Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'morocco'.
-
Hi, any Sauropod experts out there? i saw this fossil for sale and the seller thinks it could be a partial Sauropod bone from the Kem Kem Beds. He notes that he isn't too confident with the id and could also be from a theropod. It is 12 inches in length. Any diagnostic features that could help? Thanks in advance!
-
So i bought this fossil trilobite a while ago. Is it real? If so what genus, species etc. would it be? Ask if more pictures are needed.
-
Day One ; Locality Three. Midelt 19th February 2019 The Berber nomads are hospitable, generous and very tough : The snow disappears soon after you get onto the High Plains between the Middle and High Atlas ranges. Here are the High Atlas looming in the distance : As one approaches the town of Midelt, the layered geology of what is mostly Dogger, the old name for the Middle Jurassic, still used here, becomes clear : Midelt is full of fossil shops, however most of the fossils, including a kazillion trilobites, actually come from elsewhere. Jurassic ammonites may be from here, and many of the small cut and polished ammonites are from around here, but Midelt is most famous for its minerals, vanadinite especially. Also lead ores, barite and flourite. Top Tip : Don't buy fossils in Midelt unless it's a cut and polished small ammonite you want. Minerals, yes, many are beautiful and very cheap. Hmm, this looks interesting................. "Stop the car!"
- 23 replies
-
- 15
-
-
- atlas
- brachiopod
- (and 6 more)
-
Day One; Locality Two AZROU February 19th 2019 A little further on in the High Atlas Mountains, at the heart of the cedar forest, lies the Berber village of Azrou, which means 'rock' in the Amazigh language of the locals. There is a huge and famous boulder just outside the town, hence the name. Many of the towns and especially villages in the mountains and the south of Morocco are populated by the Berber people rather than Arabs, so knowing a bit of Berber can really help get prices down and make the people extremely cooperative as speaking Arabic is not as impressive here as it is in the larger cities and towns elsewhere. Top Tip : A little Arabic is helpful, but a few words in Amazigh goes a long, long way. See the monkeys in the trees? Check out the Nature Photography Thread for more pics of the trees and monkeys. While wifey and the guys became acquainted with the famous Barbary Apes, actually a type of macaque monkey, I spotted the fossil shop opposite. And hurried across. The big ammonite is a man made beastie, often seen outside fossil shops to attract attention, but the quite large one near the front is real and from the local area. This is just the first of a whole row of shops set in a line running away from the road. However, the prices were very high, even with haggling and local languages, probably because this monkey area is a tourist hot spot. The local rocks seem to be Middle Jurassic and also contain some beautiful, large high-spired gastropods. Sorry, no photo, the cameras were back with the others. I managed to get some information on where to find some specimens only a ten minute walk away, so i set off into the forest, carefully avoiding large dollops of snow falling from the trees as the temperature rose. But the snow became deeper, the terrain dipped and it became impossible for me to proceed any further, so sadly, I sobbed and retreated back to the road. Caradhras had defeated him.
- 16 replies
-
- 16
-
-
Our Moroccan trip from 19th-23rd February 2019. Day One; Locality One IFRANE Here we are near Ifrane, a village built by the French in the 1930's in a Swiss chalet style so there are pointy roofs instead of the usual traditional flat roofs of Moroccan buildings. This is wifey and Anouar, a Moroccan tour guide, old friend and one time student of English, his brother, our driver Abdullah, is taking the photo. Anouar paid for the trip, accommodation and food in return for me teaching him a little about the fossils, crystals and minerals that we encountered. The trip was mainly an exploratory voyage for me to discover where was worth revisiting when i was alone and had more time to spare. Somewhere in this area are outcrops of Pleinsbachian (stage of the Liassic/ Lower Jurassic) rocks that are stuffed with terebratulid brachiopods including more than a dozen species and subspecies that were first described from this locality, many unique to the site. Unfortunately, it's well off the beaten track, but I think i know roughly where now, so will return another day. Not time today! The area is covered in loose rocks, ploughed up in fields and roadbuilding, eroded from outliers or washed into the area in the autumn rainy season floods or spring melts. The ones behind us look Middle Jurassic to me, yellowish limestones, some with iron staining. Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks are also in the region. The high ridges in the background are basalt intrusions as the Atlas mountains were formed as Africa began to collide with Europe throughout the Palaoegene and Neogene and this resulted in a lot of volcanoes. We moved on north of the village and stopped where we saw a group of the local fossil huts. These are all year round businesses, but in the season, from May til October you will find little stalls selling local fossils and minerals all the way along the route through the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. But the temporary stalls are all closed at this time of year, as it's pretty chilly and there are few tourists. Top Tip : Always pop into a couple of different shops and check out prices. Tell the next shopkeeper how much the previous one had stated and see if they'll undercut for a similar item. Always, always haggle! Top Tip : Ask which fossils and crystals are local if you don't know already; most of the shops in Morocco have local fossils and others from all over the country. Local fossils will usually be much cheaper, wait until you get nearer to the localities of other fossils and see the prices come down! Top Tip : If you have the time, ask the purveyors of local fossils to show you where they came from. Then go and have a look. They don't mind this at all.
