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  • 27-06-2013 10:25pm
    #1
    JGEP
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    I found this in a loose gravel car park last week and am wondering what it is, hopefully someone can help!

    I wouldn't be too up on my palaeontology / geology but it looks fossil-like and seems to have something crystallised inside it.


    gaj6.jpg

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    k344.jpg

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    l97h.jpg

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    i0kl.jpg

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    Thanks in advance :)


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    #2
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Amonite :)


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    #3
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,161 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    I'd disagree R, I'd say it's a member of the euophalus/euomphalus species, a gastropod, a snail, rather than an ammonite. Why? one face is more protruding than the other, laid flat it's more pyramidal rather than with a bisecting symmetry like(most) ammonites. Have a similar one myself I found as a kid.
    113673_synch-l-m.jpg
    You can see a similar ridge that runs the length of the whorls. The crystaline structure is a part of the original fossilisation process where minerals seeped into/replaced the void of the animal left in the rock.

    Nice find though JGEP :) IN a car park of all places. Cool and good eyes too.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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    #4
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Thanks for that Wibbs I think you may be correct and I fail miserably yet again LOL


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    #5
    JGEP
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭JGEP


    Thanks for the replies.

    Your description is pretty accurate Wibbs, any idea how old one of these would be?



    Edit: Saw an example of one from Carboniferous period (362 - 290 million years ago). The one I found is hardly that old but still, anytime in that direction is pretty mindblowing.


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    #6
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,161 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Nope it is that old JGEP. Lower Carboniferous in date. The vast majority of limestone you see in Ireland is from that date. The stuff is everywhere. The Burren in the Wesht is all Lower Carboniferous limestone, as is Ben Bulben and Croagh Patrick. We're a Lower Carboniferous country :) And yea it is mad to think how old something like that is.





    PS the pic I posted above isn't the one I found, mine was more bollexed than that one.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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    #7
    JGEP
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭JGEP


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Nope it is that old JGEP. Lower Carboniferous in date. The vast majority of limestone you see in Ireland is from that date. The stuff is everywhere. The Burren in the Wesht is all Lower Carboniferous limestone, as is Ben Bulben and Croagh Patrick. We're a Lower Carboniferous country :) And yea it is mad to think how old something like that is.





    PS the pic I posted above isn't the one I found, mine was more bollexed than that one.

    That's class! Well happy I found it now, might go have another scout around that car park :D


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