Extraordinary Common Teeth

[JarrodB]

Here's a nice colored tooth I found recently at Post Oak Creek Texas. 

[ynot]

@Troodon

Amazing teeth!!

[siteseer]

On January 22, 2010 at 8:25 PM, isurus90064 said:

Matrix piece from STH "West Quarry".

This piece is about 4.5-5" thick (in this case the thickness of the bonebed which varies from 18" down to about 4"). There is more fossil in this piece than there is matrix. Also, nothing was placed in the matrix, it's 100% natural and all I did was remove matrix. I did have to add some super glue around the teeth as a preventative measure to keep them in place.

This is one of the pieces I brought home after a couple of weekends of collecting in what is now known as the "West Quarry". In March 2003 Bob Ernst decided he wanted to open up one of the larger quarries on the west-side of his property. Today this is the quarry where most people get to dig when they sign up for a Sharktooth Hill fossil dig.

Bob had invited me to come out and collect after the first bulldozer opened a stretch of bonebed about 50 yards long by 15 yards wide on the first day. Once the dozer got down to a few inches above the bonebed we started collecting .. For most of the area that was freshly exposed there seemed to be more fossil material than there was matrix to hold it all together. The level of mineralization was pretty extensive and this clearly did not match anything normally seen at "Slow Curve" (the eastern-most quarry) or at the "Whale Quarry", where Bob had found a number of large associated fossils such as the associated sea lion called "Happy" that was on display for years in the Buena Vista museum in Bakersfield.

The colors on the west side of this north-south trending rounded ridge or "finger" were all pretty red to deep rust colors. Over time the farther collecting progressd into the hill the more the colors turned to a watermelon color that lightens when the fossils dry. The eastern quarry of this same ridge or "finger" produced a lot of very blue material with what seems to be more manganese than anywhere else. Much of these fossils also seems to lose some of their color when they dry.

btw the large Isurus tooth on the left is about 2.7/8". The smaller one is somewhere around 2.3/8".

 

"Sharktooth Hill"

~15.5 Ma

Middle Miocene

Roundmountain Silt

Bakersfield, Kern County

CA

 

Roundmountain Silt ages:

~15.5-16.3 Ma - Roundmountain Silt strontium-isotope ages (Olson, 1988)

~14.0-15.5 Ma - Roundmountain Silt Luisian benthic foraminiferal fauna (Barron and Isaacs, 2001; Prothero, 2001)

~15.0-16.0 Ma - Roundmountain Silt Denticulopsis lauta A zone diatoms (Barron, 1981; Barron, in Bartow and McDougall, 1984)

~14.5-16.1 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the Roundmountain Silt (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~15.2-16.0 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the middle section of the Roundmountain Silt that includes the bonebed (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~15.5 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the bonebed itself (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~14.5-16.1 Ma - best correlation for the Roundmountain Silt (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

 

 

Hi Marcel,

 

Yes, what Bob called "the west side" and became more widely known as "The West Quarry" is a truly fantastic locality.  I found a Parotodus lower anterior there in December 2004 though I now believe Bob left out for me to find.  He had chopped out some large matrix chunks with a jackhammer and he suggested I chip through some of them.  The tooth was partly exposed on one of the chunks.  I thought about it later.  How did he not see it sticking out?  He had an eagle eye for anything unusual - that glint of enamel in the sunlight.  He was the kind of guy who would give you a specimen like that but he would also go that extra step to want you to believe that you found it.  He was an incredible member of his community, always thinking of what he could do to promote the historic and scientific significance of the city and county.  He was a great friend as you know.  No matter how much you found, Bob didn't think you found enough and he would give you a box of extra stuff to take home (all kinds of teeth and bones and interesting bits).  I have a great mix of material from the bone bed much of which Bob gave me.

 

Yeah, I found a couple of those watermelon-red teeth (an amazing color), but in the time I held one free of matrix, it dulled before my eyes to more of a pearlescent mix of color that seemed to mix brown and gray with maybe some blue.  Bob said you could preserve some of that color if you had some Glyptol on hand and quickly dipped the tooth in it.

 

Jess

 

 

 

 

[siteseer]

On January 23, 2010 at 3:06 PM, siteseer said:

Yeah, sometimes you find a chunk of matrix with bone pieces and part of a tooth exposed and all you have to do is submerge it in a tub of water and most of the silt falls away to reveal something like that. Some of the matrix stays together and there's gypsum in the layer that can act like glue to help keep bones, teeth, and the occasional pebble together. You can find a large whale vertebra with small shark teeth naturally stuck to it or a bulla with a tooth inside too.

