Geology rocks Bingo. Yagam1 is our winner!!!

[Fizzbw]

8/10 for me now to those closer!!!

Niki xxx

[jocellogirl]

Late yet again, sorry. But have just done a lovely concert, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Brahms' 3rd Symphony on the menu . Gorgeous. Anyway, that's not what you want to know, you are more interested in today's numbers which are:

6. Brachiopod

Brachiopods are marine animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection. Two major groups are recognized, articulate and inarticulate. Articulate brachiopods have toothed hinges and simple opening and closing muscles, while inarticulate brachiopods have untoothed hinges and a more complex system of muscles used to keep the two halves aligned. In a typical brachiopod a stalk-like pedicle projects from an opening in one of the valves, known as the pedicle valve, attaching the animal to the seabed but clear of silt that would obstruct the opening.
They are often known as "lamp shells", since the curved shells of the class Terebratulida look rather like pottery oil-lamps.



Lifespans range from 3 to over 30 years.
At their peak in the Paleozoic era the brachiopods were among the most abundant filter-feeders and reef-builders, and occupied other ecological niches, including swimming in the jet-propulsion style of scallops. Brachiopod fossils have been useful indicators of climate changes during the Paleozoic era. However, after the Permian–Triassic extinction event, brachiopods recovered only a third of their former diversity. A study in 2007 concluded that brachiopods were especially vulnerable to the Permian–Triassic extinction, as they built calcareous hard parts (made of calcium carbonate) and had low metabolic rates and weak respiratory systems. It was often thought that brachiopods were in decline after the Permian–Triassic extinction, and were out-competed by bivalves. However, a study in 1980 concluded that: both brachiopods and bivalves increased all the way from the Paleozoic to modern times, but bivalves increased faster; after the Permian–Triassic extinction, brachiopods for the first time were less diverse than bivalves.
Brachiopods live only in the sea, and most species avoid locations with strong currents or waves. Articulate species have larvae that settle in quickly and form dense populations in well-defined areas, while inarticulate larvae swimming for up to a month and have wide ranges. Brachiopods now live mainly in cold and low-light conditions. Fish and crustaceans seem to find brachiopod flesh distasteful and seldom attack them. Among brachiopods only the lingulids have been fished commercially, on a very small scale. One brachiopod species may be a measure of environmental conditions around an oil terminal being built in Russia on the shore of the Sea of Japan.


Modern brachiopod

Over 12,000 fossil species are recognized, grouped into over 5,000 genera. While the largest modern brachiopods are 100 millimetres (3.9 in) long, a few fossils measure up to 200 millimetres (7.9 in) wide.


15. Graptolite

Graptolithina is a class in the animal phylum Hemichordata, the members of which are known as graptolites. Graptolites are fossil colonial animals known chiefly from the Upper Cambrian through the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian). A possible early graptolite, Chaunograptus, is known from the Middle Cambrian.
The name graptolite comes from the Greek graptos, meaning "written", and lithos, meaning "rock", as many graptolite fossils resemble hieroglyphs written on the rock.
Graptolites are common fossils and have a worldwide distribution. The preservation, quantity and gradual change over a geological time scale of graptolites allows the fossils to be used to date strata of rocks throughout the world. They are important index fossils for dating Palaeozoic rocks as they evolved rapidly with time and formed many different species. British geologists can divide the rocks of the Ordovician and Silurian periods into graptolite biozones; these are generally less than one million years in duration. A worldwide ice age at the end of the Ordovician eliminated most graptolites except the neograptines. Diversification from the neograptines that survived the Ordovician glaciation began around 2 million years later.


Evolution of graptolites

Most of the dendritic or many-branched types are classified as dendroid graptolites (order Dendroidea). They appear earlier in the fossil record (in the Cambrian period), and were generally benthic animals (attached to the sea-floor by a root-like base). Graptolites with relatively few branches were derived from the dendroid graptolites at the beginning of the Ordovician period. This latter type (order Graptoloidea) were pelagic, drifting freely on the surface of ancient seas or attached to floating seaweed by means of a slender thread. They were a successful and prolific group, being the most important animal members of the plankton until they died out in the early part of the Devonian period. The dendroid graptolites survived until the Carboniferous period.
Graptolite fossils are often found in shales and mud rocks where sea-bed fossils are rare, this type of rock having formed from sediment deposited in relatively deep water that had poor bottom circulation, was deficient in oxygen, and had no scavengers. The dead planktonic graptolites, having sunk to the sea-floor, would eventually become entombed in the sediment and are thus well preserved.
Graptolites are also found in limestones and cherts, but generally these rocks were deposited in conditions which were more favorable for bottom-dwelling life, including scavengers, and undoubtedly most graptolite remains deposited here were generally eaten by other animals.
Graptolite fossils are often found flattened along the bedding plane of the rocks in which they occur, though may be found in three dimensions when they are infilled by iron pyrite. They vary in shape, but are most commonly dendritic or branching (such as Dictyonema), saw-blade like, or "tuning fork" shaped (such as Didymograptus murchisoni). Their remains may be mistaken for fossil plants by the casual observer.
Graptolites are normally preserved as a black carbonized film on the rock's surface or as light grey clay films in tectonically distorted rocks. They may be sometimes difficult to see, but by slanting the specimen to the light they reveal themselves as a shiny marking. Pyritized graptolite fossils are also found.



A well known locality for graptolite fossils in Britain is Abereiddy Bay, Dyfed, Wales, where they occur in rocks from the Ordovician period.


Good luck to all, there are many who are very close indeed. Remember, the winner is the first to pm me.

[backafteradozenyrs]

Well, I'm between a rock & a hard place...no new #'s for me.

[rcperryls]

Well, I'm between a rock & a hard place...no new #'s for me.

Same here. And an expression so appropriate for this bingo
I know we will get a winner today.

Carole

[yagam1]

Concert sounds like it was lovely, Jo!
On the bingo front, no new numbers for me. Stuck on 9/10

[Ketta]

After several days without getting a hit, I finally got one... up to 6/10. With 4 still to go, it's unlikely I'll pick up a bingo, but I *really* like this one so far. I have learned a lot for sure, and I love how it's not all gemstones--some real rocks and fossil info.

[Emmylou]

I'm also still on 9/10, are we all waiting for the same number?

[diamondradleylover]

None for me today, still on 9/10. I was sure someone would have won today!

[debupnorth]

Wow, I got both today!

Unfortunately, it only takes me up to 8/10, so maybe another day of learning more stuff! Unless someone else gets lucky...

[geekishly]

Up to 8 out of 10 today. everyone.

[jocellogirl]

Good evening all. We're just back from tonight's concert which the girls attended. Their very first concert and they were as good as gold . They're now having a late bath, but before they got in they pulled;

19. Ichthyosaurus

Ichthyosaurs (Greek for "fish lizard") were giant marine reptiles that resembled dolphins in a textbook example of convergent evolution.


Ichthyosaurs thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared approximately 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, about 25 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct. During the middle Triassic Period, ichthyosaurs evolved from as yet unidentified land reptiles that moved back into the water, in a development parallel to that of the ancestors of modern-day dolphins and whales. They were particularly abundant in the Jurassic Period, until they were replaced as the top aquatic predators by another reptilian order named plesiosaurs in the Cretaceous Period. Ichthyosaurs averaged 2–4 metres (7–13 ft) in length (although a few were smaller, and some species grew much larger), with a porpoise-like head and a long, toothed snout. Built for speed, like modern tuna, some ichthyosaurs appear also to have been deep divers, like some modern whales. It has been estimated that ichthyosaurs could swim at speeds up to 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph). Similar to modern cetaceans such as whales and dolphins, they were air-breathing. There is ample evidence that ichthyosaurs were negatively buoyant.
It has been determined by teeth records that several sea-dwelling reptiles, including Ichthyosaurus, had a warm-blooded metabolism similar to that of mammals. They had the ability to generate endothermic heat to survive in colder habitats.
Although ichthyosaurs looked like fish, they were not. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould said the ichthyosaur was his favorite example of convergent evolution, where similarities of structure are analogous not homologous, for this group:
"[The ichthyosaur] converged so strongly on fishes that it actually evolved a dorsal fin and tail in just the right place and with just the right hydrological design. These structures are all the more remarkable because they evolved from nothing — the ancestral terrestrial reptile had no hump on its back or blade on its tail to serve as a precursor."
The earliest reconstructions of ichthyosaurs omitted the dorsal fin, which had no hard skeletal structure, until finely-preserved specimens recovered in the 1890s from the Holzmaden lagerstätten in Germany revealed traces of the fin. Unique conditions permitted the preservation of soft tissue impressions.
Ichthyosaurs had fin-like limbs, which were possibly used for stabilization and directional control, rather than propulsion, which would have come from the large shark-like tail. The tail was bi-lobed, with the lower lobe being supported by the caudal vertebral column, which was "kinked" ventrally to follow the contours of the ventral lobe.
Apart from the obvious similarities to fish, the ichthyosaurs also shared parallel developmental features with dolphins, lamnid sharks, and tuna. This gave them a broadly similar appearance, possibly implied similar activity levels (including thermoregulation), and presumably placed them broadly in a similar ecological niche.
They were viviparous (bore live young). Some adult fossils have even been found containing foetuses. Although they were reptiles and descended from egg-laying ancestors, viviparity is not as unexpected as it first appears. Air-breathing marine creatures must either come ashore to lay eggs, like turtles and some sea snakes, or else give birth to live young in surface waters, like whales and dolphins. Given their streamlined bodies, heavily adapted for fast swimming, it would have been difficult for ichthyosaurs to move far enough on land to lay eggs.



