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Found together with shark teeth in a north florida river. Interesting shape.

Had some productive hunting and found this in a gravel bar. I'm hoping I've found my first gomphothere or mastodon tooth! Or at least a part of one. I've looked at several threads about differentiating them, but I still had a hard time identifying this for certain. Am I headed in the right direction or could it be something else? It does look smaller than I would have expected. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I purchased several of these inexpensively as giveaways for children. The dealer was somewhat clueless as to the origin. I don't normally buy fossils but I assume they are commonly offered for sale since they were so cheap. Does anyone recognize where these are from and any other bits of information? They seem relatively heavy, almost like hematite replacement. Picture of a representative example:

So you know those spots of cobbles and gravel they use for landscaping around the grocer's and such? I found this outside our local Kroger clone here in Nebraska a few years ago...and have been perplexed ever since. Here is a mystery concretion fossil(?) I've been pondering for a long time: Truthfully when I first saw it, I thought meteorite? Botryoidal hematite? Then I flipped it over and thought, "There is no way this should be here." It doesn't make sense. I'm not even certain this is a fossil, but the microscope tells me it very likely is. I have seen stuff sort of like but not quite like this out of Morocco, but that makes even less sense for a corner curb filled with river rock in Corn Country. Perhaps some child dropped it? Some fellow fossil nut, seeding stuff for kids to find? Usually I find a bit of sandstone and limestone cobbles with a fossil or two, but this is just strange. So, I'm calling twonky. (Those that know, nod. Those that don't, google.) No clue, me. Anyway, anyone have any ideas? I'm stumped at this one. If it is what it appears to be, I'm not even certain of the critter type. How it got to where I found it will likely be a mystery forever I suspect. What I do know is that Mohs is between 7 and 8,(which doesn't make sense to me as that's a bit harder than most hematites I am familiar with) and should in no way shape or form be where I found it or even be where the river rock was likely sourced from. Did I get bamboozled by a prankster? WEird.

The label supplied with these says they are from the Cretaceous, from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. They appear to be preserved with Hematite. The squares are 0.5"x0.5" (roughly 1.3cm²). If more pics are needed for an Id I'll get them for you.

I recently bought some small hematized goniatites from Morocco. They are each under 25mm and fully hematized. The two on the right look to be the same species, while the left specimen is wider in girth and has simpler sutures. They are probably too worn to have distinctive keels, but I've posted a photo of the keels anyway. Any thoughts on identification? I wasn't able to find a good source online for identifying goniatites to family or genus. Thank you for your help!

I'm almost afraid to show you this one. But, this is the one that started me on my journey into the unknown world of fossils. I found this piece on the land I live on. It was at the bottom of a small hill below me. I'm not good with measurements of land. I'm guessing if I dug straight down from my house may be 10 or 15 feet. I picked it up on the ground which dogs have been running chains over so it may be abit further down. I picked up several different pieces there. Which I will show in another post. Thank you for any help you can give. I forgot to name the area. It's Wilson County not far from Nixon Texas.

Hi there, guys. I've been learning a lot from you in the past few days and now I got another doubt. Found the following fossil is the auction website and it kept me thinking. Is this fossilized that way? I mean, I do believe they are real fossils, but were they fossilized by pyrite or hematite or were they treated somehow and covered with the mentioned metals? They do look pretty in my opinion, but if they are a result of a natural process (what I don't believe) that is even more amazing!! Just wanna hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance, Juliano

Also found this in a field in northern Colorado a few years ago. I think it is hematite, I have found other pieces of different shapes and sizes. Just curious of the unique shape.

I found this a few weeks ago in the North Sulfur River and would like to know if it is a fossil of some sort or just hématite or some other iron rich material. There is a fare amount of iron rich material in the NSR, but most of it is smooth and not bumpy like this. I’m inclined to think it’s not a fossil, but would like to confirm before I discard it.

In the mid to late Cretaceous, East Maryland was a warm forested area through which many bodies of water flowed. Iron was concentrated in the sands of these rivers, and it glued together the sand into bog iron over time. I happened across a outcrop of this while somewhat stupidly following an inaccurate geologic map, and I collected some sand and bog iron. I broke down some of it into a sand, and I forgot about it for a while. Recently I had an idea that came to me after watching a video on YouTube about turning rocks to iron. The iron rich formations of Maryland have been utilized for centuries, so I thought I'd try my hand at it. I am however using less sophisticated methods. I'm going to post my progress on this thread over the next long while, it could take a long time. This is just a fun little project I came up with, not entirely fossil related. Be sure to comment with any ideas you have, This is how I started: I just finished a preliminary test for hematite collection. This sand is mostly silica glued together with iron oxide (mostly yellow iron oxide) with little bits a hematite in it. I'm going to go for the hematite rather than the yellow iron oxide, which is hydrated and yields less iron. Using a bucket and a small saucer I tried to "pan" for it, which was mostly not working due to different grain sizes (I'll get a strainer to fix that one) and the closeness of density of hematite and other oxides. After trial and error, i worked out the best way to collect the hematite with my rudimentary tools which included the following: glass cups, a saucer, a bucket, three small rare earth magnets, and water. I would pan it down a bit, then shake it with the three magnets stuck together (sticking them together strengthens the field). On the two poles of the cube stick, hematite along with whatever stuck to it was drawn in. I dunked that in water to get rid of some sediment, then took the iron rich residue and put it in some water in a cup. After doing this for a while, I took the magnet into that mixture in an attempt to purify it a little. It did a bit, but the stuff is still impure. This is again a test, I think I'll get a strainer, a bigger magnet, and an actual gold pan. Once I get enough hematite, I think I'll get some aluminum powder and turn it into thermite since I don't have access to a furnace. Anyone know what I can put in the mixture to separate silica impurities once I light it? By the way, the initial test gave me about 2 grams of hematite, along with some silica grains that hitched a ride. Easier to see the shiny black powder in real life.

Last month, my husband found this piece labeled "Hematite After Wood Minnesota" at a rock shop. The piece is about 7 cm long by 2 cm wide between the bulges. I have some doubts about the "After Wood" part of this label. The bulges look more botryoidal than barklike, and I don't see any distinctive woodlike structure on the broken ends. I could easily be wrong, though. Here are some better-illuminated pictures: Do I have a really cool mineral replacement fossil here, or a really wild-looking pseudofossil? If the former, I'll include it in my mineral club open house display this Sunday. If the latter, I might include it in a mineral club display on pseudofossils next year!