plastercaster Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Hi there! Hoping someone might help enlighten me as to what this might be? I found this rock as a kid in a load of fill that had been delivered to our property in Brisbane, Australia. There are two star-like patterns on it, each measuring about 10mm across. Thanks in anticipation, Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 (edited) Ooooo... It's nothing I recognize. Could this be Ediacaran? This black substrate... coal? Black shale? Edited October 7, 2014 by tmaier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Well, after scanning around at images of Ediacaran fossils, the only thing that comes close to this is a pre-Ediacaran specimen that has not been proven to be of biological origin, but sure looks biological to me. http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/446150/enlarge Anybody see anything in this star? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 There is a radial five- or ten-fold symmetry on these specimens... "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...
plastercaster Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 I don't know the substrate, but here's some more photos of it. It weighs 23 grams/0.8 ounces. It has a dull overall gloss, but I wouldn't call it a shine. It's a bit like satin varnish. (Sorry about the messy fingers. I'm painting today!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Whats all over your fingers? Cole~ Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition. Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastercaster Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Whats all over your fingers? Cole~ Black acrylic paint. I've made a silicone mould of this rock in order to cast multiples in plaster. Painted black, they look just like a chunk of christmas 'bah humbug' coal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Wow! We have never seen one of these on the forum, never mind two. (not that I have noticed anyway.). I can' t remember the Latin name, but we call them squid kisses. They are found on what was once the bottom of the ocean, and are impressions of where a belemnites, ammonite or squid touched down on the substrate with its tentacles. Very cool. I have only ever seen them from a diet near where I live. Do you gave any idea what age these are from? The place whee we find them has quite a variety of other trace fossils on the same layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 (edited) Asterichnites octoradialis Google " squid kiss fossil". The Casper college link is something I wrote about our local squid kisses. Edited October 8, 2014 by jpc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazy Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I see some similarities with the trace fossil Oldhamia. The age would be near the PCamb / Camb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Asterichnites octoradialis Google " squid kiss fossil". The Casper college link is something I wrote about our local squid kisses. LINK Cool, and at least similar, except that the 'squid kisses' have an eight-fold symmetry. "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...
tmaier Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 It also might be a graptolite. Look at illustration #14 on this page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graptolithinia Graptolites are commonly found in black shale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Wow! We have never seen one of these on the forum, never mind two. (not that I have noticed anyway.). I can' t remember the Latin name, but we call them squid kisses. They are found on what was once the bottom of the ocean, and are impressions of where a belemnites, ammonite or squid touched down on the substrate with its tentacles. Very cool. I have only ever seen them from a diet near where I live. Do you gave any idea what age these are from? The place whee we find them has quite a variety of other trace fossils on the same layer. I first thought squid kiss, too, but they're a bit different. Some of the marks are broken and as Auspex points out the symmetry is a bit different. I'm holding out for something else - what? I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 (edited) I'm thinking squid kiss or something similar - note that squid do have 10 appendages which could make impressions - perhaps the two long ones aren't as well differentiated in this particular taxon? Edited October 8, 2014 by RichW9090 The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 In spite of all the exotic suggestions, it also looks like a cross-section of cone bracts with central axis attachment point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I'll throw in another graptolite vote.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Isn't this a meaty one! I want to thank plastercaster for bringing it here for consideration; very, very good thread "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...
tmaier Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 We have a problem now. We have identified more than a half dozen suspects, but we have no concrete evidence to make a conviction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Is there any reasonable assumption to be made about the age of the material? How far from Brisbane is a load of fill likely to have come from, and what is/are the potential age(s) it could be? Where is the nearest black shale (or whatever this material is)? "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...
tmaier Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Here's a map of shale sites in Australia. Bisbane is on the farthest eastern coast. We should test to see what it is. Could it even be high molecular weight tar? That reminds me, a drop of water on hot tar can make a star crackle pattern like this, where the sudden cooling and contraction causes cracking. Anyway, using the far end of the specimen, try lighting it with a lighter for five seconds. If it melts, it's tar. If it glows and turns white, it's coal. If it does nothing, it's shale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastercaster Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Thanks so much for your input everyone - it's certainly a mystery! My Googling of belemnites and ammonites suggest they both have ten tentacles, which might fit. Some more info about the area if it helps - the fill was delivered to Wellington Point, a coastal area just outside Brisbane called the Redlands, because of its areas of beautiful red volcanic soil. I can't find a particularly detailed map of the geology of the area, but one map describes it as 'sediments and basalts of early Cenozoic (Tertiary) basins'. Apologies for any inaccuracies - I am a complete novice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastercaster Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Ok - I have done the lighter test - it did nothing. Here's a map - I lived where the pink asterisk is. I don't know the source of this map - it came from a website that didn't credit it, and it looks like a scan from a book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 wouldn't necessarily account for the symmetry, but could they be astrorhiza? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 It sounds like it is shale. Black shale has some carbon it it, but not enough to burn. This shale is so black, that I think it could have been brought in from very far away. We call that "beauty rock" when it is a fill that is very nice, like that jet black shale you have, and here in the US people will have beauty rock brought in from many hundreds of miles away. I think we have to consider that this may have come from anywhere in the country. It might be easier to look at Australia fossils and pay attention to ones that have a jet black matrix. That is so black it looks like coal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 wouldn't necessarily account for the symmetry, but could they be astrorhiza? Oh no, another possible suspect. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrorhiza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now