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Fossil Shark Teeth In Upstate South Carolina?


Shelley Reid

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Hi everyone. I'm a new member and wanted to share this with you since it seems unusual to me. Perhaps it isn't.

One of my customers found the enclosed teeth while helping his father build a pond back in 2001. If it had been in the lower part of the state, I wouldn't think his find was unusual but the pond was constructed in Abbeville County. He said the soil was very sandy and is in a section of the county referred to as the 'Flat Woods.' Locals say this area was under water during prehisoric times. They may have gotten that from our local soil and water conservation office.

Is it unusual to find fossilized shark teeth this far upstate? I've never heard of anyone finding anything like this before in this area. Thank you for having me on the forum and I look forward to your responses.

By the way, Sorry I didn't include a coin for perspective. The longer tooth is roughly the size of a half dollar.

post-12712-0-83398800-1375497774_thumb.jpg

Edited by Shelley Reid
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Hi cfin1974 and thanks for the response. Yes, after doing some research, I came to the same conclusion.

I'm no authority on previous interglacial periods but from what I can determine, the ocean here in SC, at it's highest point, was much farther Southeast. I've not been able to find anything that indicates interglacial shores were ever anywhere near this area. As far as I know, this is the first time fossil shark teeth have been found this far inland in South Carolina.

Edited by Shelley Reid
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Yeah, that sounds like a weird find. You should PM Fossil Forum member Angus Stydens. He knows the geology of SC very well and was collecting fossils around the state for years before I met him in the early 90's. There are a few other collectors here who dive and dig land sites too.

Mark Havenstein of Lowcountry Geologic might have some info for you as well.

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Hi cfin1974 and thanks for the response. Yes, after doing some research, I came to the same conclusion.

I'm no authority on previous interglacial periods but from what I can determine, the ocean here in SC, at it's highest point, was much farther Southeast. I've not been able to find anything that indicates interglacial shores were ever anywhere near this area. As far as I know, this is the first time fossil shark teeth have been found this far inland in South Carolina.

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I agree with the species assignments, angustidens on the left and great white on the right.

These species commonly appear together in some oligocene-miocene aged material in

the lowcountry. As mentioned earlier, material of this age shouldn't be found that far inland,

so an application of Occam's razor yields for me:

1) your customer is mistaken or lying about where the teeth came from.

or

2) the material they were digging through was brought in from somewhere else at an earlier time.

I'd lean towards the second one.

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