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caldigger

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 Alrighty, this one has had me stumped for some time. There is a western outcropping of the Temblor Formation fairly close to me. I call White Sands Deposit due to the nature of the matrix. It contains a secondary deposit of Miocene marine critters similar to Sharktooth Hill with the exception of many more Desmostylus teeth bits ( maybe because closer to the ocean?).

I digress, I found this a few years ago amongst marine mammal bones of the same nature. All bone and teeth here are silicon replaced from the sand.

Not sure if it is a piece of bone or not, really don't find rocks here.

It has the same coloring and texture as surrounding bone. Anyway, here it is.

 

 

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The next few shots are of other chunks of bone to show these don't express the normal expected spoongy porous look of bone.

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Shot of item in with several pieces of the bone. All have same coloring and texture.

 

 

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I remember finding a similar thing in Triassic shale near me, I just assumed it geological of some sort. 

P.S. would love to see those desmo teeth, you should put them on the gallery.

“...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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Unfortunately, this is a secondary deposit of stuff. Likely deposited, then later cut through by a river and redeposited again.

Nearly everything that comes out of this spot is very broken up. I have yet to find a whole Desi tooth, only broken segments.

I do have a small few shark teeth that are whole. But far and large, most are broken or missing roots.

 

 

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These two are the most complete ones I have found there. Normally they should be grouped together with 6-8 like a bunch of bananas.

 

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This is how the majority look. The breaks are smooth and polished from tumbling in the water.

 

 

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Wow, they are still cool. I wonder if they shed teeth or if they only lost these when they died, in which case there must be a ton of dead ones around there! I’d only seen one picture of one prior to this.

“...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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Here are the best of the shark teeth from that deposit. Sorry for the bad photo through the case. Largest one being 2 1/8".

 

 

 

 

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This is how most of the shark teeth look. Very rare to find one with a whole root. Roots have the same mineral replacement as the bones.

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17 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Wow, they are still cool. I wonder if they shed teeth or if they only lost these when they died, in which case there must be a ton of dead ones around there! I’d only seen one picture of one prior to this.

This is how they should look as one tooth.

 

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Silicified bone is an usually an indication of hot ground water isn't it ?

You don't  suppose this was essentially a miniature hot spring at the time ? 

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10 hours ago, caldigger said:

This is how they should look as one tooth.

Yes, a strange tooth shape. Wonder what lead to it.

P.S. Sorry for going off topic

“...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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4 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Silicified bone is an usually an indication of hot ground water isn't it ?

You don't  suppose this was essentially a miniature hot spring at the time ? 

Our local area is riddled with hot sulfur springs. A good possibility this spot was as well.

 

 

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1 hour ago, caldigger said:

Our local area is riddled with hot sulfur springs. A good possibility this spot was as well.

It looks like a siliceous dripstone. .

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22 minutes ago, westcoast said:

It looks like a siliceous dripstone. .

Hadn't thought of that one. As in the start of cave formation?  Possibly.

The way it looked just like the bone was throwing me off. But if it is all made if the same thing, that might be why.

I just haven't found rocks in the deposit before. Just the teeth and bones in sand. However, not to say there might be a stray stone or two to be found.  Thank you for your input and insight.

 

 

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It kinda reminds me of a fossilized blister pearl. The texture and general shape seem kind of odd for it to be a shell so I would lean more towards bone but its hard to tell 

CD

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