Yorktown formation microfossils from Chippokes State Park in Virginia

[MiguelM]

Hello,

 

Some friends and I went to Chippokes State Park in Virginia last week. The park is beautiful, and going down to the beach was very nice. We ended up settling at a sand bar formed at the mouth of the College Run creek. Although, we did not find anything too remarkable at first sight - other than lots of fossil oyster and clam shells - after sitting down for a bit we found our first shark tooth. With renewed hopes we kept scouring the area and found a couple more smaller ones - no meg big or small sadly... I did decide to bring with me a gallon Ziploc bag half full of material to look at under the microscope.

 

So far, like halfway through the bag, this is what I've found that has called my attention. Smaller marks are mm on the scalebar.

 

Just a couple of questions or observations:

- I think the crab claws are not fossils, right?

- Are these guys urchin spines?

- What do you think this is? It has some symmetry, but I am not sure if fossil or fancy looking (little) rock.

- Tiny tiny shark tooth, but what species?

- I have no clue what these might be

 

If there's anything else that catches your eye, let me know and I'll take better pics. I really want to start building a good knowledge of the fossils/micro-fossils of the Williamsburg-Norfolk area now that I live here and so far removed from my beloved Peace River.

 

Thanks:

 

Miguel M

[Fossildude19]

Last items look like fish vertebrae.  The second item may be a tilly bone, or hyperostosed bone of a fish.

[bthemoose]

The shark tooth is from an angel shark (Squatina sp.).

[MiguelM]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

Last items look like fish vertebrae.  The second item may be a tilly bone, or hyperostosed bone of a fish.

It would be awesome it if was a tilly bone! I had to do a presentation about them last semester

Edited September 14, 2022 by MiguelM

[MiguelM]

1 hour ago, bthemoose said:

The shark tooth is from an angel shark (Squatina sp.).

That's so cool! Do you know what fossil species are in the area, or if anyone has worked on fossil angel sharks from the area?

[bthemoose]

I’m not familiar with the geology of the park, but potentially Squatina “subserrata” — see here: http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=genera/cretaceous/squatina.html&menu=bin/menu_genera-alt.html

[Mikrogeophagus]

You are correct with the urchin spines. Nice finds!

[Al Dente]

These are inarticulate brachiopods, Discinisca lugubris.

 

 

[MiguelM]

18 hours ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

You are correct with the urchin spines. Nice finds!

Thanks!!

[MiguelM]

On 9/14/2022 at 5:37 PM, Al Dente said:

These are inarticulate brachiopods, Discinisca lugubris.

 

 

No waayyy, that's so cool! I had never heard of brachiopods, after a quick search I am now very interested to learn more about them. Thanks so much for your ID.

[MiguelM]

@digit forgot to tag you on this one! My first microfossil exploration in Virginia. Hope you are doing great!

[digit]

Thanks for alerting me to this post. Nice diversity from a small amount of micro-matrix.

 

Agree with all the above. The shrimp/crab claws and the urchin spines are likely modern. The tiny honeycomb looking item at the corner of the larger black shark tooth in the image seems to be a tiny coral fragment (likely also modern).

 

The angelshark tooth looks to be fossilized from the color. Angelshark teeth are very conservative and are difficult if not possible to identify to species even on modern specimens. The name "subserrata" if often given to teeth of a known geologic age but it seems safer just to refer these to the generic name "Squatina sp." if you are looking for a name to use for ID purposes.

 

The Discinisca inarticulate brachiopods can be common finds when picking micro-matrix. I've found them in several different types of matrix from a variety of ages. I picked a number of these from the Montbrook micro-matrix before learning from Roger Portell what they were.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken