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Do you think this is a fossil?

I found some 'fossils' down at the beach in South Australia not too long ago. But I am not too sure how old they really would be.

They are two rocks with many types of shells scattered through out them.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/4983/img1870it1.j...

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/5768/img1874yu4...

Update:

Thankyou for your fast answers.

It does appear the shells are still shells, just scattered throughout the rock.

Should i see if a museum or university wants them or something? Because they are very interesting!

Update 2:

Thanks for all the great answers.:)

3 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Without looking closer at it, it's hard to tell if theyre actually fossilized, or just modern shells. The majority of them look like high-spired gastropod shells (snail shells), and it looks like they are in basalt, but it's hard to tell if it was a recent lava flow that just picked them up, or if they're the result of an ancient lava flow, and have since been replaced.

    Cool nonetheless.

    Source(s): Geology Degree (B. Sc. Hon. - Major Paleontology)
  • 1 decade ago

    It's a bit of limestone. I could make out one half of a fossil of some kind in the second photo. It shows a thing at the bottom left with five chambers, and that's half of a former shell.

    Update

    <<Should i see if a museum or university wants them or something?>>

    Asking wouldn't do any harm. It's not all that likely they'll be able to enhance their collection much with it, as it didn't look to be anything that might be remotely rare. However, they may well be able to tell you something of interest about it. A very good idea would be to include location details as to where it came from, in as far as you know. That sort of detail can help a great deal in finding out stuff such as age and a list of suspects for the former shell residents.

  • 1 decade ago

    They certainly are fossils. They look like gastropod shells in a limestone matrix. Not very old - possibly tertiary age. I've seen very similar fossils in New Zealand, in tertiary limestone.

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