![]() To many Hindus these stones are sacred, for they have the power to expel bad karma and cleanse people of sin before their death, enabling them to enter the afterlife. In India, the fossils are still referred to as ‘ Shaligrams’ (or ‘ Saligrams’) and worshipped as representations of the Hindu God Vishnu. Greek myth gifted the fossils with their famous name the coiled shell of this ancient marine mollusc resembles the horns of rams, therefore its remains were classified as ‘ammonites’, after the Greek ram god Ammon. The rock covering the ammonite fossils was then either naturally eroded, or excavated by humans, to expose the fossils.Some minerals such as calcite seeped into the ammonite remains, leading to mineral replacements and ornately coloured interiors.The minerals were precipitated out of the water, and enveloped the ammonite in a solid concretion, which ensured the fossil and its ammonite shell was preserved for thousands of millennia.This decomposition affected redox conditions in the marine environment, leading to dissolved minerals such as carbonates and phosphates becoming less soluble in water.Throughout this process, bacteria decomposed the ammonite bodies.Ammonite bodies sunk into the seabed sediment, and over time the many sediment layers hardened into rock, preserving the fossils within. ![]() When an ammonite creature died, it became fossilised in the process as follows: Most of our ammonites were originally found in the jungles of Mahajanga on the North West Coast of Madagascar. Perisphinctes Ammonites are the oldest fossils we have available, and date from the Triassic Period, at 248 million years old! Where Do Ammonites Come From? Most of the ammonite fossils available from Hidden Earth date back to the Cretaceous Period at 120 million years old: including our ammonites of species such as Cleoniceras, Phylloceras, and Lytoceras. The fossilised remains of these sea creatures are perhaps the most popular fossils on the market today. They first appeared on the fossil record 240 million years ago, in the Triassic Period, and died out 65 million years ago with the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction Event. These ancient sea creatures had tentacles like the modern octopus, and spiral shells like Nautilus creatures. K-Pg extinction event, K-T extinction event, and that thing that killed the dinosaurs.Ammonites are a group of extinct molluscs which somewhat resembled a shelled squid when they were alive. The last ammonite died shortly after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, a.k.a. The silica even crystalized in the chambers forming agate, chalcedony and quartz crystals. The ammonite was eventually found and cut down the middle to expose the chambers. The water may have dissolved or eroded the shell, and deposited silica in place of the shell. At some point, the ammonite was exposed to silica-rich water. Over millions of years it was covered with sediment. Each chamber is separated by a wall called a septa, and, like nautiluses of today, it is believed ammonites used these chambers to control their buoyancy.Īfter this ammonite died, it's shell came to rest on the sea floor. This was also true for ammonites, which lived from about 400 million years ago to 66 million years ago. In fact, they alternate between layers of calcite and aragonite, the two main polymorphs of calcium carbonate. ![]() ![]() Today's chambered mollusks create their shells a layer of calcium carbonate at a time. The name ammonite originates from the Egyptian Ram-horned god called Ammon because the fossils look like Ammon's horns. You might feel a little safer knowing this creature is extinct. Imagine a creature as tall as a human, with tentacles, armor and a voracious appetite. Ammonite, cephalopod, mollusk, nautilus, octopus
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