Fossil Mollusks?

[Noi de Tona]

My father found these fossils near Vilafranca del Penedes (Catalonia). I would be grateful if someone could identify their species (I do not know even if there is more than one) and how old could they be. Their size is up to 25 cm and on the narrow end can be seen, in some of them, a few grooves, sometimes blue in colour while the rest looks mostly pale yellow.

[Ludwigia]

They look like oysters. Perhaps Crassostrea. One would need to know the stratigraphy and location of the find in order to determine their age. Did he plaster and cement them into a wall??

[JohnJ]

@MB

[Noi de Tona]

Well, yes, they are plastered, he did not think they had any value whatsoever nor he had any scientific background at all so he thought that they would look good there instead of throwing them away. It happened more than 50 years ago and I was a little kid then. They were found near Vilafranca del Penedes, a town in the North East of the Iberian Peninsula, an area that

was covered by a shallow sea during hundreds of millions of years as I heard, having no training in Geology myself, in a vineyard where the owner had piled them up on a side during the agricultural works as just rocks, so he attached zero value to them and was glad he was rid of the nuisance, so no stratigrafy. By the way, how old are they roughly (give or take 100 million years ).

 

Thank you.

[Noi de Tona]

I forgot to say that there was also a rock that was indoubitably a coral, unfortunately I do not know where it might be now but makes me think that there was a tropical climate in the area while now is a mediterranean one, if this is of any help.

[MB]

On 5/23/2021 at 3:12 AM, JohnJ said:

@MB

Hi all,

Typical Crassostrea from the Middle Miocene of Vallès-Penedès Basin and Camp de Tarragona Basin, ranges from Langhian to Serravallian, they can be found in life position forming true bioherms and as well as accumulations after tectonic or storm events.

Nice!