Tim. That doesn't look like a Triassic Supergroup fossil shell.  More likely a transported specimen from elsewhere. 

huh that's odd. The only Paleozoic basins in NC are Devonian and Cambrian. And those aren't even close to the Raleigh-Durham area, not even in the same watershed for that matter so it couldn't be transported by water downstream. The neighboring geologic regions, the North Carolina Slate Belt and Raleigh Belt have mostly metamorphic volcanic rock that dates to the Early Paleozoic, but I doubt there much fossil material there either.

[Fossildude19]

5 hours ago, AlexSciChannel said:

huh that's odd. The only Paleozoic basins in NC are Devonian and Cambrian. And those aren't even close to the Raleigh-Durham area, not even in the same watershed for that matter so it couldn't be transported by water downstream. The neighboring geologic regions, the North Carolina Slate Belt and Raleigh Belt have mostly metamorphic volcanic rock that dates to the Early Paleozoic, but I doubt there much fossil material there either.

 

You could always write to someone at the VMNH and ask their opinion. 

I know of no Triassic Newark Supergroup shell fossils that look anything like your item. 

 

Don't discount human intervention, either. Someone tossing out old aquarium bits, ... trade items from native americans,  someone cleaning out a backpack, someone tossing away a stolen fossil collection, or a jokester dumping paleozoic fossils in a mesozoic area to mess with people. 

 

Also, erosion uncovered/worked up fossils from deeper bedrock. 

The possibilities are endless. 

 

 

[Plax]

Worn remnant from one of the Castle Hayne outliers is farfetched but possible. The pebble is worn and reminiscent of the Paleozoic chert pebbles reworked in the coastal plain from Long Island to Virginia. There are no Devonian or Cambrian fossils that I know of in North Carolina. SC has a smidge of Cambrian near Columbia. The Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachians which is full of Paleozoic fossils takes a jog around North Carolina.

[Plax]

Pecten cooki or one of the related pectens could be what we're looking at here which would support a castle Hayne outlier remnant. That would really be interesting as I don't know of any collectors working the Castle Hayne outliers in that area.