• nieceandtows@lemmy.worldOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Is that something that forms in a short period of time, or is this a prehistoric formation, do you think? Those shells don’t seem ancient, but what do I know, these shells probably have had the same shape for millions of years.

    • DVD@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Oh man, I am not the guy to ask that haha, just using some preliminary knowledge. According to the Fossil wikipedia though, a fossil is considered such if it is older than 10,000 years. What we’re looking at is apparently called an external mold, where something embeds a mold of itself into a rock. I haven’t been able to find any info regarding how long these things take to form, but most examples I see are tens of thousands of years old.

      So I would guess that rock/mold is thousands of years old then. But you’re right, it could definitely be millions if you got lucky.

      • nieceandtows@lemmy.worldOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s fascinating! I didn’t know external mold was a thing, although it makes sense. Thanks for the information