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Mollusk Type Shell Fossil or My Imagination? lol


Nadia

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So, I have two more fossils (I think), that I could really use help with....

Both found in same location(s) and formation(s) as my prior posts.

The first, looks like the impression of a mollusk/shell to me (about 3/4' in diameter) ??? 

The second, I cant even begin to guess as I would probably be wrong anyway. lol

Its corkscrew in shape and about 3/4' long.  It left a mirrored impression of itself on the opposing rock.

Any thoughts???!!! Thanks in advance. :0)

58077070468__527A3B56-1874-44D7-A969-4DDDC6C8DA3D.jpg

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The first one is going to be difficult to ID. The second one is similar to Archimedes, a genus of bryozoan. 

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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Wooohooo...that’s soooo cool! Thank you Mark; you’re awesome.  Never heard of Archimedes before. I’m learning something new, on the daily in this forum! Are these types of fossils common in marine formations in Southern California?

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1 minute ago, Nadia said:

Wooohooo...that’s soooo cool! Thank you Mark; you’re awesome.  Never heard of Archimedes before. I’m learning something new, on the daily in this forum! Are these types of fossils common in marine formations in Southern California?

I'm not familiar with California fossils specifically, just fossils in general. My area of expertise is Mazon Creek concretions from Illinois. Both of your specimens are well worn and that makes ID more difficult because many different species look similar in general shape and ornamentation. If you Google 'Archimedes fossil' you'll see why I only said that it "resembles" one. Keep on hunting -- there's a lot of different and interesting fossils to be found in California. Look in the "Fossil Sites" listing for California near the bottom of the home page on this forum. 

 

Cheers, Mark.

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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Now I’m going to have to google Mazon Creek concretions too. I looked up Archimedes on Wikipedia and it looks exactly like what I have.  

I only started exploring about a month ago and have found so many interesting things and am gaining tons of new knowledge. Lots of fun and definitely habit forming. I’ll check out the “Fossil Sites” listing for Cali next. Thanks again Mark. 

Cheers!

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7 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

The first one is going to be difficult to ID. The second one is similar to Archimedes, a genus of bryozoan. 

Archimedes died out in the Permian. The Monterey Formation is Miocene in age.  

Probably not Archimedes

 

Could be a broken or deformed high spired gastropod, or some sort of trace fossil. 

Maybe @caldigger  may have some ideas. 

 

First one is probably a shell imprint, but not sure you can rule out fish scale, although the size makes me think more towards a shell imprint.

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    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      

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Archimedes were extinct by the time of the Miocene. My thought is a high spiral gastropod, for example, turretella.

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@Fossildude19, you have got to let us novices respond first!! It is nice to be able to help when one can use their new found knowledge. LOL Beat me by a minute!!!

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Enlarged and contrasted pic of the shell: 

 

Shell8DA3D.jpg

    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      

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1 minute ago, minnbuckeye said:

@Fossildude19, you have got to let us novices respond first!! It is nice to be able to help when one can use their new found knowledge. LOL Beat me by a minute!!!

:blush: Whoops. 

    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      

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As Tim and Mike have stated, this is the wrong age for Archimedes.

What's getting me hung up if a turretella type shell is that the spiral doesn't seem to taper at all. :headscratch:

Let's pull in our reigning bivalve guy and see if he has any insight on the other piece. @Max-fossils

I had to look up Puente Formation and it seems that is the one you are pulling these from. Puente is formed from highly compacted sands ( what you have shown ) of the late Miocene. As far as my experiences with Monterey Formation goes, it has always consisted of fine silt shales.

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That first one could be a bivalve imprint or an imprint of the lowest whorl of a big gastropod... I'm afraid not enough detail is present to confidently say something about this. Bivalve does seem more likely though. 

 

That second one is very weird... The whorls don't seem to be decreasing in size and are not aligned perfectly straight, which makes me doubtful about Turritella. I'm thinking it might be a worm snail [Vermetidae family] (type of gastropod) or a tube worm [Serpulidae family] (completely unrelated to gastropods). These weird worm-like things can have very weird shapes, and a spiral-like shape is no exception to that. I am a little more on the Vermetidae side, but that's with no real conviction. I know absolutely nothing about the Monterey Formation, but the things I have mentioned do occur in European Mio-Pliocene sediments so I guess it's quite possible that similar things occured in the Californian Miocene. 

 

Some photos from Google (Petaloconchus on the left, Spirobranchus on the right) as comparison:

Petaloconchus_intortus_01.jpg.bf9b9f365c61afcf177829c8b2e387e3.jpgbwi-b049100.jpg.eff8fc0e5e6fe50b0bf6cbf03634c8a4.jpg

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Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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On 5/29/2019 at 4:37 AM, Fossildude19 said:

Enlarged and contrasted pic of the shell: 

 

Shell8DA3D.jpg

Thank you Fossildude for such an awesome contrast pic. It really helped bring my clam impression to life...so very cool!!!!

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On 5/29/2019 at 4:33 AM, minnbuckeye said:

Archimedes were extinct by the time of the Miocene. My thought is a high spiral gastropod, for example, turretella.

Thanks minnbuckeye for the input. More “food for thought”. I’m going  to have to further investigate high spiral gastropod’s. Learning something new everyday. 

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4 hours ago, Nadia said:

I’m going  to have to further investigate high spiral gastropod’s

As I said, I don't think it's a 'high-spiral gastropod', but rather a worm snail or a worm tube ;) 

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Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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