jort68 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Hey all, Apologies for my hand in the photos, they're the only pics of the fossils I will be able to take for a while. Here are two fossils found at the Topanga Formation, or The Ampitheater, a roadside sandstone and siltstone bed in Topanga Canyon, Southern California housing middle Miocene fossils. The clam was my best find, but I'm not sure of its exact categorization. It measures about 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide and thick. (10.16 cm x 6.35 cm x 6.35 cm) I had some thoughts based on this list that it may be Chionopsis temblorensis (Anderson, 1905), or Saxidomus nuttalli (Conrad, 1837). Also found were these segments which I inadvertently snapped apart, but which revealed some kind of crystallization of the interior. It would be really nice to know what kid of process made that, I tried to start the ID process myself and was unable to find a resolution. Your help is much appreciated, o wise ones. (; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creek - Don Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Second photo looks like fish vertebrae. I found similar bones, but much older. Yours could be a shark or very large fish by the size of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 12 hours ago, jort68 said: It would be really nice to know what kid of process made that Seem to be pieces of a turritellid gastropod. They are filled with flesh or empty(?) inside during lifetime. After death (and decay of the flesh), sometimes the empty space / void will not be filled totally with sediment. The resulting empty space /void is later filled with minerals (most often calcite, sometimes other minerals) via the process of pressure solution and precipitation during diagenesis (burial). Sometimes, some empty space / void is left, resulting in some freely grown crystals projecting into the remaining void. Franz Bernhard 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creek - Don Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 37 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said: Seem to be pieces of a turritellid gastropod. They are filled with flesh or empty(?) inside during lifetime. After dead (and decay of the flesh), sometimes the empty space / void is not totally filled with sediment. The resulting empty space /void is later filled with minerals (most often calcite, sometimes other minerals) via the process of pressure solution and precipitation during diagenesis (burial). Sometimes, some empty space / void is left, resulting in some freely grown crystals projecting into the remaining void. Franz Bernhard More I look at it, you are right! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sess Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 This is very exciting indeed! I found so many of those in the past two weeks, just on the side of the road, not even digging! A couple looked like bone but no lightness or cavities n the inside, just solid. Below is a strange looking rock, fossil; I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sess Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Here are the others I found, although just a sample, I have a pile on my table. I have a couple clams, a few snails, the long curly ones a few oysters and the bone looking things. Also some still embedded into the rock, a few pieces with what look like dark triangle, maybe leaves or fish scales?! This is all so exciting for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhw Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 I was up there last Thursday, poking around. I did a little surface collecting and brought some rocks back to bust up afterwards. Here's my before and after. I too would like to find some good definitive source on this area, but there isn't a whole lot out there. Nice clam by the way! I kind of liken them to Geoducks! Ha ha. You're other shots are indeed broken Turritellas which this site is kind of famous for. Someone posted that earlier, but yours are more like this. I've found crystal filled versions too over the years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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