Raw Agatized Nobbly Gastropod 4.2cms/17g

A Knobbly Gastropod agate replaced fossil from the Western Sahara region in Morocco from the Eocene Epoch period.

Dimensions: approx. 4.2cms x 2cms x 2cms
Weight: approx. 17g

Agatized knobbly gastropods from the Eocene Epoch (56-33.9 million years ago) originated from the Western Sahara region of Morocco, when this part of North Africa was covered by a warm, shallow marine environment thriving with sea life.

The deep honey-brown, waxy, and somewhat translucent texture is characteristic of chalcedony and agate. It formed as a result of specialized fossilization processes when the original calcium carbonate of the sea snail shell dissolved away over millions of years and was meticulously replaced by silica-rich groundwater crystals. The prominent, bumpy ridges visible along the spiraling sections align perfectly with the Cerithium sp. or Batillaria echinoides marine horn snails that thrived in these shallow sub-tropical North African seas.

Many Moroccan gastropods display some degree of fluorescence. Under ultraviolet (UV) light, these highly textured, "knobby" fossils exhibit a striking yellow, green, whitish-beige or more rarely a pink or reddish brown fluorescence. This glow is caused by the secondary mineral replacement that occurred during fossilization, where the original organic shell material was substituted by silica minerals like chalcedony, carnelian, calcite or the in case of the pink glow, traces of Manganese.