This morning I was accused of making impulse purchases from the Marketplace
I won't name names as it was very hurtful because this description likely contains some factual basis.
It is true that I often struggle with being an opportunist and Facebook puts an incredible variety of secondhand items in front of me.
For example, on Monday I bought this Orthoceras fossil.
Before last weekend I never knew an Orthoceras and now I own the remains of a family.
This Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestone must originate from the Baltic States or Sweden, which is the known extent of the nautiloid cephalopod sometimes called Orthoceratites.
Their temporal range was the Dapingian to Darriwilian eras, around 470-458 million years ago.
It is possible these fossils are another of the Michelinocerida genus.
They are characterised by long, slender, nearly cylindrical orthocones with a circular cross section.
The long body chambers have a central tubular siphuncle free of organic deposits.
I find it interesting that tiny teeth have been found in one species along with ten arms, two of which formed longer tentacles.
They died out during the Devonian period, which is still a mystery but fossil records show it led to the evolution of plants during levels of greenhouse gases to rival today.
At that time sea levels were around 200 metres higher than present oceans and Australia was part of Gondawanland.
The greening of the continents acted as a carbon sink and a cooling climate may have led to the late Devonian extinction.
