More Fossils

[SteveNT]

Looking at a current Fossil thread I decided to climb into the roof cavity (attic?) where I knew I had a couple of milk crates of fossils and stuff. Haven't looked at these for 8 years or so. Here's some contents from milk crate#1.

Mid Cretaceous timber from Darwin Harbour.

These were deposited not far off shore from a river mouth 120 million years ago (approx). Most have been drilled by Toledo worms which are still a nightmare for timber ship owners today.

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Below are bits of the ancestor of Cypress Pine (Calytrix Expiculata) Like the current version it must have been poisonous to insects etc as the Toledo worms haven't touched it.
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All my good specimens go to the museum and there are several crates of this stuff waiting for a Phd student to analyse the flora of Darwin in the mid Cretaceous. No takers yet.

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Icthyosaur and Plesiosaur vertebrae (same depost)


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Trilobite fossil from a tiny island off the north Arnhem Land coast. They had to write the geological age af the area up 500my because of these finds.

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A mud prawn fossil. This species is still common today in the Darwin mangroves and the fossils only date back to the last several thousand years. In the 70s a local enterpreneur sent a shipping container full of these to America as "FOSSIL SCORPIONS!" Apparently he did quite well.


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Hyoliths (tiny squid in an ice dream cone) from the Cambrian Douglas/ Daly river limestone.

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Found this one in the mid Cretaceous deposits in Darwin Harbour. I saw straight away it was different from the usual giant marine reptiles and it turns out it's from a shark.

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On the left is a naturally occuring bottle from a strange Permian formation at Pt. Keats. It's not a fossil but interesting anyway. On the right is a mystery tube from the Darwin deposits again.

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Finally this is an "egg" from the Pine Creek goldfields. They occur randomly throughout the host rocks holding the gold and are a geological mystery as to their formation. Some have been found to contain significant amounts of gold (again the process is not understood). This one is not really heavy so I'm not busting it up for instant riches.

Anyway, I'll get crate 2 down sometime and see what I've forgotten in there.

 

[outbackstorm]

Amazing stuff there Steve, thanks so much for sharing, I really like them all and look forward to seeing crate 2!

 

[Shotta]

those are some awesome fossils you have there, fossils are cooly cool,
thanks for sharing

 

[imported_Varanus]

I was under the impression "toledo" worms were a mangrove inhabitant Steve? Perhaps that's why no bore holes in the Cypress samples?? Please explain!

If that's whats inmilk crate one, I can't wait for milk crate two.

 

[SteveNT]

I was under the impression "toledo" worms were a mangrove inhabitant Steve? Perhaps that's why no bore holes in the Cypress samples?? Please explain!

If that's whats inmilk crate one, I can't wait for milk crate two.

Toledos are oceanic. Those timber deposits are marine. The timber has floated out of a river to the sea and sunk in an area offshore (deep and oxygen free I'm told). You can get Toledo worms in your timber in ocean central! I'm guessing the same was true 120 my ago

 

[imported_Varanus]

So the cypress sample also floated out to sea? Am I being dumb (seriously, it wouldn't suprise me).

 

[Dragonwolf]

I find fossils fascinating. Thanks for showing some of your collection Steve, I'lll be looking impatiently for the next instalment.

 

[SteveNT]

So the cypress sample also floated out to sea? Am I being dumb (seriously, it wouldn't suprise me).

Yes IV all the timber floated out to sea and sank into silty mud. All timber except the cypress was attacked by T worms. 120 million years later cypress is still the only tree up here that borers, termites, etc wont touch.