Possible teeth needing help identifying

[AfroRaptor]

I found these a couple days ago in a formation called Fiddlers Canyon in south western Utah.

I have collected countless gastropod fossils but this is the first time I've seen something like these.

They were in a dried river bed in said formation that is always littered with shell and shell fragment fossils. All I've done to them is wash them with soap and warm water.

 

[Fossildude19]

None of these are teeth.  No enamel, or tooth morphology.

 

Some of them do look like the "umbo" (part of the hinge line) of an oyster shell, though.

I think if you put a few drops on the shiny parts of the "teeth", they would fizz, as I believe they are likely calcite.

 

[AfroRaptor]

Interesting. Thank you. So fossil teeth won't fizz when placed in something like muratic acid?

[Balance]

2 minutes ago, AfroRaptor said:

Interesting. Thank you. So fossil teeth won't fizz when placed in something like muratic acid?

 I don’t think muratic acid is a good starting point. It’s destroys pretty much anything not designed to resist strong acid. Perhaps diluted but I imagine you get better suggestions or at least a ratio before you start dropping stuff in muratic acid for science. 

 

Jp

 

[AfroRaptor]

Okay. I've been avoiding using it on my fossils. I've mostly used it for cleaning gem stones and other minerals. I've been afraid it would completely dissolve. I have been using white distilled vinegar for at max an hour at a time. 

[Rockwood]

Filing off a bit of powder will make the substance more reactive and will limit any potential damage to the piece. I believe these are oysters, but I doubt powdered tooth will fizz the way carbonate shell does. 

[AfroRaptor]

29 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Filing off a bit of powder will make the substance more reactive and will limit any potential damage to the piece. I believe these are oysters, but I doubt powdered tooth will fizz the way carbonate shell does. 

Interesting. Could that be a method for identifying them? Also do you mean file down the matrix? I have a few larger pieces I thought were whole oysters so I didint know what these were cause my others are much less narrow.

[Rockwood]

1 hour ago, AfroRaptor said:

Interesting. Could that be a method for identifying them? Also do you mean file down the matrix? I have a few larger pieces I thought were whole oysters so I didint know what these were cause my others are much less narrow.

Powdered oyster shell should fizz when exposed to acid. Acid will dissolve teeth, but I don't think it would fizz the same. So, it would help to eliminate the possibility of a tooth identification. Both fossil oysters and teeth can be found in carbonate rock, so testing the matrix won't help. The shape of oysters varies. Narrower ones may just have been crowded into the space available for growth at the time. 

[AfroRaptor]

37 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Powdered oyster shell should fizz when exposed to acid. Acid will dissolve teeth, but I don't think it would fizz the same. So, it would help to eliminate the possibility of a tooth identification. Both fossil oysters and teeth can be found in carbonate rock, so testing the matrix won't help. The shape of oysters varies. Narrower ones may just have been crowded into the space available for growth at the time. 

That is very useful information! But I have to ask. How do you determine what mineral makes up the matrix? I also need to find some kind of website or document showing what can be found in different mineral matrix so if you know any such information I'd great appreciate it!

[Fin Lover]

Google "Lake Bonneville Utah stratigraphy" and it brings up several things.  

[Rockwood]

1 hour ago, AfroRaptor said:

That is very useful information! But I have to ask. How do you determine what mineral makes up the matrix? I also need to find some kind of website or document showing what can be found in different mineral matrix so if you know any such information I'd great appreciate it!