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Small ammonoid from Jordan


Abed H.

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I found this on the surface of the land next to my house. 

when you expose it to the sun, you can see crystals reflecting light

IMG_20180919_081713.jpg

IMG_20180919_080842.jpg

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That is a portion of the crystallized phragmocone of an ammonite. We would need to know the geological age, which is what ynot means, and also exactly where you found it in order to at least have a chance at having a guess at the id.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Well, Mesozoic makes for an awful lot of possibilities, but at least we can say that it's an ammonite. The difficulty here is that ammonites tend to repeat their form and structure over the periods and stages. In order to narrow things down, we would at least need to know which stage it's from and even better would be to know the zone. It's also complicated by the fact that we can only see the inner, but not the outer structure of the shell and it looks to me as if the fossil is so strongly mineralized, that most of the structure has probably already disappeared, so let's just call it an ammonte and leave it at that, unless you can find out which zone it comes from.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Wish I could find thing's like that. *sigh*:shrug:

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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1 hour ago, daves64 said:

Wish I could find thing's like that. *sigh*:shrug:

Get on the nearest jet and head over to Jordan. Easy peasy!

 

 

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1 hour ago, caldigger said:

Get on the nearest jet and head over to Jordan. Easy peasy!

*checks caldiggers credit limit* Nope, you don't have enough for my plane ticket... 

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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Nice ammo!

“...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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1 hour ago, daves64 said:

*checks caldiggers credit limit* Nope, you don't have enough for my plane ticket... 

You got that right! Lol

 

 

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This is an ammonite phragmocone, preserved in flint. Nice looking but unfortunately not determinable as split. If I remember right, mesozoic sediments the area you are mentioning should be of turonian or coniacian age, I will take a look in my fieldbooks from my jordanian years tomorrow...

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Here is a simplified geol. map of the region you mentioned.

 

Ja are jurassic rocks, Kk are Albian/Aptian sediments (Sandstone, dolomite, marl, sand, shale, clay, sandy limestone) but both strata looking different, if I remember right.  According to the petrology of your find I would say it is mpst likely from the KJ strata (which are mostly Limestone, dolomite, marl and shales of Cenomanian/Turonian age containing flint like the one pictured above). Maybe it can be Ks (Senonian and Palaeocene) but than from the lower parts, becuase ammonites are allready extinct in the palaeocene.

 

There are two very informative books about the Geology of your country, the oldschool and more detailed Geology of Jordan from Bender, and the newer one is from Bandel & Salameh and you can download it here: Link

Geology of Jordan (map).jpg

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Thank you Johannes. This linked paper is a great help. As he already mentioned, the ammonite is not really determinable as a split, but at least it's possible to narrow it down to perhaps being a member of the superfamilies Hoplitoidea or Acanthoceratoidea. As a matter of fact, Choffaticeras sp. looks like a good match, but that's just guesswork.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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