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Anybody Recognize Anything In This Hash?


Rocks Anne

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I found this ( and MANY others) next to an oil well near Wewoka, OK, probably in the Wewoka Formation. It may have been blasted out, as there was a whole hillside of loose pieces like this one. I've been told these are all trace fossils made by worms, etc., but I'm not so sure. Any other ideas?

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That feature got my attention too!

There seems to me to be a mix of turbidity flow (angular clasts of non-biologic origin) and bio-turbation (the feature Indy highlighted). Have these been washed/scrubbed clean, or is there still dried mud on them?

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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There wasn't much mud on them, as they had been on that pile for who knows how many years, but they were all washed when I brought them home a few years ago. I washed this one again before I took these pictures and scrubbed it lightly with a soft toothbrush. There were also a number of brachs in the same pile in separate pieces.

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I agree with Auspex ... I don't see anything on this slab

which would suggest trace fossils.

The highlighted feature does bring possible feeding trace to mind.

However, I think it's just a shape suggestive of a feeding trace

and not a true trace.

Flash from the Past (Show Us Your Fossils)
MAPS Fossil Show

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I am confused. Regarding the photo I posted, Auspex said, "There seems... to be a mix of turbidity flow and bio-turbation (the feature Indy highlighted)."

I looked up bio-turbation and found (on Peripatus Home Page): "Trace fossils, or ichnofossils, are the evidence of bioturbation preserved in sediments, produced in soft sediments and hard substrates as a result of the living activities of organisms. They include surface tracks and trails, subsurface burrows and borings, as well as fecal material and the marks produced by dying animals (Häntzschel 1975)."

So if, as Auspex says, the feature Indy highlighted is the evidence of bio-turbation, then it is, by definition, a trace fossil. But Indy says, "I agree with Auspex ... I don't see anything on this slab would suggest trace fossils."

Again, I am confused. If not trace fossils, what ARE those formations on that slab?

Edited by Rocks Anne
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I believe the particular feature in question shows too much bilateral symmetry to be anything other than organic in origin.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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aren't those crinoid columnals in the third pic first posting? Not referring to the object Indy accentuated of course....

Edited by Plax
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aren't those crinoid columnals in the third pic first posting? Not referring to the object Indy accentuated of course....

I don't think so, but it's possible.

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