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Layered structures in Eocene patch reef


T0RIN

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the ID of these fossil structures. They're found in a fossil patch reef of Bartonian age in Northern Spain, at the moment I am exploring the possibility that they could be very large oysters of some kind, they could possibly be stromatoporoid fossils though (however they don't have any obvious internal layering or structures). Other fossils nearby include small oysters and solitary and colonial scleractinian corals, along with large nummulitid foraminiferans. The layered fossils were very hard, and I was not able to take any samples, interestingly they did spark in contact with a hammer, could this be due to silicification? One of the nummulites also had a shiny metallic luster.

 

Hope some of that helps, thanks in advance for any help.

DE8A63F1-9CDC-415B-92D0-2C3B3A25E500.JPG

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they certainly look like large oysters to me Torin. A shame that none of them are completely eroded out. Oysters are calcitic mollusks and usually stay preserved when all the aragonitic mollusks have dissolved away. There are probably casts and molds of the aragonitic fauna at your site. Your sparks may have come from associated silica sand (sandstone) or the oysters may indeed be silicified. The parent rock looks like limestone. Keep in mind that when any of us give an opinion it is just that. Someone with experience in the area may say with positive assurance that your oysters are something else. What I'm saying is that, given the evidence of your picture of incompletely exposed fossils, they look like oysters to me.

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You could try a research along the line of Ostrea (Crassostrea) gigas, at ZipcodeZoo .

" 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

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