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Trying to understand how to date teeth for ID purposes


Fin Lover

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I'm still trying to get a grasp on how to date teeth from South Carolina. I've read several things, including some older posts on here like this one:

However, I'm still not sure I understand. Yesterday, I tried a spot in Goose Creek for the first time.  I believe it was just one of the drainage ditches, but it was a decent drop down to it. The very bottom layer of exposed bank was a gray clay type material that appears to be the layer that people in the area dig in. 

I searched along that layer of the bank and found a few things sticking out that appear to be shark and some other type of tooth (maybe horse or something).  The teeth are very worn or fragments. If I understand correctly, the Goose Creek Limestone formation is Pliocene, but that area (Summerville, Ladson, Charleston) seems to have multiple formations. I believe one of the teeth may be a piece of a large snaggletooth, which could be Pliocene, but could also be a lot of other things. 

So, my question is, would everything that came out of the same foot-tall section of layer that I could access be from the same time period, or could there be older ones in that same layer?  So, assuming I could identify one tooth that only came from one or two time periods, could I assume that the others did as well?

I'll attach a picture of the items that came from that layer (the smaller snaggletooth in the first pic was sitting on top of that layer, not in it). Also found a couple shark verts on the sand in the creek bed.

KIMG2854~3.JPG

KIMG2858~2.JPG

Fin Lover

 

image.png.e69a5608098eeb4cd7d1fc5feb4dad1e.png image.png.e6c66193c1b85b1b775526eb958f72df.png

image.png.7cefa5ccc279142681efa4b7984dc6cb.png

My favorite things about fossil hunting: getting out of my own head, getting into nature and, if I’m lucky, finding some cool souvenirs.

 

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Sorry, trying to get this done during my lunch break and forgot to show the size.

KIMG2863~2.JPG

Fin Lover

 

image.png.e69a5608098eeb4cd7d1fc5feb4dad1e.png image.png.e6c66193c1b85b1b775526eb958f72df.png

image.png.7cefa5ccc279142681efa4b7984dc6cb.png

My favorite things about fossil hunting: getting out of my own head, getting into nature and, if I’m lucky, finding some cool souvenirs.

 

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1 hour ago, Fin Lover said:

I'm still trying to get a grasp on how to date teeth from South Carolina. I've read several things, including some older posts on here like this one:

However, I'm still not sure I understand. Yesterday, I tried a spot in Goose Creek for the first time.  I believe it was just one of the drainage ditches, but it was a decent drop down to it. The very bottom layer of exposed bank was a gray clay type material that appears to be the layer that people in the area dig in. 

I searched along that layer of the bank and found a few things sticking out that appear to be shark and some other type of tooth (maybe horse or something).  The teeth are very worn or fragments. If I understand correctly, the Goose Creek Limestone formation is Pliocene, but that area (Summerville, Ladson, Charleston) seems to have multiple formations. I believe one of the teeth may be a piece of a large snaggletooth, which could be Pliocene, but could also be a lot of other things. 

So, my question is, would everything that came out of the same foot-tall section of layer that I could access be from the same time period, or could there be older ones in that same layer?  So, assuming I could identify one tooth that only came from one or two time periods, could I assume that the others did as well?

I'll attach a picture of the items that came from that layer (the smaller snaggletooth in the first pic was sitting on top of that layer, not in it). Also found a couple shark verts on the sand in the creek bed.

KIMG2854~3.JPG

KIMG2858~2.JPG

When fossil hunting in creeks, it is very difficult to attribute a find to any stratigraphic layer or if it is found on the ground surface, which I call "float." If there is matrix still attached to the find, an expert in that area may be able to provide an educated guess as to what formation it came from, provided the matrices are distinct enough. However, it could have been weathered from any source and transported there (natural or human caused) and so would be impossible to know for sure. If you were able to extract it from the bedrock itself (in-situ), ideally at an exposure in which you could identify the different layers, that is worth noting. My best practice is to sketch the layers I can see and describe them (color, grain size, well-sorted or not, any minerals I can identify, other details to note (such as petroleum odors). Even then, it is possible that an older fossil finds its way into younger strata. For example, a shark tooth could have been from the Miocene, and deposited in Miocene sediments. Those sediments could have lithified, become exposed, then weathered during the Pliocene. The fossil could have then weathered free, then become re-deposited amongst Pliocene sediments. In that case, an expert in the specific area and the preservation differences in known re-worked sediments would be needed.  

Edited by Crusty_Crab
Grammatical fix (strata is plural, not singular)
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Got it, thank you. So, the real key to identification here is to have a complete tooth (or just a small amount missing - enough to see part of the root, crown, cusps, etc.)? Reality and some YouTube channels I've seen don't line up with each other. :BigSmile:

Fin Lover

 

image.png.e69a5608098eeb4cd7d1fc5feb4dad1e.png image.png.e6c66193c1b85b1b775526eb958f72df.png

image.png.7cefa5ccc279142681efa4b7984dc6cb.png

My favorite things about fossil hunting: getting out of my own head, getting into nature and, if I’m lucky, finding some cool souvenirs.

 

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The 3rd teeth on your 1st pic is a snaggletooth too (Hemipritis serra).

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

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Thanks for confirming!

Fin Lover

 

image.png.e69a5608098eeb4cd7d1fc5feb4dad1e.png image.png.e6c66193c1b85b1b775526eb958f72df.png

image.png.7cefa5ccc279142681efa4b7984dc6cb.png

My favorite things about fossil hunting: getting out of my own head, getting into nature and, if I’m lucky, finding some cool souvenirs.

 

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