How Millions of Years Underground Can Transform the Color of a Shark Tooth

It was anything but tranquil when Megalodon’s molar was first discovered. It was a part of one of the largest predatory sharks to ever inhabit the oceans of Earth. The tooth then disappeared. For the majority of objects, this would be the conclusion of the story. For fossils of dinosaurs, this can be the beginning of a new story.

Fossil Driven provides fossils which have passed through geological processes, not in years or centuries rather in millions. This process can alter the way you see the fossil. The fossil is no longer just a glance at an interesting object. You’re seeing physical evidence of the world that was gone many years ago.

Image credit: fossildriven.com

The First Station: An Ancient Ocean

Take Megalodon’s tooth from West Java in Indonesia. At around 20 million years ago, areas of land that we are seeing today were marine warm environments. Megalodon sharks were a common sight in these prehistoric waters as well as countless other forms of marine life.

Megalodon, like modern sharks in the present, constantly produces and loses teeth. Some of the teeth eventually found their way into marine sediments. In the right conditions burial may protect them until they are fossilized.

Then geology took over

The next chapter was extremely slowly. Sediments were accumulating. Minerals interacted with the buried material. Geological forces changed landscapes, and environments that had once submerged eventually were transformed into the landscape we see today. Those processes help explain something consumers immediately notice when looking at megalodon tooth auctions The genuine fossil teeth have dramatically different colors.

Indonesian specimens that are found in West Java’s Miocene Bentang Formation are typically tan, golden, brown blue, red or black. Some exhibit several shades on one tooth. The mineral environment around them contributes to the appearance that a specimen acquires over its lengthy burial. Nature is not able to replicate the effects in large quantities. Each fossil has experienced the geological past.

Discovery Begins A New Chapter

A fossil which was hidden for millions of years can be discovered. This is when identification and documentation becomes important.

Megalodon collectors are looking through authentic teeth for sale, the focus isn’t only on the appearance. The details about the location and the age of geological formation preservation, repairs, and restoration can assist in understanding what the collectors actually are looking at.

Natural wear can’t erase an old fossil’s past. It’s possible that a worn edge or an imperfect root and a slack serration are all a part of the specimen’s past. Most important is to represent the specimen with accuracy.

Fossil Driven brings over 13 years of fossil identification experience to the process, and also works in conjunction with established fossil hunters as well as suppliers. The fossils are studied and described with pertinent information whenever it is possible.

The Fossil reaches someone’s hands eventually

People buy real Fossils for many reasons. Certain people build collections that are carefully classified. Some people want one dramatic piece to spark discussion. A child who is intrigued by prehistoric creatures might receive their first real fossil, that sparks a lifetime love for paleontology.

Megalodon teeth are not the only way to enter that world. Dinosaur teeth, fossils from mosasaurs ammonites, trilobites, amber mammoth, mammoth, and others preserve completely diverse chapters of Earth’s history.

The most satisfying thing is knowing it’s real

A replica can replicate the form of a tooth that was once in use. It’s impossible to reproduce the history. An authentic Megalodon tooth was part of an ancient animal, entered an environment totally different from our current environment it was resistant to geological changes, and was buried for many thousands of years, and was later discovered.

This is why authenticity crucial. If you’re holding a genuine fossil it is a thing that has created an amazing journey through the ages. Its latest stop is the display case.

Recent Posts

Subscribe Our Newsletter

Categories

Scroll to Top