Possible jaw

[dsludden]

Good afternoon, I found this item while fossil hunting at Onslow Beach located in Jacksonville, North Carolina.  It seems to have 3 tooth sockets, two relatively close together and the single socket located more forward on the specimen. Is this part of a jaw bone or has my imagination run wild? The mat is showing inches so appx 4.5 inches by 3 inches. Thank you very much for any assistance in ID the item.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Weird specimen, but I don't think it's a jaw. Not only are the supposed alveoli to randomly spaced, but their size also seems inconsistent. My first impression was this could be (fossil) wood, but I'm not entirely sure about that either, as there doesn't seem to be a consistent grain structure. I therefore think this is just a geological specimen with weathered fossils in it, which have shaped the hollows suggestive of alveoli. Let me ask @Rockwood what he thinks about this...

 

In the meantime, would you happen to know anything about the geology of the area? Whether fossils are found there and what age they might be? Seeing as this is Carolina, may be @fossil_lover_2277 has something to add here...

[Rockwood]

Ya. I had the sorry all ready to go once, but decided to wait. 

I'm afraid this is questionable as any kind of fossil. It looks like a geologic/erosional oddity to me.

[hemipristis]

1 hour ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

In the meantime, would you happen to know anything about the geology of the area? Whether fossils are found there and what age they might be? Seeing as this is Carolina, may be @fossil_lover_2277 has something to add here...

 

Onslow Beach is a sandy barrier island.  Offshore, Oligocene limestone outcrops with bioherms of very large Crassostrea gigantissima oysters It's a sand-starved embayment).  Inland are fossiliferous Miocene - Oligocene sediments.  Fossils found on the beach range from Oligocene through Pleistocene. One can pick up echinoids, shark teeth (small to meg-sized), whale, porpoise, the giant oysters, and pleistocene land mammals are not uncommon finds.  I've seen mastodon, mammoth, ground sloth, and manatee material, all of which was weathered and phosphatized. They could be brought in from offshore, or they could be sourced from inland via the rivers that discharge to the ocean on either end of the island.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by hemipristis

[dsludden]

Hemipristis, thank you for the information on Onslow Beach. I am especially interested in the fact that Ground Sloth material has been found at Onslow Beach.

[dsludden]

Rockwood, thank you for weighing in on the specimen.  I really appreciate your expertise. 

[dsludden]

pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon, thank you for reading and replying to my post. I always appreciate the input of the experts on this site. 

[fossil_lover_2277]

Yes basically what @hemipristis said, sounds like they’ve personally experienced hunting fossils there. I personally haven’t hunted the southeastern coastal area of NC yet, but looking at the maps, Oligocene deposits surround the Onslow beach area. Specifically the Belgrade and and the River bend formations, which are both Oligocene. The Pleistocene stuff, I’d have to read up on where that’s coming from, but offshore is a good guess, that happens similarly at Edisto beach in South Carolina. As to whether it’s a bone, I myself can’t tell from the pics, you have to look to see if a texturing/histology consistent with bone is present.

Edited February 26, 2022 by fossil_lover_2277

[dsludden]

fossil_lover_2277   Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post. I always learn so much from the contributors on this website. 

[sixgill pete]

Let me add to this conversation.

 

Being a very long-time eastern NC resident (about 20 miles from Onslow Beach) I can say Onslow Beach over the years has produced same amazing fossils, Oligocene and Pleistocene. The beds offshore where the fossils come from are Oligocene River Bend Formation and very likely lie unconformably under Pleistocene surface deposits. This is very common throughout much of eastern North Carolina. There are no Terrestrial Pleistocene formations other than the Flanner Beach Formation in Craven County and its exposures are long gone thanks to recent hurricanes, just random surface deposits. Terrestrial Pleistocene fossils show up sometimes in the oddest places, but very often are mixed with Pliocene lag deposits. This happens throughout Onslow, Jones and Craven Counties consistently. These are the Counties nearest Onslow beach along with Pender County to the south. 

 

Within 25 or 30 miles of Onslow Beach there are Eocene, Oligocene and Pliocene Deposits. Add another 10 miles or so and you can add Cretaceous, Paleocene and Miocene. The fossils on the beach there and on Topsail Beach just to the south are generated from offshore dredging for beach renourishment over the years. There are river deposits in some of the rivers and intracoastal waterway, but these fossils are not transported to the beach from there. 

 

And one last item, to go on Onslow Beach you must be able to get on a U.S. Military Reservation as it is part of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.

Edited February 26, 2022 by sixgill pete