[HOAX] - A Strange 400 Million Year Old Fossil - [HOAX]

I was working for an exploration company in West Texas when we found hundreds of fossils, tools, and square artifacts 150ft beneath the surface. Some were so big that 4 people were needed just to lift them. I remember seeing an oval shaped fossil the size of a small car. Nobody was allowed to take anything from the location and the government tried their best to make sure of that no one did but I managed to sneak a small 400 million year old clam into my pocket. What is significant about this clam is that it has two very tiny holes that were created by the tools found at the location.

a reply to: Jurassic

What do you mean by tools?

Explain your conclusion with the 400 million year old date...

I lived in West Texas near Odessa and I'm familiar with some of the fossils. What you have there appears to be the bivalve, Eoxgyra arientina. They're all over the place out in West Texas and common in the Edwards limestone which is a capstone for the oilfields.

I've done some fossil hunting out there, and family members were roughnecks, so I've seen and heard about a lot of the fossils. Nobody's ever talked about fossils the size of a car, though -- it sure wouldn't have been something that you found by drilling. You'd see fossils in core samples, but those tubes are small and anything brought up by drilling is just... sludge.

We have sludge pits all over the place anywhere there's an active well.

Perhaps you can tell us more details?

originally posted by: Signals
Explain your conclusion with the 400 million year old date...

Mistype, maybe? It's Edwards Limestone (the capstone in that area) mrdata.usgs.gov...

And Mesozoic - as old as 250 million years and as young as 60 million years: en.wikipedia.org...

As a Texan, I'm pretty familiar with the geology: mrdata.usgs.gov...

originally posted by: Jurassic
Nobody was allowed to take anything from the location and the government tried their best to make sure of that no one did...

Must be time for the Smithsonian to start expanding their 'collection' again.

Sounds just like the kind of discoveries they might be looking for...

originally posted by: Murgatroid

originally posted by: Jurassic
Nobody was allowed to take anything from the location and the government tried their best to make sure of that no one did...

Must be time for the Smithsonian to start expanding their 'collection' again.

Sounds just like the kind of discoveries they might be looking for...

Yeah, once they get put in those big warehouses, they get lost. Stuff gets misfiled there and lots of stuff gets culled before storing if it is controversial. Only items that match consensus of the time get any preference.

a reply to: Byrd

The oil rig had drilled 150ft into a cavern. We sent a camera into the well to see if it was possible to continue drilling. What the camera saw was what I told you. We then replaced the small drill pipe with a larger one. A three man team equipped with oxygen tanks & flashlights were lowered into the cavern via the pipe.

The cavern is said to connect to the one in Carlsbad NM and beyond. I remember one of the men joked about having found a reichsmark.

a reply to: Signals

It is anywhere between 250-400 million years old.

Starfish drill holes in clams like that. I can't say I've seen it in a fossilized specimen, but I find them all the time on the beach.

originally posted by: Jurassic
a reply to: Byrd

The oil rig had drilled 150ft into a cavern. We sent a camera into the well to see if it was possible to continue drilling. What the camera saw was what I told you. We then replaced the small drill pipe with a larger one. A three man team equipped with oxygen tanks & flashlights were lowered into the cavern via the pipe.

The cavern is said to connect to the one in Carlsbad NM and beyond. I remember one of the men joked about having found a reichsmark.

From west Texas here. Oil family.

What kind of outfit are you working on that they are equipped to send men down to "spelunk" caverns drilled in to?

And what kind of "management" would ok that sort of exploration from a rig?

Just some things don't add up sorry for my skepticism

I'm not buying this story...The 400 million year old date given is clearly incorrect, and fossilized clams from the same era as those found in Texas can also be found here in New Mexico. I have several dozen, some of which have holes just like those in the picture. There's no evidence that any 'tool' was involved...

