Fossil hunting at "Höllerkogel-18", St. Josef, Styria, Austria (Miocene - Langhian, ca. 15 Ma) - 08/16/2018

[FranzBernhard]

Hello,

a few weeks ago, I uploaded two fossils from "Höllerkogel-18" to the collection. Last thursday (08/16/2018) I visited this outcrop again. It is a tiny outcrop (about 1-2 square meters) in a densely wooded, very dark and very steep area southwest of St. Josef, Styria, Austria. This small outcrop, composed of a medium grained, quartz-rich, somewhat limonitic sand yielded, from November 2016 to May 2018, at least 80 species of gastropods and bivalves. Most of the fossils are characterized by a partial limonitic staining and a usually very good preservation.

The sediments in the area belong to the "Florianer Schichten", which are part of the western Styrian basin at the eastern margin of the Alps.

The "Florianer Schichten" are about 15 Ma old (Langhian, or "Badenian" in Paratethys stratigraphic terms).

First "photo" is a map showing St. Josef and Höllerkogel Hill.

Second photo is an overview of this outcrop. Photo is very poor, it was very dark (despite a sunny day) and my camera is not very light sensitive, to say the best. The use of of flash resulted in an even worse photo. Just above the green x, you may discern a white-brownisch spot. This is the bivalve of the next photo. The pocket knife to the left of the green x is 9 cm long. Bright spots are small fossils or fragments of larger ones.

Third photo is the bivalve in situ, as you can see, it was possible to make an even worse photo...

[FranzBernhard]

I will show you 3 fossils from this hunting trip. First is the bivalve you already know. It is heavily fractured, a smal part is missing and some areas are also slighlty dissolved. But it has both valves (slighly displaced) and a boring of a moon snail as well as the typical partial limonitic staining. The concentric ripping is well preserved, the rips don´t cover the whole shell. Width is 50 mm. Its a venus clam, Callista italica (Defrance, 1818), probably also known as Cytherea pedemontana Agassiz, 1858.

[Manticocerasman]

nice repot and finds, I didnt know there were Miocene deposits in Austria

[FranzBernhard]

The second one is another bivalve, the right valve of a pectinid, Pecten styriacus Hilber, 1879. Not much to say about it, width of shell is 33 mm.

 

The last one is a gastropod, an olive snail Olivella clavula (Lamarck, 1810). Its 21 mm high and it is located on a fragment of an unknown shell.

 

Thats all, thanks for watching. I wish everybody lots of successfull, memorable and save fossil hunting trips!
Franz Bernhard

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, Manticocerasman said:

nice repot and finds, I didnt know there were Miocene deposits in Austria

Thanks!

Oh, there are lots and lots of miocene sediments with many, many fossil sites in Austria. One of the most (in)famous is Weitendorf (about 8 km ESE of St. Josef):

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/73610-weitendorf-styria-austria/&tab=comments#comment-775203

There are many, many fossils for sale from this site on the internet.

Franz Bernhard

[ynot]

Nice mollusc pieces.

Thanks for sharing.

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice shells! One wonders if sharks teeth are possible to find...

[FranzBernhard]

21 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Nice shells! One wonders if sharks teeth are possible to find...

Thanks! Theeth are very, very rare (I have never found one) but in 150 years of collecting in the "Florianer Schichten" in western Styria, some were indeed found. There is some literature about that. Even a few Megs were found - see the cover of a local journal from 2006. Its from the already mentioned Weitendorf site.

 

Here is the literature:

https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/MittAbtGeoPalJoan_52-53_0041-0109.pdf

Sorry, its to large to attach it.

 

Franz Bernhard

[fifbrindacier]

Nice finds, it's a pleasure to see them.

[FranzBernhard]

On 19.8.2018 at 3:48 PM, ynot said:

Nice mollusc pieces.

Thanks for sharing.

 

20 hours ago, fifbrindacier said:

Nice finds, it's a pleasure to see them.

Thanks for your appreciation!
Franz Bernhard

[Monica]

Nice molluscs!  I especially like the Callista italica - such beautiful colours, and such a wonderful species name! (my parents are Italian ).

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, Monica said:

Nice molluscs!  I especially like the Callista italica

Thanks, Monica!
Here are a few more:

https://www.franzbernhard.lima-city.de/Callista.html

Franz Bernhard