- 48 replies
-
- 29
-
-
-
- bajocian
- brachiopods
- (and 9 more)
-
I am certainly not getting my hopes up for this fossil, because from experience of seeing theropod teeth placed in croc jaws and people labeling it as a 'rare Spinosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus jaw" on the market, the likelihood of finding an original jaw with associated teeth not from different animals is extremely rare (at least in the case of theropods and pterosaurs). However the seller has this as a Pterosaur jaw piece with one associated Pterosaur tooth and wanted to see whether you all think this is a composite or not. From what i know, there have only been two toothed Pterosaur jaw sections found from the Kem Kem Beds (the holotype for Siroccopteryx and the holotype for Coloborhynchus Fluviferox). The fossils is 5 inches by 3 inches. Thanks. -
Trying to find out anything on this fossil. Thinking maybe Moroccan, and teeth attached to a jaw? I can't find anything close to it.
-
Any red flags with this Spinosaur claw?
msantix posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hi, I know claws have been discussed quite a bit before on the forum, but i wanted to ask about this Spinosaur hand claw. It is said to have about 5% restoration and is over 5 inches long. Can anyone spot any red flags to be wary of or does it look good? Thanks. -
Good Walliserops trifurcatus?
Raulsaurus posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hello! I would like to know if you think that this trilobite is a good piece. The seller assures me that it is 100% natural, without restorations and with all the real spines. What do you think? This walliserops is from Foum Zguid I can get more photos or videos. Thank you. I hope your help.
-
Synonym: Diacalymene ouzregui References: DESTOMBES, J. 1966. Quelques Calymenina (Trilobita) de l’Ordovicien moyen et supérieur de l’Anti-Atlas (Maroc). Notes et Memoires du Service des Mines et de la Carte Geologique du Maroc, 188 1966: 33-52.
- 2 comments
-
- 2
-
-
-
- alnif
- diacalymene
- (and 6 more)
-
https://www.livescience.com/64832-ancient-starfish-relative-mystery-solved.html
- 3 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- echinoderms
- fezouata
- (and 1 more)
-
Moroccan starfish fossil purchased near Erfoud. Is it real? Are the small ones a different type of starfish? I am also looking for ideas on how to hang it?
-
Feeler is real? My freinds photo but feeler is look weird
-
Hello everybody ! I present you my humble collection of fossils. I live in Argentina Patagonia, mostly of the pieces that i buy in a travel in Morocco. Is not all the collection, only the most relevant. I hope you like it ! Amber from Dominican Republic Amber from Dominican Republic (fly): a Crabs !!! Many Ray teeth: Other ray teeth: asd asdasd s Other
- 28 replies
-
- 4
-
-
- collection
- fossils
- (and 1 more)
-
I am leaving tomorrow for a five day trip to explore some of the Moroccan Middle, High and Anti-Atlas Mountains and parts of the Sahara. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I seem a bit overexcited, it's because I am. This will be my first Moroccan collecting trip since the TB struck me in 2011/12. I won't be posting on a day by day basis, i don't think, as my laptop stays here and wifey's phone thing is beyond me. However, wifey's presence for the first time on one of my trips will enable me to take photos for the first time ever. I hope. A past student of mine who is a tour guide here is driving, along with his brother, because he gets asked geological questions a lot by the tourists and hasn't a clue. So in return for free accommodation and transport I have to teach a little basic Moroccan geology. I think I'll have to pay for the booze and fossils though. But I'm hoping to find more than I buy! So many, I hope, that I'll fill the 4x4 with them and wifey and the brother will have to walk home. Wish me luck, full trip details to follow when i am able.
- 56 replies
-
- 23
-
-
- atlas mountains
- devonian
- (and 2 more)
-
@snolly50 was nice enough to send me a mess of a Moroccan concretion to play with recently. It started out as what appeared to be bits of vertebrae poking out of the block. After about 4 hours of scribing with my ME9100, I had uncovered a few scraps of bone but no centra were evident. The natural crack that you see opened up from the vibrations of the scribe and no robust bone was evident in the crack either. With John's permission, I began exploring the back of the block, hoping to find something worthy to prepare. Bingo, I found some bone. The crack happened to peel through a small section of the centra rather than through a full cross section giving the appearance of a lack of large bone in the concretion. 4 or 5 hours later and the verts were mostly exposed. Unfortunately, this concredtion had a thin layer of softer rock on the outside and a significantly harder inner core. The matrix is MUCH harder than the bone and I fought the bones trying to crumble the entire time. This has copious amounts of Vinac on the bones to stabilize them. At this point, the ME9100 is almost making no progress on matrix removal. Enter the Super Jack scribe. This beast will plow through the matrix. It ultimately saved me around 12 hours of scribe work on this project. The one thing you have to be careful of is the increased vibrations to the block with the more powerful scribe. I spent more time consolidating and aggressively applied Vinac to any bone as it was exposed. Prep progressed quickly with me alternating between the Super Jack for bulk matrix removal and the ME9100 for close to the bone work. Including the exploratory time, I have 16 hours into this prep at the finish. I left some of the tool marks on the matrix rather than completely smoothing it out because I think it highlights the rugged nature of the piece and most Moroccan stuff has tool marks. The ones I have seen that are totally clean look off to my eye. It would be like @RJB leaving tool marks on his crab concretions. None of them have it so if they were there, it would look wrong. Here's the final product.