Ichthyosaurus and young

For their food, many of the fish-shaped ichthyosaurs relied heavily on ancient cephalopod kin of squids called belemnites. Some early ichthyosaurs had teeth adapted for crushing shellfish. They also most likely fed on fish, and a few of the larger species had heavy jaws and teeth that indicated they fed on smaller reptiles. Ichthyosaurs ranged so widely in size, and survived for so long, that they are likely to have had a wide range of prey. Typical ichthyosaurs have very large eyes, protected within a bony ring, suggesting that they may have hunted at night or at great depths.




22. Oolitic limestone

Oolite (egg stone) is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers.


Ooids

The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites. The term oolith can refer to oolite or individual ooids. Ooids are most commonly composed of calcium carbonate (calcite or aragonite), but can be composed of phosphate, chert, dolomite or iron minerals, including hematite. Dolomitic and chert ooids are most likely the result of the replacement of the original texture in limestone. Oolitic hematite occurs at Red Mountain near Birmingham, Alabama, along with oolitic limestone.
They are usually formed in warm, supersaturated, shallow, highly agitated marine water intertidal environments, though some are formed in inland lakes. The mechanism of formation starts with a small fragment of sediment acting as a 'seed', e.g. a piece of a shell. Strong intertidal currents wash the 'seeds' around on the seabed, where they accumulate layers of chemically precipitated calcite from the supersaturated water. The oolites are commonly found in large current bedding structures that resemble sanddunes. The size of the oolite reflects the time they have had exposed to the water before they were covered with later sediment.




Some exemplar oolitic limestone, a common term for an oolite, was formed in England during the Jurassic period, and forms the Cotswold Hills, the Isle of Portland with its famous Portland Stone, and part of the North Yorkshire Moors. A particular type, Bath Stone, gives the buildings of the World Heritage City of Bath their distinctive appearance.




The islands of the Lower Keys in the Florida Keys, as well as some barrier islands east of Miami bordering Biscayne Bay, are mainly oolitic limestone, which was formed by deposition when shallow seas covered the area between periods of glaciation. The material consolidated and eroded during later exposure above the ocean surface.
One of the world's largest freshwater lakebed oolites is the Shoofly Oolite, a section of the Glenns Ferry Formation on southwestern Idaho's Snake River Plain. 10 million years ago, the Plain formed the bed of Lake Idaho. Wave action in the lake washed sediments back and forth in the shallows on the southwestern shore, forming ooids and depositing them on steeper benches near the shore in 2- to 40-feet thicknesses. When the lake drained (2 to 4 million years ago), the oolite was left behind, along with siltstone, volcanic tuffs and alluvium from adjacent mountain slopes. The other sediments eroded away, while the more resistant oolite weathered into hummocks, small arches and other intriguing natural "sculptures."




The Shoofly Oolite lies on public land west of Bruneau, Idaho managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The physical and chemical properties of the Shoofly Oolite are the setting for a suite of rare plants, which the BLM protects through land use management and on-site interpretation.
This type of limestone is also found in Indiana in the United States. The town of Oolitic, Indiana, was founded for the trade of limestone and bears its name. Quarries in Oolitic, Bedford, and Bloomington contributed the materials for such iconic U.S. landmarks as the Empire State Building in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Many of the buildings on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington are built with native oolitic limestone material, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, is built mainly of grey oolitic limestone. The 1979 movie Breaking Away centres around the sons of quarry workers in Bloomington.
Oolites also appear in the Conococheague limestone, of Cambrian age, in the Great Appalachian Valley in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Best of luck

[yagam1]

Neither of these was the number I am looking for. I am sure someone else will win it. Thanks, Jo, for a great bingo game!
Ichthyosaur is one of my favorite prehistoric creatures!

[rcperryls]

One for me today takes me to 9/10. I know someone will have BINGO today. Good luck to all of you who are close.

Carole

[Fizzbw]

And one for me makes 9/10 as well. Surely someone will go bingo tonight or tomorrow morning???

Niki xxx

[LadyS]

I'm at 7/10, but I'm sure someone will bingo. This was a very interesting one!

[Emmylou]

I'm still at 9/10.

[backafteradozenyrs]

Ichthyosaurus moves me up to 8/10....a lot of us are getting close...I wonder who will win?

[Squirrel]

This very interesting one is becoming a cliff hanger with so many on 9 now.
Exciting. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[geekishly]

got another one, so I'm at 9 as well. Guess we'll have to see who manages to get on first tomorrow... that is if no one gets it today.

[geekishly]

I'm at 7/10, but I'm sure someone will bingo. This was a very interesting one!

You should double check all the numbers... there's only 30 numbers and we're up to the 27th & 28th numbers today, so you had to have missed one. One of the days had the same number for both, so double check it against the list on page one. Everyone has to be at 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 today.