 

Responding to myself, I would caution that you have to be careful about soaking some chunks because they can completely fall apart.  Some of those chunks are pretty solid so washing off parts of one doesn't always do much.  As Marcel noted, you should superglue the connections of any specimens that seem thin like a tooth on a bone piece.  And yeah, that's a great show piece by any measure.

[siteseer]

On 10/4/2013 at 4:39 PM, isurus90064 said:

More STH, this is an unerupted Desmostylus tooth. The greatest length is hard to measure because it's fairly compact and does not have an obvious longest side as most shark teeth do. Using calipers its safe to say this tooth is at least 4.08"long, and that is all tooth cause no root has developed yet.

Also, this tooth has a total of 12 'cones', although I should probably take a pic to show that.

This is also a post on older topic, trying to consolidate things into this topic a bit.

 

Desmostylus sp.

"Sharktooth Hill"

~15.5 Ma

Middle Miocene

Roundmountain Silt

Bakersfield, Kern County

CA

 

Roundmountain Silt ages:

~15.5-16.3 Ma - Roundmountain Silt strontium-isotope ages (Olson, 1988)

~14.0-15.5 Ma - Roundmountain Silt Luisian benthic foraminiferal fauna (Barron and Isaacs, 2001; Prothero, 2001)

~15.0-16.0 Ma - Roundmountain Silt Denticulopsis lauta A zone diatoms (Barron, 1981; Barron, in Bartow and McDougall, 1984)

~14.5-16.1 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the Roundmountain Silt (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~15.2-16.0 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the middle section of the Roundmountain Silt that includes the bonebed (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~15.5 Ma - magnetic stratigraphy for the bonebed itself (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

~14.5-16.1 Ma - best correlation for the Roundmountain Silt (Prothero, Sanchez, and Denke, 2008)

 

 

Hi Marcel,

 

I remember that tooth.  That must have been an especially large individual.  For those that don't know, Desmostylus is quite rare from the STH Bonebed.  Maybe 15 years ago, I found a partial that would have been nice for the color had it been complete (gray with some dark streaking as I recall).  I dug around hoping for more of it but had no extra luck.  Those teeth are so rare there I kept that piece.  Don't cry for me though.  Bob once gave me a cool little one that must be a juvenile.

 

Jess

 

 

Jess

 

[siteseer]

On 10/17/2013 at 8:34 PM, isurus90064 said:

Cosmopolitodus hastalis

Santa Margarita Formation

Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz

Monterey County, CA

 

 

That's certainly an extraordinary hastalis from Scotts Valley.  There was a site (Lockhart Gulch Road just off the intersection with Mt. Hermon Rd.) that the locals knew well but it is now private property with a storage locker facility on top of it.  People used to spend an afternoon collecting there with their kids.  Complete strangers would show each other their finds.  The teeth are usually quite water-worn with some looking more like guitar picks than teeth.  Collectors tended to keep pretty much everything even the little mammal bone pieces which were highly polished to the point that people used them in jewelry.  I've seen one Parotodus from there and it was partly purple.

 

Jess

 

 

[siteseer]

On 10/27/2013 at 2:43 PM, isurus90064 said:

Consolidating a bit more ..

1.17"/2.97cm - Parotodus sp., Oligocene, Chandler Bridge Formation, Summerville, SC
1.14"/2.89cm - Parotodus sp., Oligocene, "4-hole swamp", SC
1.49"/3.78cm - Parotodus sp., Oligocene, Hawthorne Formation, Austin Pit, Ridgeville, SC

 

 

I didn't know Austin Pit yielded Oligocene teeth.  I have a couple of great whites and a Galeocerdo cuvier from there so I always thought only Pliocene teeth came out of it.  I do have a little Parotodus like yours so it makes me wonder.

 

Jess

 

 

 

 

[siteseer]

On September 25, 2015 at 8:54 PM, ynot said:

Thanks.

In the mid/late 80's I found a shell layer that was 10-15 feet thick and was wondering what part of the sequence it was in. The problem being that all I know about the location was I was on a ridge NE of bakersfield and the shell bed was exposed in a ravine below the road. Not much to go on.

Thanks again for the information!

Tony

 

Tony,

 

That might be part of the Olcese Sand.

 

Jess

 

[siteseer]

On 11/29/2015 at 10:38 AM, isurus90064 said:

Odontocete tooth with smooth enamel ...

~3.07" - 9.40cm

"Sharktooth Hill"
~15.5 Ma
Middle Miocene
Roundmountain Silt
Bakersfield, Kern County
CA

 

Hi Marcel,

 

I have exactly one specimen like this.  I assume it's a very rare form, because other than mine and this one you're showing, I haven't seen another one except for maybe in a case at the Buena Vista Museum.  Mine looks good on one side but the root is gone on the other with only minor loss of the crown base on that side.  I thought it might be another form of a pinniped canine but also came to the conclusion that it's a whale tooth.

