smithcorp Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Took my 9-year-old daughter fossil hunting on the weekend. She is fascinated by science, including dinosaurs. This forum was a great source of suggestions for local fossil hunting sites. We drove up to one of them, Turimetta Headland, near Warriewood Beach at low tide on Sunday and did some fossil hunting under an overhang recommended by forum member Paleoworld-101. Lots of fun - here's some photos of what we found. Top to bottom they are: * My daughter Ava excavating * Mystery dome thing (hoping to identify this soon - might be a cone) - showing the two sides of it - convex and concave casts. I cracked a rock and it split at this point to reveal this distinctly different thing. * Next two are closeups of the dome thing impressions - you might be able to see fine striations if my camera was better able to do macro. * Fern fragments - mostly Dicroidium apparently - fork-leaved seed ferns that were distributed over Gondwana during the Triassic period * Another picture of the concave cast of the dome thingy * Another fern fragment * Horsetail stem (Phyllotheca apparently) Fascinating stuff - to think these things are metres away from folk surfing and wandering around the rocks and most folk have no idea they are there. We had a few folk ask us what we were doing and they were surprised at what we were finding under their feet. Thanks to this forum for inspiring our trip and making my daughter very happy! smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Good work on getting the kid/s out! Can't help you on any ID's, but we get same coloured dicroidiums out of the same colour rock up here in SE Qld! Looks like you had a great day - totally can relate to the amazement that people can walk buy so close and not know. "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I'm glad i was able to assist you and both of you had a fun day out looking for fossils! The dome shaped specimen is unusual, I haven't seen anything similar in my previous trips to Turimetta. I do not think it is a cone however, as the Cylostrobus lycopsid cones from this site are all 2 dimensional like the other plants and are always carbonised- resembling a black coaly film on the rock surface. The texture of the cones is also usually quite distinct and I see no such texture in the domed specimen. Here is a couple of my cones from Turimetta for comparison: As for the other fossils, the fern fragments I would say are Dicroidium (a few different species it appears but I couldn't tell you exactly which) and yes the last specimen is probably a carbonised Phyllotheca horsetail. You did quite well to find some nice Dicroidium fragments, whenever i go they tend to be the most elusive to find. Great stuff! Edited June 10, 2014 by Paleoworld-101 "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithcorp Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thanks - I'll try to take some better photos of the dome-thingy. Do you have any resources you can recommend top help me identify it? I haven't been able to find a similar thing in Google searches, but I'm not sure I'm searching using the best terms. Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 This is a good paper that discusses the Cylostrobus cones from Turimetta and a few other nearby localities: http://blogs.uoregon.edu/gregr/files/2013/07/alcheringa1975pleuromeia-1w04ctk.pdf Another nice paper on the fossils from the area is this one: http://blogs.uoregon.edu/gregr/files/2013/07/alcheringa1977triassicvegetation-2169r28.pdf It has some great figures showing the different ferns and may even help you tell your Dicroidium species apart. "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g.davies Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Dome like structure similar to fruiting bodies we found recently at Dinmore Quarry. Fossil club of NSW went there at easter this year. We found lots of Dicroidium specimens and fruiting bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoworld-101 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Dome like structure similar to fruiting bodies we found recently at Dinmore Quarry. Fossil club of NSW went there at easter this year. We found lots of Dicroidium specimens and fruiting bodies. Hey Gary! Fellow club member here, was not able to join you on that trip but i look forward to reading about it in the next newsletter I have never found fruiting bodies at Turimetta so if that's what it turns out to be congrats Smith! "In Africa, one can't help becoming caught up in the spine-chilling excitement of the hunt. Perhaps, it has something to do with a memory of a time gone by, when we were the prey, and our nights were filled with darkness..." -Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Hey mate I'm from Sydney too and i've found those domes as well They are called Guilielmites and they are a type of organic looking concretion... i was bummed when i found out! i was hoping they were fossils. nice work on the ferns though! keep hunting! Jace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmail Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Hello, the dome like things with the striations are GUILIELMITES ...... I wrote a paper about them as they occur in the ASHFIELD SHALE, postulating that that are reduced-in-size concretions which acquire radial striations as they dissolve under compaction: Byrnes, J.G., Rice, T.D., Karaolis, D., 1978, Guilielmites formed from phosphatized concretions in the Ashfield Shale of the Sydney area. Front Cover. NSW Department of Mines, 1978. ( https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Guilielmites_formed_from_phosphatized_co.html?id=NsRXuAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y ) The "Chinese Hat" opal nobbies of Lightning Ridge and the 'fossil lily pads' of at least one Queensland opal field are the same thing. Also nice one (very big) seen at Belanglo State Forest in the Permian (but they are best known from the Triassic in the Ashfield Shale and to much much lesser degree in the Narrabeen Group. If again from phosphate nodule at Turrimetta Head they may be in a marine influenced bed .. of which there are at least two within the Newport Formation. As yet there is no Wikipedia entry for Guilielmites if someone would like to create one. What can you tell me about quadruped trackways (labyrinthondonts mostly) at Turrimetta or anywhere near there. Best regards, John Byrnes My web: https://someinterestingsites.wordpress.com 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Hello Diameter 2 from 4 centimeters Could be Guilielmites ? Upper Carboniferous Location : South Belledonne ,French Alps ,near Grenoble ( France ) I' m looking for paper (pdf files ) about these weird structure ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shambala68 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I have found hundreds of Guilielmites in and around the central coast I even have some still in shale with their organic brown colour , somewhat like the outer skin of an onion ...feel free to pm me anytime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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