ANCIENT TEETH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 720, 20 July 1929, Page 1

ANCIENT TEETH

o O ‘ Discovered 1n Phospnate Cargo 60,000,000 YEARS OLD Hundreds of sharks’ teeth have been discovered in a cargo of phosphate from Morocco which is at present being discharged at Auckland. THIS phosphate comes from a place 200 miles inland, so that the presence of sharks’ teeth opens up interesting speculation. Some specimens of the teeth were shown to Professor J. A. Bartrum, M.Sc., A.0.5.1\1., of the geology department, Auckland University College, when he stated they would be approxi—mately 60,000,000 years old. Professor Bartrum identified a majority of the teeth shown him as being those of the lamna. shark», al—though there were several other species represented. The Moroccan phosphate is mined by the French, and railed to Casablanca, from where it is shipped all over the world. The cargo at present being unloaded at Auckland was brought by the steamer Newton Pine. The Moroccan phosphate is much finer than that~ from Nauru and Ocean Island, and this facilitates quick loading. The Newton Pine‘s 6.800-ton

cargo was taken on in six hours—shutes pouring the phosphate on board at the rate of more than 1,000 tons an hour. This fertiliser is formed from guano deposits which act through phosphate when carried down by water, and is precipitated in limestone. nlost of the teeth are well preserved, although since their exposure some of them have become very brittle. In 18-15 Henslow first drew attention to the deposit of coprolites beloxv the chalk in Surrey and elsewhere. Since then. large deposits of phosphate have been discovered in various parts of the world.