Hello Kevin. I have a question for you. are the white snail shells/seashells that you find around the mountains here left from Lake Bonneville as well? I don't think they're fossilized, but I have found a bunch of these "snail shells" up Diamond Fork Canyon and I'm curious to know if they are truly left from the lake.
Most of the white snail shells found in the mountains around here are recent snails, just like all the white snail shells in my garden a couple of days after I spread the snail bait out. Lake Bonneville reached a maximum elevation of about 5200 ft. any shells found above that elevation could not have lived in the lake. To find fossils of animals that lived in the lake you should look in sediments deposited below the highest shoreline or below the 5200 ft elevation (the Spanish Fork Gun Club is on the highest level of the lake). Ammonoids and most other “seashells” are marine animals that could not live in fresh water. Fossils found in the mountains around here lived in the ocean when Utah was at or below sea level, off and on from about 600 million until about 85 million years ago. There are a few fresh water deposits up near Soldier Summit that contain snails and clams from a fresh water lake that existed about 50 million years ago. Lake Bonneville was a fresh water lake that existed from about 30,000 to about 10,000 years ago. A good book to read about the geology and fossils of Utah is: Hintze, L. F., 2005, Utah's Spectacular Geology: How It Came to Be: BYU Print Services http://www.byubookstore.com/ePOS/form=robots/item.html&item_number=0-9760722-2-X&store=439&design=439
Hello Kevin. I have a question for you. are the white snail shells/seashells that you find around the mountains here left from Lake Bonneville as well? I don't think they're fossilized, but I have found a bunch of these "snail shells" up Diamond Fork Canyon and I'm curious to know if they are truly left from the lake.
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance. Adam
Most of the white snail shells found in the mountains around here are recent snails, just like all the white snail shells in my garden a couple of days after I spread the snail bait out. Lake Bonneville reached a maximum elevation of about 5200 ft. any shells found above that elevation could not have lived in the lake. To find fossils of animals that lived in the lake you should look in sediments deposited below the highest shoreline or below the 5200 ft elevation (the Spanish Fork Gun Club is on the highest level of the lake).
ReplyDeleteAmmonoids and most other “seashells” are marine animals that could not live in fresh water. Fossils found in the mountains around here lived in the ocean when Utah was at or below sea level, off and on from about 600 million until about 85 million years ago. There are a few fresh water deposits up near Soldier Summit that contain snails and clams from a fresh water lake that existed about 50 million years ago. Lake Bonneville was a fresh water lake that existed from about 30,000 to about 10,000 years ago.
A good book to read about the geology and fossils of Utah is: Hintze, L. F., 2005, Utah's Spectacular Geology: How It Came to Be: BYU Print Services
http://www.byubookstore.com/ePOS/form=robots/item.html&item_number=0-9760722-2-X&store=439&design=439
The white snails found in the mountains around here are a form of Oreohelix, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreohelix
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