-
Hi all, I just got back from Arizona where I spent a couple of days at the Tucson Gem Show. On my quest for coprolite treasure at the Moroccan village, I came across this little mystery piece. I'm assuming it is some type of coral or brachiopod. The dealer only had a handful of these and this one had the least damage. Can anyone identify it? Any guesses on the age? When I first saw it, it reminded me of the septarians in this thread. Obviously, they are not the same.
- 5 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- coral
- invertebrate
- (and 1 more)
-
Found some cool items today - Real or Fake?
Beau'n Collector posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hi everyone! New member here. I am very excited to make my first post. So I came across a vendor today with some cool stuff, but I wanted to run some photos by the forum members first to see: 1) if you think they are real or fake. 2) how much would you expect to pay for a piece like that. Thanks for the help! Item #1 - Mosasaur Jaw To my eyes, this item looks legit as the teeth don't seem to be floating above the jaw with composite all around it, or teeth pointed in different directions. BUT...I know fakes are good and I am relatively new to educating myself to fakes vs real. Item #2 - Another Mosasaur Jaw (top and bottom) Also looks pretty legit to my newb eyes. But I am worried both top and bottom jaws in that position are too good to be true. Item #3 - Croc Skull? My gut reaction is fake...mostly due to the matrix looking like it was smeared on like cream cheese. Item #4 - Plesiosaur Skull and Neck It's apparently from goulmima southern morocco. Sadly I don't have more pics, as I didn't want to handle it and move it around. But I was able to get down low and see that it does have it's teeth. I just couldn't a good picture of it. :-\ The closest comparison I could find was this plesiosaur head/neck from an archived auction house website image. But the matrix around it seems the same.
.thumb.jpg.dc1a0e73f9364c3bf9bb5edd6381d7ad.jpg)
-
Hi, I have what is described to me as a turtle claw from the Moroccan Phosphates. That's all the info I was given unfortunately. It has a curve as seen from the top view. It measures 44mm long. First up, is this a turtle claw? Second, is it possible to ID its family or species? Third, what could the age be? I am guessing 70.6 - 55 million years old. Fourth, can I narrow down the locality? Thank you for your help.
-
Hey Gang, Need some help. I've got a couple trilobites and I realize I dont have confirmed ID/provenance. They were labeled as being from Morocco. 1)Maybe a Flexicalymene? 2) Not sure what this one might be and it looks like much different matrix and preservation than I've seen for Morocco? Maybe something like a Phacopsid? Thanks for the help in advance. Regards, Chris
-
Just a little heads-up if anyone sees these. They're currently for sale at a commonly-used site. The jawbones are actually quite nice, but the teeth all appear to be added afterwards. In my opinion, none are original. Although both are nice decorative pieces, I wouldn't buy them unless they were pretty cheap. Most people will know this already, but posted for the benefit of newbies.
.jpg.de63e651b851a736e05a550b3f2e23e8.jpg)
.jpg.319f4eb2a588f97b7ad848283c403db0.jpg)
-
From the album: Trilobites
Acastoides zguilmensis -
Saw this for sale- ID as unknown dinosaur from Morocco. It is 0.7" long. Anyone know what this might be?
-
I was given this around Christmas. It had a gray "dusty" coating. Upon cleaning/prepping it now looks like this. Here's what makes me question it's authenticity...notice the gray matter down the middle and at the tip. Your thoughts?
-
I’m in the process of creating some labels for my specimens and may end up posting again in this thread for help from time to time. Hopefully it’ll help others as well. I have a neat tooth sold to me awhile back as Zarafasaura oceanis, Phosphate Beds, Kourigba, Morocco. I don’t know much about Elasmosaurs, but would label name be appropriate, or is it really an indeterminate elasmosaur tooth?
.jpg.b5d755d998c3584eb40490bd66b95ce8.jpg)
.jpg.de63e651b851a736e05a550b3f2e23e8.jpg)
.jpg.319f4eb2a588f97b7ad848283c403db0.jpg)
