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What could this be?


Ellekr

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Went to my usual fossil collecting destination yesterday, and have been going there since I was 7 years old (12 years). I came across something strange, looked as if it were in a pyrite form. Pyrite fossil wood is very common at Bracklesham, along with different types of shark teeth, coral, ray palates etc. But couldn't make this one out. Looks almost like a trilobite.. Help please! 

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Maybe a shell, viewed from the side. Some modern shells are you find on the beach look like this from the front but I have no knowledge of their fossil relatives.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Can we get a picture of the back, and from the side as well?

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
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The Bracklesham beds are Middle Eocene, as far as I know. Your specimen looks like it is pyritized. Are there pyritized fossils to collect, or maybe the specimen is from somewhere else?

" 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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New idea, probably wrong. Looks like a cowry shell to me.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Loads of pyrite at Bracklesham,a coal bed breaks up especially after storms and we get loads dumped on shore,the sand also goes quite black for a while with the carbon particles.Love it when its like that.

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This may be wrong as I can't see any texture that would indicate this (only the overall shape and symmetry) but could it possibly be some kind of pyritised seed? Seeds from swamp palm species like Nippa have been found quite commonly in the Eocene strata of the Hampshire Basin, especially the Bracklesham Group. The sediments were laid down in a large estuary drained by several large rivers so land was only several kilometers away, and a seed washed out into the estuary could have been laid down in the coal beds and pyritised. 

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The new sea defence cutting has dumped a lot more different strata around here,is a bit of a smorgasbord now!

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I'm not familiar with the area, so I better ask to learn from the locals. As I understand, the pyritized material could be transported from other places?
If the specimen's maximal dimension is around 10cm, as I estimate, that woudn't be to large for an encased seed?

 

I'll better stop here and wait for more information and pictures from the original poster. :)

" 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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It looks large, and i agree a scale and photos of the other face would really be welcome.

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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@abyssunder It's possible it could be from elsewhere however the entire coast of the eastern solent (on the mainland UK side) has exposures of the Brackelsham Beds, more specifically the Wittering Sand Fm. and Selsey Sand Fm. It's the same offshore as well, with the Brackelsham group making up most of the bedrock of the Eastern Solent, so even if the material were transported it would most probably be from the Brackelsham Beds. Palm seeds like Nypa are pretty large from the looks of things so it definitely could fall in the range, but obviously the Hampshire Basin had extensive tropical forests and swamps on the margins of the Brackelsham estuary so there could be a lot of palm like species present (if it is a seed that is). 

 

Hopefully the original poster does provide some different angles because whatever it is it's interesting! 

 

 

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I have quite a few fossil that are similar to this specimen and i have been wondering what they are as well. I have looked threw several books and have found nothing about them at all. I am pretty sure that this fossil is from the Paleozoic period tho, as my specimens have been found side by side crinoids that are from the Paleozoic period.

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@Nate c could you post a Picture of said specimens?

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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All specimens seem to have a line down the middle, they all are the same on both sides and all of my specimens are about the same size.

20170613_153639.jpg

20170613_153419.jpg

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Here is a photo I took of a specimen that was trapped in stone.  It looks similar to the fossil originally posted .

20170505_164101.jpg

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Nate,

 

Yours are the columnals of the crinoid Platycrinites sp

 

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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@Nate c 

Hi, welcome to the forum. Unfortunately the nearest Paleozoic rocks to Brackelsham are more than 200km away in Devon, and the local geology is Mid-Eocene, deposited in a tropical near-marine estuary, therefore it's very unlikely it's a Paleozoic crinoid. The preservation between the two is also very different as the original specimen is most likely pyritised.  

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I agree with Tim, i found this on the forum.

theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

photo-thumb-12286.jpg.878620deab804c0e4e53f3eab4625b4c.jpg

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