Ocean dwellers?

[ChrisSarahRox]

Was found in Hidalgo County NM and the area is from the Maastrichtian epoch. Curious to know more about it. 

[Rockwood]

Turritella 

[erose]

Not an “ocean” but a shallow marine sea that covered part of North America back then. Salt water but depth in hundreds of feet not thousands. 

[Randyw]

I agree. Nice batch of Turritella shells.

[Mark Kmiecik]

Very nice.

 

[Ludwigia]

Would look nice cut and polished.

[ChrisSarahRox]

13 hours ago, erose said:

Not an “ocean” but a shallow marine sea that covered part of North America back then. Salt water but depth in hundreds of feet not thousands. 

Awesome, thank you. 

[ChrisSarahRox]

13 hours ago, Randyw said:

I agree. Nice batch of Turritella shells.

Thank you Randy, I seem to see something new every time I pick it up. 

[ChrisSarahRox]

11 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Would look nice cut and polished.

Funny you mention that, I have a friend who cuts and engraves headstones and had suggested the same. Any recommendations on where to cut? 

[ChrisSarahRox]

11 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Very nice.

 

Thank you Mark. 

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, ChrisSarahRox said:

Any recommendations on where to cut? 

 

Parallel to the embedding.

[ChrisSarahRox]

12 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

 

Parallel to the embedding.

Thank you. 

[Randyw]

I saw a piece one time that was polished on one side and the other left natural so they had the best of both worlds. The polished fancy side and the natural shell side.

[hemipristis]

Turritella agate.  My desire is to have a large slab cut for a countertop some day

[FranzBernhard]

On 11/8/2022 at 10:22 AM, ChrisSarahRox said:

Hidalgo County NM

I find the locality interesting. Usually, that stuff comes from Wyoming?
Any site of this stuff know down there in NM? @DPS Ammonite?

Franz Bernhard

[DPS Ammonite]

3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

I find the locality interesting. Usually, that stuff comes from Wyoming?
Any site of this stuff know down there in NM? @DPS Ammonite?

Franz Bernhard

Could not find any evidence that similar turritella agate, (Elimia), occurs in New Mexico or outside of the Eocene.

 

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov11macro/JohannaForish/Johanna_Forish_turritella_agate_article.pdf

 

@ChrisSarahRox Are the rocks in the area marine or freshwater/terrestrial? Elimia is a fresh water genus. If you found only one isolated piece then humans probably brought it there. If you found many pieces over a wider area then you might have found something scientifically interesting.

[FossilDAWG]

I'm going to tag @PFOOLEY on this.  Maybe he can run the photos by Dr Lucas, who knows more about NM paleontology than anyone.  He should be able to say if such fossils are known in the area, or if they might be of scientific interest.  I haven't seen fossils like this from SW NM myself.

 

Don

[Randyw]

I'm not sure but from what I understand from some papers I read from the paleontological research institute. The so called Turritella agate of the grf is really elima shells. They are shorter and fatter then Turritella. These look like Turritella wich are found in pockets world wide...

[JohnJ]

I don't think this is an agate.  Looking at the photos, the rock appears more friable than an agate.  Agates have conchoidal fractures.  This piece does not.

[ChrisSarahRox]

The location they were found is completely isolated and private property for many generations so if they were handled by humans it was not modern humans. Of course this is only my uneducated opinion.  Others I found in this area are different in texture but from what I have learned thus far are the same creature mentioned above. I will post other photos. Also on side note, I keep detailed records on where and when an "interesting" rock was found with details such as terrain, plant life etc...

[DPS Ammonite]

This rock looks silicified to me and is similar looking to the Turritella Agate from the Wyoming area. Conchoidal fracture is not obvious in OP’s photo, but is apparent when looking at piece in hand with a lens. Take a hardness test; it should be 6.5-7. Not a true agate since it is not banded. Likely chert/chalcedony which are microcrystalline quartz.

 

https://geology.com/gemstones/turritella/

[ChrisSarahRox]

4 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

I'm going to tag @PFOOLEY on this.  Maybe he can run the photos by Dr Lucas, who knows more about NM paleontology than anyone.  He should be able to say if such fossils are known in the area, or if they might be of scientific interest.  I haven't seen fossils like this from SW NM myself.

 

Don

Hello Don,

 

12 hours ago, hemipristis said:

Turritella agate.  My desire is to have a large slab cut for a countertop some day.

Agreed!

[Randyw]

6 hours ago, JohnJ said:

I don't think this is an agate.  Looking at the photos, the rock appears more friable than an agate

I agree. Somewhere in one of my drawers i’ve got a piece of the turritella (elimia) agate and a stone with turritella ( not agate) and this looks more like the latter (not agate) one. Also compare how shorter and fatter the elimia are compared to the turritella…

disclaimer: I’m not a shell guy so I could easily be mistaken

[ChrisSarahRox]

6 hours ago, ChrisSarahRox said:

The location they were found is completely isolated and private property for many generations so if they were handled by humans it was not modern humans. Of course this is only my uneducated opinion.  Others I found in this area are different in texture but from what I have learned thus far are the same creature mentioned above. I will post other photos. Also on side note, I keep detailed records on where and when an "interesting" rock was found with details such as terrain, plant life etc...

 

[ChrisSarahRox]

Just now, ChrisSarahRox said:

 

The photos I just uploaded are if the other types I have found very near to the original photos. This is just a small fraction of many I have found. Also I have done a little digging in the same area and found a rather large slab of what seems to be many different creatures and possibly plant life and it is very heavy approximately 40 lbs or more. I will post it in it's own thread.