Who Collects Fossil Seashells?

[Harry Pristis]

Is there anyone here who collects fossil seashells?

This is a shell from the Pliocene - not very old at 3,000,000 years, or so. The spines, of course, would have been defensive against predators. These days, we can admire the preservation of these delicate features.

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[Harry Pristis]

Here's another:

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[Mosasaurfiend]

Those are just gorgeous, Harry..

I will post some in the near future that I have found.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Thanks, 'mosasaurfiend' . . . Do show us what you've found.

Here's another:

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[ohio]

Nice! I have complete examples (some sort of scallop) that I collected years ago in Aurora, NC. Thanks for the look and nice pictures.

Chuck

 

[Exnihilo]

the first one is very wonderful but this kind if fossil is very hard to date. I prefer those of the Jurassic and Cambrian.

 

[NorCal Gal]

The first fossils I ever found (quite by accident, really...) were fossil shells. Most of them were (petrified) sand dollars but I also found bi-valves and nautilus type shells in the same area here on the coast of Northern California.

When I took a junior college geology class, I showed some of them to my teacher who said they were originally from an area about 150 miles south of where I found them. According to him, a tectonic plate of the Pacific Ocean meets another plate right along the shoreline of California's coast and it has shifted northwards that amount of distance since the fossils were deposited.

Here's a photo of some of mine:

 

[bbbaldie]

From the Caloosahatchee.

That third one is particularly remarkable, the two bivalve halves still joined after missions of years!

 

[Tigger]

Re: Who Collects Fossil Seashells?

My family would if we could go with someone who knows what they were doing!

We're in N Cent Fla too. Over Christmas we decided to finally try the Peace River, low water level, read up on where to go. Found a few manatee bones. We do better in the creeks in our hometown!! We must've been doing something wrong, even with the research.

Do you have a club that you go with, or are you on your own? Did you have to clean them up much? They are GORGEOUS - loved the spiny ones.

Tigger

 

[Harry Pristis]

Re: Who Collects Fossil Seashells?

My family would if we could go with someone who knows what they were doing!

We're in N Cent Fla too. Over Christmas we decided to finally try the Peace River, low water level, read up on where to go. Found a few manatee bones. We do better in the creeks in our hometown!! We must've been doing something wrong, even with the research.

Do you have a club that you go with, or are you on your own? Did you have to clean them up much? They are GORGEOUS - loved the spiny ones.

Tigger

I don't get out much now. There is no guarantee that you'll find keeper fossils when you go to the Peace River, especially if you go to the hard-hit easy-access places. You just have to go where others - many others - haven't gone. That may mean using a boat or a long walk. Wherever you go, it's preparation, exertion, and luck!

Fossil clubs are a good way to learn aboout places and techniques. I've never been too enthused about group outings; however, it's good to have some others around to pull you from the jaws of a 'gator (heaven forefend!).

Good hunting!

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[bigtim1973]

Dos this count? It was found in our little creek we have on the place. I guess it is some sort of seashell. Maybe some of you guys could ID it, Tim

 

[Harry Pristis]

I'd guess that it's a gastropod, a snail. It might be Mississippian in Central TN.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's another from the Caloosahatchee beds of South Florida:

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[Harry Pristis]

Here's another from South Florida:

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[Harry Pristis]

This one is a tulip shell, Fasciolaria scalarina Heilprin.

 

[Harry Pristis]

A "turban shell."

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[IndianRiverSonrise]

These examples aren't in such great condition, but I guess you would call them shell fossils. In the first photo, you can see a crystalized shell maintaining pretty much its original form near the top of the clump. And the second one is a crystalized shell. How would you describe those two crystalized ones?

I'm also adding two photos of shells that were attached to conglomerates containing mammal bone fossils. The first might contain part of a crushed skull and some other fossilized bones. And in the last lump you can see a fossil tooth sticking out of the conglomerate. But I'm not sure the shells are as old as the bones or when they got attached.

 

[allen]

I really enjoyed looking at all of those !!!

 

[Harry Pristis]

It's hard to believe that we've exhausted the thread on fossil sea shells. Here's another one:

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