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vicky77

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Hi everyone. 

 

I am completely inexperienced in this. I dont even know if I have actually found a fossil.  I live in the Karoo and found the attached rocks on one of my mountain climbs. There seems to be a layer of this rock about halfway up and I am sure there are plenty more. If you can advise me. I apologise for the quality of the pictures and hope you can make them out. Thank you so much

20181217_120419.jpg

IMG-20181202-WA0008.jpeg

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I agree with the fracture concept, but weathering, specifically the expansion caused by hydration, I believe can play a role in the shape being created in sedimentary rocks as well.  

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Not denying the geological possibility, but look at the similarity of these objects to Ediacaran Cyclomedusa (very very old and very weird and poorly understood creatures). Looks like there are Ediacaran deposits in South Africa.

 

ÐаÑÑинки по запÑоÑÑ cyclomedusaFile:Cyclomedusa sp.jpgÐ�аÑ�Ñ�инки по запÑ�оÑ�Ñ� cyclomedusaÐаÑÑинки по запÑоÑÑ cyclomedusa

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@Anomotodon

I think the Karoo beds are Triassic. That would rule out anything Ediacaran.  :unsure:  

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beidelitic smectite rings in weathered basalt?

(in essence thus concurring with Paul H)

NB:The Karoo is extensive,also in a stratigraphical sense

The Dwyka Beds are certainly Permian

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7 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

weathered

Key word to explain the difference in appearance between example and post I assume ?

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42 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

Liesegang processes do take place in weathered

I agree with the weathered  Liesegang processes.

However, the rock looks more like a sandstone than basalt.

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.

 

 

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9 hours ago, vicky77 said:

There seems to be a layer of this rock about halfway up and I am sure there are plenty more.

Could you take some in-situ photos of that layer?

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

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not seeing any fossils, sorry

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen

No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go.

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7 hours ago, Anomotodon said:

Not denying the geological possibility, but look at the similarity of these objects to Ediacaran Cyclomedusa (very very old and very weird and poorly understood creatures). Looks like there are Ediacaran deposits in South Africa.

 

�а��инки по зап�о�� cyclomedusa

I think many of these are now considered to be holdfast marks of rangeomorphs such as  Charnia, it's base being called Charniodiscus. 

Here is one very similar to the photo here, from my collection, Medusina mawsoni, also once thought to be a jellyfish, hence the name. 

Medusina2.thumb.jpg.c40686dcd3280c814c07b03a1aeb1fad.jpg

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15 hours ago, vicky77 said:

 I live in the Karoo and found the attached rocks on one of my mountain climbs.

I think We need to have a better understanding of the age of the rocks You are looking at.

Can You look at a geologic map of the area or give Us a location?

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.

 

 

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On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 6:43 PM, ynot said:

I think We need to have a better understanding of the age of the rocks You are looking at.

Can You look at a geologic map of the area or give Us a location?

Thank you for your response.  I have attached the GPS coordinates to our property. The mountains are south of the property.  It is extremely remote.

2018-12-18 19.39.34.png

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On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 12:53 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

I think many of these are now considered to be holdfast marks of rangeomorphs such as  Charnia, it's base being called Charniodiscus. 

Here is one very similar to the photo here, from my collection, Medusina mawsoni, also once thought to be a jellyfish, hence the name. 

Medusina2.thumb.jpg.c40686dcd3280c814c07b03a1aeb1fad.jpg

Those are very impressive and I see that my one does seem to have a resemblance to these

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On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 12:21 PM, abyssunder said:

Could you take some in-situ photos of that layer?

Thank you for your response.  I am currently not on the farm but will send a photo as soon as I return. I have attached a photo of a similar layer in another mountain in the group.  The one where I found the rocks was much narrower. 

20181111_161035.jpg

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On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 5:12 AM, Oxytropidoceras said:

Looks like spheroidal weathering.

 

Go see:

 

1. Spheroidal weathering

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheroidal_weathering

 

and 2. Liesegang rings (geology)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liesegang_rings_(geology)

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

Thank you very much for the links.  There are a lot of examples of spheroidal weathering on the mountain itself and a hill in the vicinity. 

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On Monday, December 17, 2018 at 3:13 AM, TqB said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

They look like fracture patterns in basalt or similar igneous rock. Like this, from this site: https://www.sandatlas.org/basalt/

 

5c17845ed2f1f_Screenshot2018-12-17at11_08_12.png.262fa227fe086a363706755b5c7467e5.png

 

 

Thank you so much for your links.  While there are different kinds of basalt rocks on the mountain in different sections. One  section even has what looks like a waterfall of basalt rock running down most of that section.  The rocks i have posted are more sand stone than basalt. The links were exceptionally helpful as I was able to identify some of the interesting rocks that I have collected during my explorations.

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It looks like in that area there is sedimentary rock of the correct age for the suggestions made by Anomotodon and Tiggy's Dad.

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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.

 

 

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1 hour ago, vicky77 said:

Thank you for your response.  I am currently not on the farm but will send a photo as soon as I return. I have attached a photo of a similar layer in another mountain in the group.  The one where I found the rocks was much narrower. 

Thank you for the photo. Now I know why you like climbing. :)


The Maine Karoo Basin has a sedimentary character. It is an infill basin. The sandstone succession in the Karoo Basin  was accumulated between the late Carboniferous and the early Jurassic, attaining a maximum thickness of 12Km. The uppermost deposits are the youngest in geological time. There's a lot of mudstone and sandstone forming beautiful landscapes with interesting features, like rock doughnuts,  pothole structures, polygonal "boxwork" structures, convex polygonal structures, cavernous weathering/erosion forms, slope forms, cliffs, pillars, lichen-cyanobacteria-fungi-induced weathering, etc.


There might be a Paradise for the tourists.

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" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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There are a number of PDF files of publications on the Internet about the Karoo Basin.

 

Some include;

 

Johann Neveling, Robert A. Gastaldo, and John W. Geissman

Permian–Triassic  boundary, Karoo Basin, South Africa

35th International Geological Congress Field Trip Guide

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f62/89e59a0b51d1bcef320255e11ed702582302.pdf

http://personal.colby.edu/~ragastal/RAG_reprints/RAG2016c.pdf

 

Retallack, G.J., Smith, R.M. and Ward, P.D., 2003. Vertebrate 

extinction across Permian–Triassic boundary in Karoo Basin, 

South Africa. GSA Bulletin115(9), pp.1133-1152.

https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/d/3735/files/2013/07/karoopt_final-2hzot5q.pdf

https://web.colby.edu/ragastal/publications/ptb-karoo-basin/

 

Gastaldo, R.A., Adendorff, R., Bamford, M., Labandeira, C.C., 

Neveling, J. and Sims, H., 2005. Taphonomic trends of 

macrofloral assemblages across the Permian–Triassic 

boundary, Karoo Basin, South Africa. Palaios, 20(5), pp.479-497.

https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/5946/Palaios_2005.pdf

https://web.colby.edu/ragastal/publications/ptb-karoo-basin/

 

Götz, A.E., Ruckwied, K. and Wheeler, A., 2018. Marine 

flooding surfaces recorded in Permian black shales and coal 

deposits of the Main Karoo Basin (South Africa): implications 

for basin dynamics and cross-basin correlation. International

 Journal of Coal Geology, 190, pp.178-190.

https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/files/8045697/Marine_flooding_surfaces_recorded.pdf

 

There is also a new book, "Origin and Evolution of the Cape Mountains and Karoo Basin."

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

 

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