Colorful Cretaceous shells and multiple Inoceramus species (I think) please help with Id's

[Lone Hunter]

Had a blast last week busting up marl in the creek with Rockwood's help .  I was amazed to find a chunky plate filled with beautiful shells in addition to gobs of gastropods in the area and Gryphea.  Got thrown off trying to ID by color duh, finally shape of striped ones clicked, flat sides, Inoceramus sp.? The tiny brown one Inoceramus cuvieri?  And the little round ones pinnaeformis? The tip is broke off one but they are all the same. Limestone Inoceramus maybe labiatus or sp.? So not sure about Gryphea, 2 are in piece with the big shells and one of them is round, the other right underneath it, last is the big black/silver with both valves. It's hard for me to distinguish some things without finding a good match for comparison. Really enjoyed prepping these and wondering how uncommon it is to find this good preservation? Appreciate any input! Hope pics come out in order.

 

[grandpa]

Were you finding these in Texas?  What formation were you in?

[Lone Hunter]

Close to Dallas, Eagle Ford.

[DPS Ammonite]

Please label your photos and corresponding comments. The good preservation reminds me more of the Woodbine Fm. Locals might help if you give us a more specific locality. Find any ammonites? Ammonites can better distinguish between the Eagle Ford Group and the Woodbine Fm.

 

@JohnJ  @Uncle Siphuncle

[Lone Hunter]

Creek is south of DFW airport, this part about 4 miles from Woodbine border,  these marls don't look like Woodbine to me. Have found both Calycoceras and Metoicoceras. It's within area of QT deposits in Eagle Ford according to map.  An eroding culvert not far upstream is full of concretions like these and up to 2 ft around,  I pulled some Metoicoceras from the wall in there but that's Eagle Ford too.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Lone Hunter

[Rockwood]

2 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Find any ammonites? Ammonites can better distinguish between the Eagle Ford Group and the Woodbine Fm.

 

This one came from the same block of marl.

[Jeffrey P]

Love the preservation of those bivalves with all of the colors. Wow!!!!

[Al Dente]

This one looks like a lingulid brachiopod.

 

 

[Rockwood]

44 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

This one looks like a lingulid brachiopod.

It does, but I'm fairly certain if the beak were included things would tell a different story.

I've been soaking and scraping at a matched pair that look similar to it. It came from the same formation over on the Trinity River.

She has a nicely prepped pair of them that I think came from the block of marl in question as well.

[Plax]

Unbelievable preservation on those mollusks. You reckon the shells could be pseudomorph and the banding alternating mineralization?

[Nimravis]

Beautiful pieces.

[Rockwood]

2 hours ago, Plax said:

You reckon the shells could be pseudomorph and the banding alternating mineralization?

I doubt it. It seemed to be just a sweet spot for preservation. The thinner shells that look even more shell like were near them. 

I was busting out garbage all around, but these seem to be the real thing.

[Thomas.Dodson]

17 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Please label your photos and corresponding comments.

Going to have to second this. More photos of the individual specimens are also required. It's difficult to give direction to identification as is. I suspect only a single potential Inoceramid in these pictures. I see a mix of tellinids, different oyster genera, Euspira sp., Probable Drepanochilus sp., maybe a Margaritid, and a gastropod I don't recognize immediately. The one that looks like a lingulid I suspect is a Mytilid myself based on the overall characters.

[Thomas.Dodson]

The banding is in line with what I've seen from other Cretaceous sites of excellent preservation.

[Rockwood]

21 minutes ago, Thomas.Dodson said:

The one that looks like a lingulid I suspect is a Mytilid myself based on the overall characters.

Based on what I get in image search compared to what I remember her having , I tend to agree. For what that's worth. 

 

[Lone Hunter]

Sorry for delay, network issues.  Got some better views that are numbered. I think 1&2 are showing the mussels referred to I think, 4&5 showing the round one I'm not sure about, 6 I think another Gryphea and not sure about the grey one, such a tiny beak. Others more mussels and clams I assume.

[Lone Hunter]

Thinking #8, or at least the one, were pinnaeformis?  9&10 showing flat almost concave sides.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Lone Hunter

[Lone Hunter]

#11 a baby ? #12 and next 2 have no idea, it's flat as a pancake. Edit, maybe platyceramis?

Edited November 10, 2021 by Lone Hunter

[Lone Hunter]

#13 Gryphea?  #14 just cool, translucent.

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Lone Hunter

[Al Dente]

11 hours ago, Plax said:

Unbelievable preservation on those mollusks. You reckon the shells could be pseudomorph and the banding alternating mineralization?

I would think it must be replacement of the original aragonite with calcite on the clams and gastropods. I would expect these to be  white and chalky if they were aragonite. The oysters and some gastropods are probably the original calcite.

[DPS Ammonite]

Do you know what Formation of the Eagle Ford you are in? The Arcadia Park Formation is at the top includes many septarian concretions and the distinctive Kamp Ranch Limestone. For numbers 6 and 12, consider Cyprimeria sp. which occurs in the Arcadia Park Formation. The turreted Gastropoda look similar to ones that I found in the flaggy layers at the top of the Arcadia Park Formation in Plano, TX. An ammonite expert should be able to tell you what formation you are in.

 

 

For Eagle Ford paleontology see:

 

Moreman, W. L. (1942) Paleontology of the Eagle Ford Group of north and central Texas: Journal of Paleontology, v. 16, p. 192–220.

 

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1298823?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3Abd4a348d24f4424b95c2c60719e18aaa&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

 

https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/30700/moreman_1931_3426810.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by DPS Ammonite

[Plax]

#6 are two exogyra shells nested together. 8 are pholad/gastrochaenid.

[Plax]

#1 at 6 o'clock you can see the pseudomorph crystals broken away from the steinkern. We get coarsely crystalline pseudomorphs with fine surface features of Cucullea shells in our Peedee Formation.

[Plax]

On 11/9/2021 at 3:17 AM, Lone Hunter said:

Creek is south of DFW airport, this part about 4 miles from Woodbine border,  these marls don't look like Woodbine to me. Have found both Calycoceras and Metoicoceras. It's within area of QT deposits in Eagle Ford according to map.  An eroding culvert not far upstream is full of concretions like these and up to 2 ft around,  I pulled some Metoicoceras from the wall in there but that's Eagle Ford too.

These look like they could have crab potential. 

[Lone Hunter]

So far haven't found any crabs at this location, and haven't been able to narrow down exact formation. Really curious about #12?