Ordovician in Tennessee (Help!)

[Terri]

And here's a better shot of the thick chunks of shell..the piece across the bottom is almost black.

 

[Terri]

When were barnacles first alive?

Wow, they date back 510-500 mya, but are not common as skeletal remains in the fossil record until the last 20 million years, according to this article (loving wikipedia tonight) there are a few fossil pics. so I don't think that's our RT's Barnacle - Wikipedia unless these are parts not commonly fossilized.

 

[Terri]

D! You might be on to something, go to the link and scroll down to the 6th pic. on the right!

 

[Terri]

I think you've done it D! They were around through out the Ordovician, so that works, and the structure is right.We'll see if Kevin agrees. That is very, very cool!

 

[DWhatley]

It would be cool if I was but I think they are too roundy. I keep thinking I have seen that shape somewhere other than as a pastry but I am inclinded to think my guess is wrong.

Off to bed now as I have taken my boss's gauntlet and accepted a challenge to program 21 sticks (a game) in .net at lunch tomorrow . We are both learning the .net environment and this is an excersize he has used to learn other languages. The game is simple enough to program but the environment is the challenge. I think I have a decent one upsmanship planned for the logic but I may have to cheat and use components I know well to beat him for speed (which kind of defeats the learning excersize).

One last look though, makes me proud of my guess because the shape (especially the opening) is more oval than I thought

 

[Terri]

I have taken my boss's gauntlet and accepted a challenge to program 21 sticks (a game) in .net at lunch tomorrow . We are both learning the .net environment

That paragraph sounds like Greek to me, but good luck with that!

One last look though, makes me proud of my guess because the shape (especially the opening) is more oval than I thought

I've been looking at these for a couple of months, browsing a lot and so far I am really liking them for barnacles! I may very well be wrong, but it's the closest match I've seen so far. Curious to see what Kevin thinks.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

I think the environment is all wrong for Barnacles. This looks like a very muddy bottom and barnacles need something to attach to besides mud. JMHO

 

[Terri]

....I would not have thought of that! That is why your opinion is appreciated, I really have no idea where to look now.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

And here's a better shot of the thick chunks of shell..the piece across the bottom is almost black.

The thick chunks look like Bryozoans (or the prismatic shells of Cretaceous Inoceramids ). And the black pieces look like trilobite parts.

Keep on thinking of those RT's, the answer will come eventually

 

[Terri]

Thank you Kevin!

 

[Terri]

Maybe another bit of a cyrtocone? And carrying on the theme from this site of intermixing...

 

[Terri]

Wait for it...

 

[Terri]

About 1 cm.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

That is a weird place to see a gastropod. In some cretaceous concretions I find, especially the ones that are very packed with fossils, it is very hard to see where one fossil starts and another ends, perhaps some of these shells were in the process of decay and somehow other fossils got pushed into the softer ones????? More study (Taphonomy) needed.

 

[Terri]

There does seem to be a lot of the gastropod/cephalopod thing going on at this location that I don't see at other places I collect, of course my experience is limited, but it does seem a little odd. There are several here in this thread, it would make more sense to me if there were a few crinoid stems, brachiopods etc.. in the mix.