I_gotta_rock Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Last week, we went out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for some wind-and-water sports. Only one problem: no wind. So, we combed the beach most days. It'd been a week since Hurricane Matthew tore through the Caribbean and Southern US. The Outer Banks are not generally considered a hot spot for fossils, though seekers of modern shells love the place. When we went out, I told myself I had enough modern seas shells. I wasn't taking anything home unless it was at least 10,000 years old. That should be enough self-restraint to send me home with empty pockets. As luck would have it, Matthew carved into the Pleistocene shelf on which the islands rest and churned up chunks of shell-laden sandstone off the coast of Avon, on Hatteras Island. Some of the ancient shells are so well-preserved that I'd not recognize them as any older than a few years -most of it while they were inhabited - if not for the sandstone firmly affixed to the shells. Some were conglomerates of identifiable shells. Some are agatized. One had grown a calcite (?) crystal lattice. No empty pockets for me! I am definitely no expert. Or local. My guess was that my finds were relatively recent. Digging around with the kind help of Abyssunder, I came up with Pleistocene era. A few other goodies from the day include: an echinoid sand dollar, probably Mellita sp. Argopecten gibbous cluster and another scallop Mercanaria sp. with a small, agatized bivalve embedded on on the inside clockwise from upper left: Astrangia lineata, an unidentifiable bivalve, Solenastea bella, and Septastrea marylandica I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anchiornis Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Absolutely amazing discovery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Very cool stuff! Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Sometimes the best stuff is where You least expect it to be! Congratulations on the neat finds! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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