Big Brook December 2020

[steviefossils]

Hello all,

 

The following photos are from my most recent trip to Big Brook, NJ.

For anyone unfamiliar with Big Brook, it contains late cretaceous fossils (approximately 65 million years old). From my understanding in descriptions of formations, I recovered these from the Mt. Laurel formation. 

 

I have made better finds than this, but I wanted to share this due to its recency and the fact that I had found my favorite tooth (so far). The first Image is everything I've found, which includes mackerel (C. appendiculata), goblin, and crow shark teeth (S. pristodontus). I remember at least one S. kaupi, though it is difficult to see the enamel notch in the photo I took. In the lower right corner are an Enchodus petrosus (salmonoid) fang (in rough shape) and an Anomaeodus phasolus (early drum fish) crusher plate. Above the salmon fang are two snail shell casts and a partial cast of a snail shell. The top right corner of the overview has a mammalian tooth, not fossilized. The land in the area was once used as farmland, so that tooth may or may not be related to that.

 

The second picture is a Cretolamna appendiculata tooth (my favorite kind of mackerel shark tooth), and the third a close up of it. The close-up was taken by using a jeweler's loupe to view more detail.

 

The last picture is the snail shell next to a dime for scale. 

 

My sources for identification are: Joe Cocke's "Fossil Shark Teeth of the World: A Collector's Guide" (used for the Shark teeth) and NJfossils.net (for cross reference for shark teeth identification, and non-shark fossils). If anyone has any clarifications or corrections for me I am always open to learning.

 

 

If I have the time I'll do a "year in review post" of some of my best finds to share with everyone.

 

Thanks for viewing. Happy to participate in the community. 

 

- Steve

[Coco]

Don't use a coin for a scale ! Only american people know its size. Please put a cm or inch scale on your pics.

 

Coco

[DPS Ammonite]

The coiled snail (phosphatized?) is mostly an internal mold, the sediment inside the snail against the interior of the shell. I think that I see trace fossils in the mold, yellow arrows. The red arrows point to possible remnants of replaced shell, casts.

 

The snail looks similar to a Gyrodes major (form genus) that is found in earlier Cretaceous rocks in the North Sulphur River area of Texas.

[steviefossils]

13 hours ago, Coco said:

Don't use a coin for a scale ! Only american people know its size. Please put a cm or inch scale on your pics.

 

Coco

I didn't have one on hand this time, but will do for the future. Thank you!

[steviefossils]

13 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

The coiled snail (phosphatized?) is mostly an internal mold, the sediment inside the snail against the interior of the shell. I think that I see trace fossils in the mold, yellow arrows. The red arrows point to possible remnants of replaced shell, casts.

 

The snail looks similar to a Gyrodes major (form genus) that is found in earlier Cretaceous rocks in the North Sulphur River area of Texas.

Thank you, I didn't think that it looked like a cast, but I don't often encounter invertebrate fossils in the formations I hunt, so I hadn't considered an internal mold. I'll check out those spots you pointed out with a magnifying glass and report back here . Thank you for your reply.

Edited December 17, 2020 by steviefossils
Re-wording

[steviefossils]

As recommended... here are photos of some of the pieces with a scale in inches.

 

 

[steviefossils]

21 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

The coiled snail (phosphatized?) is mostly an internal mold, the sediment inside the snail against the interior of the shell. I think that I see trace fossils in the mold, yellow arrows. The red arrows point to possible remnants of replaced shell, casts.

 

The snail looks similar to a Gyrodes major (form genus) that is found in earlier Cretaceous rocks in the North Sulphur River area of Texas.

Hey DPS, just wanted to mention... I have found this website: http://www.njfossils.net/Snail.html very useful for help in identifying material from Big Brook. These guys' have an ID of Lunatia halli. Though I googled the name you mentioned earlier and I think it looks similar to that as well. I'm sharing this site with you to get your take on it. Most of my resources for research are websites. I need to invest in a few good books, if you have any recommendations I'd look into them. 

 

Thanks,

Steve

Edited December 17, 2020 by steviefossils

[cmwilson101]

The little snail cast is gorgeous.  What a treasure!  Have you thought about how you'll display them?

[steviefossils]

13 hours ago, cmwilson101 said:

The little snail cast is gorgeous.  What a treasure!  Have you thought about how you'll display them?

Right now the shell is sitting on my dresser with some fossils that are still in matrix. I'm thinking of getting a display case for thicker specimens like that shell.

 

I currently have a glass display with soft foam in it for shark teeth, and these kind of shrinkwrap type of displays as well. 

 

I think the shell would do better on a display shelf if that makes sense.