Never Seen Something Like This.

[Tennessees Pride]

While hunting a Cretaceous formation w/ my daughter, she came upon this, which i haven't been able to identify. It may be of more recent origin, but i thought not, because on the reverse side,small amounts of Mica is stuck to it so good that it can't be scratched off,& Mica is very concentrated in these old layers. Combined w/ the fact that these "bones" have no smell, & that i've just never saw something like this, it has me wondering. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks, TP.

[Tennessees Pride]

[jpc]

soft shelled turtle plastron pieces. it looks modern. we get them as Cretaceous and Eocene fossils, but rarely complete.

[Tennessees Pride]

[Tennessees Pride]

[Tennessees Pride]

[Tennessees Pride]

[fossilized6s]

Welcome back Joshua!

I agree with JPC, you have found yourself some soft shell turtle bits.

[painshill]

For general morphological comparison only:

http://oceansofkansas.com/Turtles/Plastron1.jpg

[Tennessees Pride]

Thanks alot jpc! I've noticed the Mica isn't as much on one side as on the other, but the side it's on, i can't get it off, that's strange to me, any ideas? It was around an outcrop of very hard slatty clay, almost like mudstone, but not quite, the clay having heavy Mica concentrations. These wern't in the clay, but on the surface of it on a bluff. I can't tell if they're of any great age or not.....they don't really appear that way, but that Mica stuck to it so strongly is strange.

[Tennessees Pride]

Welcome back Joshua!I agree with JPC, you have found yourself some soft shell turtle bits.

Thanks my friend! It's really good to be back! i'll try to not let it happen again....

[Tennessees Pride]

Very excellent pic painshill, all you guys nailed it!It was geting dark when the find was made, i helped her look best i could, but found nothing else anywhere around, would like to check again soon. I've certainly found turtle shell frags in layers a little above the one in question, but they didn't look like those. "If" the plates are old, it would sure make sense to me cause i've never yet found evidence that the slatty clay layers were formed by ocean water deposits....but like i say, i'm not positive the plates came out of the slatty clay. I appreciate all ya'll's input.

[caterpillar]

http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/component/content/article/117-299/212-giant-soft-shelled-turtles-figures

[Tennessees Pride]

Caterpillar, that is a great article sir, seems like i may be seeing some matches in it too.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Tennessees Pride

[non-remanié]

I think that with all these iron-rich sediments that you are working, disturbed and/or mixed recent layers probably are getting re-cemented, obscuring the fact that sometimes you may not be looking in pure bedrock/formation. The same happens a lot in NJ and it can become very hard to tell the difference. Sometimes you only really can tell by digging in to it, screening it and then seeing the modern organic debris that is mixed in. Also, when working in such iron-rich, weathered sediments, I have noticed that structures become much tougher to differentiate.

[PFOOLEY]

Welcome to the forum ...very cool find.

[Stonebone]

Nice to see your name on here again TP. Missed your posts.

Michael

[FossilDAWG]

Hey TP, welcome back! Good to see you posting again.

Don

[JohnJ]

Hi Joshua,

Here is what the carapace would look like. You might find pieces in the same area.

[Tennessees Pride]

non-remanie, PFOOLEY,Stonebone, FossilDAWG,& JohnJ, thank you all for your help and wonderful warm greetings back! This Forum has such great people in it & it's almost like we're all a family. best wishes to you all!