David Rives
Clamshell halves and pieces are a really common find scattered all over the beach, but you probably aren’t going to find too many that are whole and tightly sealed together if there’s not still a living clam inside of it. But in the fossil record, you will often find clams that are tightly sealed just like this one. And in some locations, these tightly sealed clam fossils can be found in the thousands.
So, since clamshell halves and pieces tell us that they are from a dead clam, what do tightly sealed fossil clams tell us? Well, that’s actually strong evidence that these guys were buried alive.
If you bury a live clam in shallow sediments, he can usually escape. But if he’s buried quickly and really deeply in heavy sediments with a lot of sand and pressure, he’s going to die and under the right conditions will turn into a fossil.
So, what can explain the many millions of tightly sealed clam fossils that we find all over the world?
Find more fascinating and faith-affirming videos on our YouTube channel.
