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Found this small oddity while breaking apart limestone. The pitted appearance was interesting. The pits also seem to extend the whole way through. They also appear to wrap at a 90 degree angle on the side that isn't broken. The broken side reveals how they go through. I chipped away a little at the matrix, but didn't go too tough to keep from breaking it.

 

Whole specimen with scale: (stacked photo)

unknown-stack-2020-09-04-001.jpg

 

Showing outside 90 degree wrapped edge with same appearance: (stacked photo)

unknown-stack-2020-09-04-002.jpg

 

Broken edge showing channels going through the width.

unknown-nostack-2020-09-04-003.jpg

 

Additional view of the top (unstacked photo)

unknown-nostack-2020-09-04-004.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Fossils of Parks Township - ResearchCatalog | How-to Make High-Contrast Photos

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That is a fish/shark tooth.

 

 

Edited by DPS Ammonite
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My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

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A nice partial holocephalian tooth plate. My immediate reaction was something like Psammodus, but it's hard to say as the tooth is both incomplete and I find it tough to ID these from photographs.

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Well that certainly expands my knowledge on teeth. I think might have another one that has a half cylinder appearance. I’ll have to photograph that. And perhaps I will try to get video of this one. Thank you both! :)

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An odd bit. What have others found in the area?

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On 9/5/2020 at 12:14 AM, cngodles said:

Also, this one. Maybe related? 1/2mm between marks.

 

unknown-specimen-001.jpg

I get more of a coral/bryozoan vibe on this one. A couple angles might help.

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1 hour ago, connorp said:

I get more of a coral/bryozoan vibe on this one. A couple angles might help.

I do agree. That is what I initially thought. It was just the pattern reminded me. My friend mentioned it looks somewhat like a Thamniscus. His problem with it was that the holes usually don't line up so well.

 

Back to the tooth plate :) I shot a couple additional photos. Regardless if we nail down a genus or species, I highly appreciate the detective work.

 

holocephalian-tooth-plate-cg-0101-001.jp

 

holocephalian-tooth-plate-cg-0101-002.jp

 

It reminds me greatly of this specimen you posted @connorp

 

 

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Definitely chondrichthyan. Deltodus is ridiculously common in the Brush Creek Limestone and the shape is consistent, so I'd be happy with that ID.

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I hope I can find the references for Deltodus in the Brush Creek. There is a listing in a Carnegie Museum publication from 1911, but they did not publish photos. It was listed as distributed through the Brush Creek, Pine Creek and Ames Limestone. But I haven't looked too long. I was going full steam ahead with Psammodus, but I absolutely see that flat vs not flat is a determining factor.:

 

Reference for Deltodus angularis in the 1911 Annals of the Carnegie Museum

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9956762

 

I'm going to post a few more photos here to finish up this post.

 

Tooth surface detail:

detalodus-cg-0101-close-up-001.jpg

 

Natural Edge detail:

detalodus-cg-0101-close-up-002.jpg

 

Additional closeup of broken side showing internal structure:

detalodus-cg-0101-close-up-003.jpg

 

 

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I’ve heard reports of Deltodus teeth coming out of the Brush Creek but never seen one myself, nice find! Marine vertebrate fossils aren’t super common where I hunt so it’s nice to see some local variety.

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I've collected a number of Deltodus toothplates from the Brush Creek out of the old now-mostly-closed Sewickly Bridge roadcut, and there are quite a few toothplates in the Carnegie Museum collections. I don't know if they've been described but I can guarantee that they are there. Also the sigmoid cross section of the surface of the toothplate is classic Deltodus, whereas Psammodus is basically a flat plate.

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1 hour ago, jdp said:

Sewickly Bridge roadcut

I’ve read and heard quite a few stories from this roadcut. It’s a shame it’s closed, although I think part of the reason was the rocks high up possibly falling.

 

I’ve had a few conversations with the invertebrates department at the Carnegie, but I haven’t yet talked to anyone in vertebrates. It would be nice to get a few of these photographed.

 

Part of my overall goal with my website is to get these types of things photographed and make more information available online.

Fossils of Parks Township - ResearchCatalog | How-to Make High-Contrast Photos

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My understanding is they closed the Sewickly Bridge roadcut because they were concerned about people walking around next to a busy highway, but the rockfall concern makes sense too. There were big boulders which would fall off the cut from higher up; these would often be absolutely full of ferns and other plant fossils. The marine fossils were hit-or-miss, but you could find some nice chondrichthyan teeth from time to time.

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On 9/9/2020 at 11:40 AM, cngodles said:

I’ve read and heard quite a few stories from this roadcut. It’s a shame it’s closed, although I think part of the reason was the rocks high up possibly falling.

 

I’ve had a few conversations with the invertebrates department at the Carnegie, but I haven’t yet talked to anyone in vertebrates. It would be nice to get a few of these photographed.

 

Part of my overall goal with my website is to get these types of things photographed and make more information available online.

I wasn’t aware that the road cut was closed, that’s very unfortunate. 

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They started putting signage up around 2000 or 2001. You probably could still access the cut but you might get bothered by the cops.

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Sounds like any other place. :)

 

I'm not familiar with the area as I live North East of the City. Most of that is West of Pittsburgh. I think the Ambridge location is nearly the same sort of deal, correct? A large bridge that crosses the Ohio River and the Southern side of the river along the highway is where the road cut is. Just further West in Beaver County.

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If memory serves correctly, yes. Been a while since I last did any serious collecting in the Pittsburgh area.

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I'll note that vertebrate fossils have been collected from almost all of the big roadcuts in the Pittsburgh area including the entrances of the Ft Pitt and Liberty Tubes. Ames and Brush Creek are both full of marine verts, mostly Petalodus, Deltodus, and cladodont teeth that probably belong to either Symmorium or Glikmanius. Freshwater localities, which are most other horizons within the Pittsburgh area, are full of paleoniscoid-grade ray-finned fishes, Orthacanthus and Xenacanthus sharks, Helodus-type holocephalans, lungfishes (mostly Monongahela and Sagenodus) and an assortment of tetrapods.

 

Sewickley Bridge was nice because there was a nice 5-6 meter space between the highway and the roadcut, protected from the highway by a nice jersey barrier, and there was a good pulloff on the south end of the cut, but those rocks really are exposed all over the Pittsburgh area.

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  • 2 years later...
On 9/11/2020 at 2:43 PM, cngodles said:

I think the Ambridge location is nearly the same sort of deal, correct?

 

I haven't seen no trespassing signs at Ambridge and I've never been bothered there, so I believe it's still open to collecting. Lots of great fossils there. I find plants every time I go.

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