That's a big borehole. I didn't think your average rig drilled a bore anywhere near big enough to put people through 400 feet down.

a reply to: skunkape23

Same here, I'm near the red river dam in north texas/oklahoma border and we can walk down to the spillway and find ammonites and clams just like that one with holes in them, just like that one.

Modern shells have similar holes and grooves/tunnels that I think are made by wormsparasites.

What you have there looks to be a standard fossil with a great story that so far isnt verified

originally posted by: Bedlam
That's a big borehole. I didn't think your average rig drilled a bore anywhere near big enough to put people through 400 feet down.

You never heard of "big" oil?

They're drilling for really big oil.

Harte

a reply to: Harte

I have worked in the oilfields of West Texas for decades. The largest diameter well I have ever heard of was about 10". The Haliburton Red Book only goes up to 20" diameter. The fossil has two holes in it and I have found sea shells at the beach with very similar holes that I doubt were made by humans. I'm not a geologist but have over 30 hrs of college level geology classes and a BS degree. This story does not make sense. Where exactly was this location and what company would send men into a cavern? How could it be determined that it was connected to caverns in New Mexico?

originally posted by: Jurassic
a reply to: Byrd

The oil rig had drilled 150ft into a cavern. We sent a camera into the well to see if it was possible to continue drilling. What the camera saw was what I told you. We then replaced the small drill pipe with a larger one. A three man team equipped with oxygen tanks & flashlights were lowered into the cavern via the pipe.

They must have been tremendously skinny men, with very tiny flashlights.

The largest drill pipes are only about 15 inches across: en.wikipedia.org...

Manufacturers' specs are here (one page of them) www.rigsourceinc.com...

Since I have rig hands in the family, I called a couple of them. They howled with laughter (particularly about "sending men down with flashlights".)

To quote the old Lead Tong derrick hand, "when you hit a cave you don't 'send down a camera to explore.' Hitting a hole means the end of that operation."

The driller added that in order to drill THROUGH a cave, you have to install a casing in the floor to prevent the drilling fluid from spilling out into the cavern. Losing the fluid means your drill would seize up and you couldn't continue drilling.


Folks can independently confirm what I say by checking oil company drilling rig specs and by looking at the Wikipedia pages. You appear to be doing a riff on the discovery of Inner Space caverns. That story (by the geologist) can be found here:

originally posted by: Bedlam
I didn't think your average rig drilled a bore anywhere near big enough to put people through 400 feet down.

originally posted by: Harte
You never heard of "big" oil? They're drilling for really big oil.

originally posted by: Monteriano
The largest diameter well I have ever heard of was about 10".

originally posted by: Byrd
They must have been tremendously skinny men, with very tiny flashlights. The largest drill pipes are only about 15 inches across... Folks can independently confirm what I say by checking oil company drilling rig specs and by looking at the Wikipedia pages.

If this were a credibility contest, the OP easily beats all of you hands down.

Soilmec SR-75
Max. diameter : 98 inches
Max. depth : 252'


How about those trapped Chilean miners in 2010?

Don't seem to recall hearing anything about 33 tremendously skinny men being rescued.

FYI: the OP never mentioned anything about going 400 feet down either...

originally posted by: Murgatroid
If this were a credibility contest, the OP easily beats all of you hands down.

Soilmec SR-75

That's a piling rig. For placing pilings. Not an oil rig.

If this were a 'reading your cite for meaning instead of keywords contest', you'd have lost that one.

originally posted by: Monteriano
a reply to: Harte

I have worked in the oilfields of West Texas for decades. The largest diameter well I have ever heard of was about 10". The Haliburton Red Book only goes up to 20" diameter. The fossil has two holes in it and I have found sea shells at the beach with very similar holes that I doubt were made by humans. I'm not a geologist but have over 30 hrs of college level geology classes and a BS degree. This story does not make sense. Where exactly was this location and what company would send men into a cavern? How could it be determined that it was connected to caverns in New Mexico?

Dude,

I know it's BS, okay?

I'm making fun of it.

So, you drilled for "little oil," then?

Harte