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A few weeks ago I was working an exposure of the middle Turonian Kamp Ranch member of the Arcadia Park Formation in North Texas, using a chisel and the natural bedding planes to pull up slabs. I had been there less than 15 minutes and had only found one small, broken tooth amongst shell hash when I found this almost perfect medium sized Cretodus crassidens. I also found some smaller shark teeth including Ptychodus sp., miscellaneous vertebrate material, and ammonites of possibly multiple species. So far this specimen is my largest from the site 

 

The first thing I noticed about it was the white color of most of the enamel and strange patterns covering the exposed tooth. It looked like it had been recently exposed and weathered, but since it was only exposed by me pulling up slabs that is not possible. All the other teeth I found there didn’t have this type of preservation but had the normal brown enamel. I have searched for pictures of any other teeth with patterns like this, but so far nothing. 

 

I prepared it out of the rock and can see that the patterns occur on both the front and back of the blade and root. It is 35 mm diagonal and 25 mm root width. It was resting just a few millimeters above a large inoceramid shell. The tooth is perfect except that the tip of the left cusp broke off before fossilization. There are certain areas where the blade isn’t white and there are no patterns, but for the most part the pattern covers the tooth. I was also able to rub off a bit of the white with my finger, but it seems that the patterns are embedded in the tooth itself since it is also on the root. 

 

Here are some pictures. I am hoping the origin of these patterns can be explained and any links and/or pictures of other teeth like this can be provided. The first three are before prep and the rest are after. Thanks in advance! 

 

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FIG 1.

 

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FIG 2.

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Interesting tooth. It seems to me that the pattern/corrosion on the crown and root occurred because of digestion (it would also make sense that it is on both the crown and the root). The tooth was probably softened by the shark's enzymes after it was swallowed (it was likely digested by the shark itself) and the lines/grooves may have formed after stomach contents scraped against it. I have not seen this exact pattern before, but some NJ Cretaceous teeth do show digestion.

“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

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What a gnarly tooth!

Very cool looking! :) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I see a good number of teeth that look like your tooth in a very hard layer in the Eocene of Virginia.  The teeth are funky and usually white colored like your tooth.  I believe ground water penetration produced the hard layer and caused the teeth to get that way from minerals that leached out.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

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52 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

I see a good number of teeth that look like your tooth in a very hard layer in the Eocene of Virginia.  The teeth are funky and usually white colored like your tooth.  I believe ground water penetration produced the hard layer and caused the teeth to get that way from minerals that leached out.

 

Marco Sr.

 

That's a better explanation for the marks. I'm guessing that the groundwater affects only some teeth because it gathers only where the matrix is denser.

“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

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Reminds me of lightning strikes, when a acid from a plant root leeches minerals. 

“...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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13 hours ago, Heteromorph said:

...and ammonites of possibly multiple species...

:popcorn:

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