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Fossil sea snail shell

Ecphora quadricostata

Photo by Geodialist
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Fossil marine gastropod mollusk shell (Ecphora quadricostata) collected at the Texasgulf Aurora Phosphate Mine, Aurora, North Carolina USA. The word "costa" means "rib," derived from the Latin word "costae." Notice that the shell of Ecphora quadricostata has four costae (ribs). Photo 1 of 2 was annotated to highlight the four costae; Photo 2 of 2 is the original photograph.

Habitat:

A relatively "shallow" sea that existed along the east coast of the United States an estimated 10- to 15 million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch. Related Resource: Miocene Marine Life http://paleobiology.si.edu/geotime/main/htmlversion/miocene3.html

Notes:

The Aurora Phosphate Mine, formerly owned by Texasgulf Inc., is currently owned and operated by Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp). Related Resource: http://www.potashcorp.com/about/facilities/phosphate/aurora/

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (1)

I just added another photo to this post. AshleyBradford, professional graphic artist and fellow Project Noah citizen scientist, used Adobe "Photoshop" to adjust the original photo after I asked about "white balance." With a little post-processing by a pro, Ashley's version (Photo 3) looks than much better mine (Photos 1-2). Thanks for your kind assistance, AB!

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