Gastropods from Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Mollusca, Class: Gastropoda, Family: Turritellidae

While hiking along the spillway at Lake Grapevine, in Denton County, TX, I came upon the following mortality bed of turritellas.  There were literally hundreds of bolders with these gastropods that made up the sea bed.  Mixed in with the turritellas were a few oyster shells, but the majority of fossils were these beautiful orange colored turritellas. A geologist that was with us said that he thought a catastrophic event caused the shells to wash up on the shore and then were fossilized because of the enormous volume of turritellas in one place.

Click on images to enlarge.

Turritella Mortality Plate #1

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #2

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #3

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #4

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #5

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #9

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #6

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

Turritella Mortality Plate #7

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX

 

Turritella Mortality Plate #8

Lake Grapevine, Denton Co., TX