Pitviper Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 ...but I have the temporary luxury of total noobie status, so I'll ask it anyway. I collected some sharks teeth from a fossil bed last weekend. My brother asked if they were fossils or real teeth. I answered very confidently that they were fossils, but now I'm not so sure, none had any dirt on them and all were smooth and had neat striations along the edges, could fossils remain that immaculate and show no sign of wear in a river bed? It would be amazing to me that bone could be replaced by mineral in such a pristine manner. Scale of 1-10, dumb question??????? "Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 They could be just coming out of the matrix and you are finding them before they have a chance to tumble down the river. Some of the sharks teeth that I have found look like new also. It just depends how far they travel before they get to your hands. Here is a fossilized shark tooth from Tx that has had no cleaning done to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 ...but I have the temporary luxury of total noobie status, so I'll ask it anyway. I collected some sharks teeth from a fossil bed last weekend. My brother asked if they were fossils or real teeth. I answered very confidently that they were fossils, but now I'm not so sure, none had any dirt on them and all were smooth and had neat striations along the edges, could fossils remain that immaculate and show no sign of wear in a river bed? It would be amazing to me that bone could be replaced by mineral in such a pristine manner. Scale of 1-10, dumb question??????? I'll bet you didn't see any sturgeon in the river! That's because the rapacious river sharks ate them all. Every year, the sturgeon come upstream to spawn, then a few days later, the sharks follow scent clues in the water and find all the hapless sturgeon trapped in shallow water. It's best to stay out of the river while this slaughter is happening. The river shark teeth that are lost in this feeding frenzy are preserved if they happen to land in a low-energy situation -- a speedy burial in bottom sediments is a great help. There they lie, for days or weeks, ready for you to find. That's the story I told my eight year-old neighbor -- he was amazed and entertained. See if your brother will buy it. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn835 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'll bet you didn't see any sturgeon in the river! That's because the rapacious river sharks ate them all. Every year, the sturgeon come upstream to spawn, then a few days later, the sharks follow scent clues in the water and find all the hapless sturgeon trapped in shallow water. It's best to stay out of the river while this slaughter is happening.The river shark teeth that are lost in this feeding frenzy are preserved if they happen to land in a low-energy situation -- a speedy burial in bottom sediments is a great help. There they lie, for days or weeks, ready for you to find. That's the story I told my eight year-old neighbor -- he was amazed and entertained. See if your brother will buy it. So that's how it happens Now I know. With rocks in my head, and fossils in my heart.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 ...but I have the temporary luxury of total noobie status, so I'll ask it anyway. I collected some sharks teeth from a fossil bed last weekend. My brother asked if they were fossils or real teeth. I answered very confidently that they were fossils, but now I'm not so sure, none had any dirt on them and all were smooth and had neat striations along the edges, could fossils remain that immaculate and show no sign of wear in a river bed? It would be amazing to me that bone could be replaced by mineral in such a pristine manner. Scale of 1-10, dumb question??????? all kidding aside, it is of course not a dumb question. since you're new, you've missed some of the big debates over what a fossil is, how preservation occurs, etc. people here can help with the teeth id and possibly tell you more if you post good pictures of your teeth and state the general area they were found. there are almost gem perfect shark teeth that are millions of years old, and are most certainly considered fossils. as for your confusion over bone being replaced by minerala in such a pristine manner, that's not exactly an accurate statement. shark teeth start out fairly highly mineralized. although there are some chemical changes and perhaps some permineralization and a bit of replacement mineralization occuring over the years, the outer sharp edges of the teeth start out as dense material that doesn't tend to get completely replaced. your second question of how they can be perfect still in a river is fairly simple. the teeth are preserved in the "ground", or strata. at some point, the river's action erodes or cuts the strata to the point where it gets to the teeth and frees them. if the teeth are soon found near where they eroded out from, then no wear has occurred. if the teeth are carried miles downstream in a high-energy hydraulic environment with lots of gravel, sand, debris, etc. beating on them as they tumble, and then sink and stay in a gravel bed and get worked out for a while, then they won't be pretty. heck, they can even get "reworked" into a new strata by a storm or something and stay for millions more years and get all mixed up with other stuff. nature's great, ain't it? lots of cool mysteries to figure out. if you found shark teeth in a river a ways from the ocean, and they're not bull shark teeth, and they're not white, they're probably fossils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Tracer said it pretty good, I would bet they are fossils. Post pics so we can see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 "Dumbest Question On The Forum" You have a long way to go before you can wear that hat! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 "Dumbest Question On The Forum"You have a long way to go before you can wear that hat! he can't wear that hat. it's mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'll bet you didn't see any sturgeon in the river! That's because the rapacious river sharks ate them all. Every year, the sturgeon come upstream to spawn, then a few days later, the sharks follow scent clues in the water and find all the hapless sturgeon trapped in shallow water. It's best to stay out of the river while this slaughter is happening. And Here's the proof! All that was left of the poor Sturgeon (carefully washed to remove the blood and gore) 1 Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts