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Fossil beach, blocks of shells,


eccodave1

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Hello I am a rookie again at 67yo. I have a just posted the clam shell seen here on another post and am wondering about these tubular corral looking runs I have found on the beach along with many other types of fossils. Any ideas ?? The tube in jpg.023 looks like a glassy center, very shiny. I tried to detect an odor but the river water I think masks any odor.

 

These tubes range 3' and more, running in curves with off shoots and branches reminding me of corral. When I found these I was totally not prepared to collect or carry much so this is a broken off piece.

 

Along with the clam shell how do I prepare this type of fossil/// any help would be great.

 

I am on the Eastern shore of Maryland, approx. 30 mile due east of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.

 

David  

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You should only post a specimen once, so the fossil clam in the top photo should be dealt with in your original thread on that object.

The second item is an extremely rich iron deposit. More photos of that would be helpful. When iron accumulates like that it can form many odd shapes, and it grows as a concretion.

Very rich. Pretty heavy?

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Thanks for your reply!  I will heed you advice and only post one specimen per post.

 

This is the only other photo I have at this time. So this is a concretion of iron, incredible, the beach has much of this. Does this tell us anything related to time or ae these concretions just part of the overall picture of the land and what's below it.

 

David 

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The iron doesn't tell you much. Iron itself will form odd shapes, but it will also permeate fossils in limestone, so when you see iron deposits you should not dismiss everything to the influence of the iron, there might be some fossils in a rock.

But not in this one, that I can see.

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Ok, Thanks for your reply. The beach where this concretions were found has large blocks of fossil laden stone. So, how do I go about researching hundreds of feet of beach. Do I take a hammer and start chipping away.  

 

David

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The two methods of analyzing a site...

A.) Find written information about the site, study the "fauna list" (a list of what fossils are typically found there), then find example photos. Then when you go collect on the site you know all about it.

B.) The method for adventurers is to NOT know anything about the site, make some collection of speciemns, studying them from the ground up (trying to classify them yourself), and then the fauna you find will tell you the about the site.

So, it depends on how you like to research things. I like the adventure of not knowing, and discovering. But that might be too difficult for a beginner. You will learn and remember more that way, because you struggle very hard to make headway when you have to rely on your own investigation.

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That stuff you show above is often called "hash". It is bits that have accumulated after death in a mudhole or something like that. I often hit fresh mud holes like that while I'm clamming, and they collect dead marine life.

Some of the shells in there are pectens (scallops).

Hash is fun to poke through with a magnifying glass and a dental pick.

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B sounds like me!  I think I will concentrate on specimens already dislodged and littering the beach ---Thanks again.

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1 hour ago, eccodave1 said:

B sounds like me!  I think I will concentrate on specimens already dislodged and littering the beach ---Thanks again.

 

Ya, that might be your best approach. Not sure how the authorities will react at you hacking away at the rocks with a big hammer. Around here they consider that causing unnessisary erosion and may have something to say about it. They don't even like us picking stones or shells off the beach.

 

 

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This looks a lot like the Miocene deposits found in Maryland- there's quite a bit of information available on the region as there are very well known fossil collecting areas along the Maryland coasts.

 

You might even be able to put in the specific locality where you were collecting as a topic search   and find postings on this website that cover what you are looking at.

 

 

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