Jump to content

A few NJ Cretaceous trips


non-remanié

Recommended Posts

Here's a good assortment of my finds from 3 trips into the late Cretaceous of New Jersey earlier this spring.   It's a mix of Wenonah and Navesink formation fossils from the late Campanian.   The best finds were 2 pretty nice hadrosaur teeth for NJ but there's a good variety of material including a shamer broken plesiosaur tooth, small mosasaur tooth, a nice Ischyodus (ratfish) palatine mouth plate, a few sharks teeth (mostly Scapanorhynchus and Squalicorax) and more.  There's even 2 small pieces of heteromorphic ammonite in there, Nostoceras hyatti and Didymoceras.    Let me know if you'd like any more specific identifications. 

 

IMG_20180620_142414.jpg

---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen---

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ynot said:

Cool finds!

Is that a coprolite in picture #3 bottom right?

I bet @GeschWhat would like a close up of that one.

I saw that too Tony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is a coprolite. One piece broke off it. Good eyes.  I found a few others that aren't as well preserved as that one and aren't pictured.  

---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen---

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

I saw that too Tony.

I never would have seen it if not for Lori's enthusiasm for poop. (Thanks Lori!)

 

2 minutes ago, non-remanié said:

Yes it is a coprolite. One piece broke off it. Good eyes.  I found a few others that aren't as well preserved as that one and aren't pictured.  

You know Lori is going to want to see all of them.

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congratulations Steve. Those are some excellent finds. For me the two well preserved hadro teeth and the large fish vert really stand out. I assume the teeth with the attached matrix came directly from the formation. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your finds with us. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Jeffrey P said:

Congratulations Steve. Those are some excellent finds. For me the two well preserved hadro teeth and the large fish vert really stand out. I assume the teeth with the attached matrix came directly from the formation. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your finds with us. 

Thanks Jeff!   Unfortunately the attached matrix is very solidly cemented to the teeth.  Its extremely difficult to remove without damaging the teeth. 

---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen---

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great haul! Is that a juvenile Serratolamna lateral right under two Brachyrhizodus teeth at the right of the pic? Is the Nostoceras the smaller of the two and the Didymoceras the larger because of the small tubercles on the outside surface of the Didymoceras? The Hybodont spine segment in the first pic has tubercles and no striations. Some of the fin spine fragments have striations and faint tubercles. Would you say that it is just a variation or that they are potentially from different species? Is the Wenonah considered late Campanian and the basal Navesink latest Campanian now? I believe the basal Navesink was thought to be earliest Maastrichtian at one point.

 

Thanks,

Joseph

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, josephstrizhak said:

Great haul! Is that a juvenile Serratolamna lateral right under two Brachyrhizodus teeth at the right of the pic? Is the Nostoceras the smaller of the two and the Didymoceras the larger because of the small tubercles on the outside surface of the Didymoceras? The Hybodont spine segment in the first pic has tubercles and no striations. Some of the fin spine fragments have striations and faint tubercles. Would you say that it is just a variation or that they are potentially from different species? Is the Wenonah considered late Campanian and the basal Navesink latest Campanian now? I believe the basal Navesink was thought to be earliest Maastrichtian at one point.

 

Thanks,

Joseph

Thanks Joseph!  Yes its a Serratolamna.

 

As for the ammo frags, I'm not sure if the picture shows enough for diagnostic purposes.   The tubercules are much more pronounced on the larger of the 2; its a Nostoceras hyatti because of the looseness of the coiling.  But I've decided the smaller is likely Nostoceras pauper instead of a didymoceras.  On the underside(not visible) there is a  deep groove or impression from the whorls being tightly spired.  These are tiny worn fragments and my ID's are also based on my previous knowledge of occurrences of these species and my stratigraphic interpretations of where they were collected.   I will have Ralph Johnson confirm the ID's next week.  I could easily be wrong and Ralph is the only guy to trust 100% on the typical fragmentary NJ ammonites.  

 

The Navesink fm. ammonite fauna in Monmouth County is a latest Campanian fauna.  Upper portions and Navesink elsewhere in the state might be a bit younger.   The typical fossils in the Monmouth creeks all fit a latest Campanian age.    

---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen---

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent finds all around!

Thanks for sharing these with us. 

Regards,     

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome finds, especially the hadrosaur teeth! 

“...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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

am liking the Wenonah matrix. Great material reminiscent of bygone years collecting at Big Brook. Am thinking that "Navesink 1" sequence at BB is Mt Laurel to the south and west. Lithology above the lag is surely Navesink. Not sure what to call formations these days with the sequence updates. Guess we could call them sequences or formations and specify which is being discussed? Or Navesink "formation" (= lithology) is late Campanian and Maastrichtian.

  I didn't know the ammonite fauna from the Navesink Formation in Monmouth County was late Campanian. Learn something new every day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome finds! Thanks for sharing this!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...