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  • Nathan Newell posted a new specimen. 5 years, 5 months ago

    5 years, 5 months ago
    5 years, 5 months ago

    Nathan Newell has contributed specimen mFeM 54844 to myFOSSIL!

    • Similar questions:
      Is the Mahantango Givetian in age?
      Are these in situ?

      These are some really spectacular death assemblages. I wonder why the abundance is so high in the location, any ideas? Storm deposit? Buried alive?

      • @jbauer Yes to both questions! I’ll update the data.

        I’m not sure exactly what’s going on. I have a number of fossils from this location; this one has better pics so you can really see the detail:

        Specimen 54687

        It might be a storm or current deposit since many of the brachiopods are bunched together or overlapping. But there aren’t many broken ones, so if it was a storm or current, it probably wasn’t very strong. Or, maybe that indicates it’s a rapid burial. Something to keep in mind! Thanks again!

        • Someone may have looked into it! I can add it to my list of things to look up. I did my MS in an area that was really well understood stratigraphically so I tend to over estimate what has been done elsewhere but someone *must* have thought about it! These layers are so cool!

          • I agree. I also found some fossils with layers of crinoid disks that look like they were positioned because of a storm or current, like this one:
            https://www.myfossil.org/dwc-specimen/49136/

            It’s interesting to speculate, but I’m not sure how to prove it one way or the other.

            • If there are enough lines of evidence pointing one way, people tend to accept that as the situation until someone finds something new! It’s more about accepting or rejecting rather than ‘proving’ – new discoveries change our way of thinking all the time! Proving/disproving is so *final*.

            • @jbauer You’re right, that’s a great way of looking at it! 🙂