Jump to content

Mio/Plio unknown


caldigger

Recommended Posts

There is a spot relatively close to me that is a late Miocene/ early Pliocene deposit. Consisting mainly of Great White teeth, marine mammal chunks, with occational (but rare) Meg. tooth pieces.

Being a secondary deposit, everything in it got beat up and water worn pretty good.

I was going through a box of bone pieces and grabbed this out for I'D.

I was thinking inner ear bone? What are your views on this?

20180404_061412.jpg

20180404_061347.jpg

20180404_061450.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has the general shape of an inner ear bone. Atleast the ones i have found at the calvert cliffs. But It is worn so hard to confirm for sure.

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice---I love these goofy odd shapes! 

I agree it does look like it might be some really worn whale ear fragment....I know of several Mio-Plio sites in Florida that have produced a mix of material like you are describing. Once in a while a Meg will show up but the GW's seem to be pretty rare around here. For comparison here's a tympanic bulla of a pygmy sperm whale that Bobby ID'd for me The last view of its side showing a similar split end shape that I could see it ending up like yours if we tumble it for a while. . 5ac57b57b6757_Pygmyspermwhalebulla.thumb.jpg.5b6e6f1f1d8f70cd6e45038642d1ea75.jpg

 

Not sure if I'm even in the neighborhood with this bulla guess so I'm definitely hoping its identifiable and Bobby has a chance to give you his thoughts. Cool piece. 

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, I don't think it's the same one, but maybe in the same neighborhood.

It is really quite a shame so much of the material in this spot is so thrashed about,  some of these GW teeth are huge, (JAWS size).

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now you still got my curiosity...So what does a huge GW frag from there look like? Do you ever find any bulla there that are still recognizable? 

 

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I do know: It's a bone!

 

What I don't know: To what! :P

Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris, here are some of the better teeth. As you can see, not many retain much in the way of roots. Even then, the average size of these are around 2" just for the crown alone. With a width of 1 1/2", they are quite impressive in hand.

 

20180405_204728.jpg

20180405_205201.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a peek at the "cement" these pieces are encased in. Pickaxes bounce off of it. Very, very hard conglomerate matrix.

20180401_135940.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you sir! Wow those are crazy nice and the color and look at those patterns---Love seeing the matrix especially good.


To think about how they got to that stage and how many individuals over a span of time always makes me pause and wonder.  Conglomerate deposition/rework is much more fun than watching a shale form. I think building dams in small creeks as a kid and watching a rain storm and mother nature wipe out my handy work and send it downstream has something to do with this odd fascination...Seems I should have done better in soft rock type classes than I did...LOL. 

 

Thanks again! Continued hunting and ID success.

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This item compares favorably with some very weathered and water-worn local fragments of Mio-Plio marine coprolites that I've seen.  If they're composed of a silicaceous material, some become quite hard and also quite tough, and will sometimes retain odd or delicate shapes even when water-tumbled.  Often they have a varyingly-worn white-colored mineral hydration rind, which appears to match the coloration of your item. 

 

Most of the local Mio-Plio ear bones I see are composed of a notoriously brittle material that fractures easily and generally wouldn't maintain such a delicate shape during wave/stream-tumbling. Along with the ear bone experts, maybe some of the coprolite experts can offer an opinion here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, sagacious said:

This item compares favorably with some very weathered and water-worn local fragments of Mio-Plio marine coprolites that I've seen.  If they're composed of a silicaceous material, some become quite hard and also quite tough, and will sometimes retain odd or delicate shapes even when water-tumbled.  Often they have a varyingly-worn white-colored mineral hydration rind, which appears to match the coloration of your item. 

 

Most of the local Mio-Plio ear bones I see are composed of a notoriously brittle material that fractures easily and generally wouldn't maintain such a delicate shape during wave/stream-tumbling. Along with the ear bone experts, maybe some of the coprolite experts can offer an opinion here. 

Agreed I've seen some coprolites that do have some interesting shapes as well. Some of the views of Caldiggers specimen seem to show some light colored spotting/pitting reminiscent of coprolite inclusions of some kind. I wonder what they look like under magnification. Good stuff! 

 

Regards, Chris  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This looks to be a phosphate nodule to me. Coprolite is possible, but it's so waterworn it would be impossible to distinguish from a nodule.

 

Keep digging though! If those are all C. carcharias teeth then this is no older than ~6 Ma.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh man, the dreaded phosphate nodule rears its ugly head once again--does make sense though! 

 

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...