 

Jess

 

 

[siteseer]

On 11/30/2015 at 7:43 PM, isurus90064 said:

3rd grouping of Odontocete teeth with wrinkled enamel ...

 

~4.40" - 11.18cm

"Sharktooth Hill"
~15.5 Ma
Middle Miocene
Roundmountain Silt
Bakersfield, Kern County
CA

 

 

I think this is a tooth of one of those giant sperm whales that have been recently written about.  There was a battle between one of those whales and C. megalodon on one of those science entertainment shows (Jurassic Fight Club).  These teeth are very rare.  I think Bob found less five or six in all his digging.

 

Jess

 

[siteseer]

I found this specimen (1 5/8 x 1 5/16 inches/4.2 x 3.8cm) in a dump pile on the Ernst property (Middle Miocene, Sharktooth Hill Bonebed) maybe 15 years ago.  It's a Myliobatis lower tooth plate with seven essentially-complete medial teeth and a piece of an eighth one.  It also has maybe 20 lateral teeth.  Isolated Myliobatis teeth are not that common but you can find a few in a day.  Of course, any day you find more than two medial teeth still connected is a memorable one.  This one looks like it was near or at the surface for some time because it's weathered on both sides and showing some separation.

 

With a light coating of matrix it would have been impossible to see as a desirable find, and even partly exposed, it might have looked like a piece of bone.  I was lucky to spot it after it had rained the day before.  It looked like how it does now.  It's a miracle it stayed together to fossilize because ray dental plates fall apart soon after death.  It was great to find it so complete even after suffering some weathering.  It looks like I found it not too long after the eighth tooth broke up - no sign of other pieces around.  It's easily the most complete ray dental plate in my collection.  It's one of those things that might not look like much and yet it's beautiful.beautiful.

[ynot]

14 minutes ago, siteseer said:

It's easily the most complete ray dental plate in my collection.  It's one of those things that might not look like much and yet it's beautiful.

Nice find!

Looks like You saved it from becoming a pile of nothing.

[Jaimin013]

On ‎26‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:25 AM, siteseer said:

 

I think this is a tooth of one of those giant sperm whales that have been recently written about.  There was a battle between one of those whales and C. megalodon on one of those science entertainment shows (Jurassic Fight Club).  These teeth are very rare.  I think Bob found less five or six in all his digging.

 

Jess

 

@isurus90064

Amazing tooth! Incredible! I have always been fascinated by this deep diving mammal!

[Woopaul5]

I don’t think I’ve ever drooled as much as I did over a forum post in quite awhile. I just spent the last few days going over this thread and I am absolutely amazed!!! Really wish I got into the hobby a long time ago when the best collecting sites where still open and some of the better teeth didn’t cost a fortune. Thank you all that have contributed and hope that I can revive a few more posts out. I see a lot of people that I recognize from some of the FB groups I’m in. I’ll go through my collection the next few days and start posting some of my stuff. Hopefully @isurus90064 gets back in here soon. Amazing collection you have along with the others.

 

thanks!!! - Paul

[Woopaul5]

A large Peruvian meg/chub. It has some cusps to it but it’s rather large for a chubutensis and I believe it’s from a Pliocene formation.

 

C. Megalodon

Peru

5.09” L

4.11” W

 

[Woopaul5]

C. Carcharias 

Peru

2.5”

 

 

C. Carcharias

Chile

2.21”

 

 

love the colors on these two

 

 

[Woopaul5]

This one just came in the mail today.

 

C. Megalodon

Cuba

4.44”

 

[ynot]

On 9/3/2018 at 1:04 PM, Woopaul5 said:

some of my stuff.

Looks pretty good so far!

Nice colors on these pieces. Look forward to seeing some more.

[Woopaul5]

Been busy at work the last few days but here’s a few more

 

Hexanchus Gigas

Lee Creek, Aurora, NC

 

 

[ynot]

 

[Woopaul5]

Paratodus Benedeni 

Lee Creek

Aurora, NC

 

just shy of 3” but repair to the tip

 

[Woopaul5]

C. Hubbelli (transitional species)

Chile

 

[ynot]

On 9/7/2018 at 9:22 PM, Woopaul5 said:

Hexanchus Gigas

Lee Creek, Aurora, NC

Very nice!

[Woopaul5]

7 hours ago, ynot said:

Very nice!

Lol. I’ll post some more lowers in the next few days. It’s more of me not being lazy and taking them out of their display cases 

[Woopaul5]

Something a little different. Personal find here in NJ

 

Squalicorax Pristodonus 

Monmouth Co, NJ