Pilobolus Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 These look to be vertebrae, each just under a cm in length, found in the shale/siltstone layers of the Rio Puerco river valley in New Mexico. Probable K-T period. Thoughts? Thanks for any I.D. advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Looks like vertebrae...nifty find for the Puerco! There isn't much published on fish from that area. Any idea what formation you were in? "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) Looks like vertebrae...nifty find for the Puerco! There isn't much published on fish from that area. Any idea what formation you were in? I was on the platy cap of a Morrison formation (you can just see the gray member at the toe slope in one of the pics attached). Not sure what the sandstone/siltstone member is though. Edited August 25, 2014 by Pilobolus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylvestersen Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 I think you are right about it being fish vertebrates but there are not much to go for when it come to determine the species Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 If it is from the Morrison Fm., it was a fresh water river/floodplain deposition. Not that this narrows things down much, but you needn't spend time comparing them to Jurassic marine bony fishes. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) There is a lot of uplifting in parts of the Puerco...geologic maps can be a pain to decipher. Our local (Brushy Basin Member) Morrison outcrops do not contain these grey shales. I would bet you were in one of the many Late Cretaceous marine deposits in the area. Looks more like Juana Lopez Sandstone. Edited August 25, 2014 by PFOOLEY "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Let's see if we can get opinions from some of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway collectors on whether these verts look familiar. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 How do these compare with cimolichthys? "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I was going to say Cimolichthys, earlier, and then somebody said freshwater! Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Worley Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) I wish I could get a better look. I have found a lot of fish vertebrae in the Sulphur River in Texas. Now I see them they are fish vertebrae found some similar belonging to a fish. I had some fossils but I donated them to SMU. I do have photos The fish was Xiphactinus Edited August 26, 2014 by Brian Worley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Worley Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 These are the vertebras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I was going to say Cimolichthys, earlier, and then somebody said freshwater! Ramo When it was proposed to be Morison Fm., that was the option. The thinking now is Late Cretaceous. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Hey all: Thanks for the geology lessons...that is where I am at my weakest despite having a great interest in paleontology and fossils. On a closer examination (and this does not appear in the close up I took with my phone on-site), there was an ammonite impression encircling the verts...I'll see if I can go and shoot it again and with a gage of some sort for sizing. -P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Same here, Ramo! Look like Cimy to me too. Edited August 26, 2014 by Xiphactinus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Here is an additional image with the putative ammonite imprint surrounding the verts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Bonus find; two-part bivalve in situ and ex. Somebody already recovered the ammonite from a nodule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 The oyster is Cameleolopha bellaplicata...a middle Turonian (Late Cretaceous) species. I recognize the nodule as being similar to those from the (Turonian) Carlile Shale. That being said, your sandstone looks like (Turonian) Juana Lopez Sandstone. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 The oyster is Cameleolopha bellaplicata...a middle Turonian (Late Cretaceous) species. I recognize the nodule as being similar to those from the (Turonian) Carlile Shale. That being said, your sandstone looks like (Turonian) Juana Lopez Sandstone. Thanks PFOOLEY! Much appreciated.... Using that I.D., I found some great resources on oysters in the western states, and some photographic atlas material confirms that and others I have found at the site in question: Evolution of the Late Cretaceous oyster genus Cameleolopha Vyalov 1936 in central New Mexico Stephen C. Hook, Atarque Geologic Consulting, LLC, 411 Eaton Avenue, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, bellaplicata@gmail.com; William A. Cobban, 70 Estes Street, Lakewood, Colorado 80226 New Mexico Geology, August 2012, Volume 34, Number 3, pages 76-95. https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/periodicals/nmg/downloads/34/n3/nmg_v34_n3_p76.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Your Turonian verts are a rare find (in my humble opinion) for the area. Keep researching...they may not be documented from your locality. Excellent find. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Your Turonian verts are a rare find (in my humble opinion) for the area. Keep researching...they may not be documented from your locality. Excellent find. Perhaps we got a paper? I'll continue on the research angle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilobolus Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Oyster reverse: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Worley Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Did those oysters carry these thing on their back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 Wow, articulated. Nice find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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