Biking_Rabbit Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Hello. I'm new to this forum but it seems to be a wonderful resource for fossil identification. My friend found this in Shoal Creek in Austin, TX. It is about five inches long. I don't have a better picture available right now but can get some if that will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Welcome to the forum. That looks a little bit like several things...but not quite totally like any of them Someone correct me if this is wrong but I think that's Cretaceous age rock around there which rules out a few things it resembles. Do those features spiral around in a coil or separate rings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 It is a gastropod steinkern. High spired form. And yes if it was from along or in Shaol Creek it will be Cretaceous. But there are a number of formations that the creek flows through and there are some faults which can make it a bit confusing. Keep good notes for the location along the creek it was found in and then try and get a copy of this publication: http://begstore.beg.utexas.edu/store/guidebooks/370-gb0016.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biking_Rabbit Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 That was going to be my guess if was a spiral. It looks like the erosion there can wear some whorls down more than others leaving that uneven spacing. It seems like every other whorl is smaller than the rest, or is that what's left of some ornamentation with a double element making up a single whorl? I don't know the snails from there. Thanks for the link to the Austin book, I'll get one next time I order from the BEG store. Everyone who collects in Texas should look through the publications U.T. has to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 That was going to be my guess if was a spiral. It looks like the erosion there can wear some whorls down more than others leaving that uneven spacing. It seems like every other whorl is smaller than the rest, or is that what's left of some ornamentation with a double element making up a single whorl? I don't know the snails from there. Thanks for the link to the Austin book, I'll get one next time I order from the BEG store. Everyone who collects in Texas should look through the publications U.T. has to offer. I noticed that, too. It is a very strange steinkern. The whorls alternate from wide to narrow to wide throughout most of the specimen. Very unusual for a snail, IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biking_Rabbit Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 According to my friend, from the side they don't look like they spiral, but the end does look like it spirals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Interesting fossil and I am not sure of the correct ID. The locals will have a better idea than me but have there not been similar pieces identified as shark coprolites? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 I don't know if I'm wrong or not, someone might correct me. The geological formation is the Buda limestone once called "Shoal Creek limestone" until it was discovered that the name had already been usurped as a technical term. The underlying Shale is the Del Rio Shale or Grayson formation. According to The Mollusca of the Buda Limestone - G.B. Shattuck, 1903, from the present gastropods I think the closest to the specimen in question (which is a steinkern) could be Turritella or Cerithium. Reference: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0205/report.pdf " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 I have never seen a gastropod with a spiral like that and it seems to have almost no taper "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Possibly an eroded Nerinea? "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...
abyssunder Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Nerinea was my first thought, but I excluded that because is not present in the document mentioned. " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 (edited) I don't know the name but there is a gastropod from there with a very slow taper. Someone once gave Dallas Paleo a few for the kid's free-fossil-tub. Erose probably knows what it is. Edited February 8, 2016 by BobWill 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