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Hi everyone! I recently acquired a flower like thing in burmite and I'm trying to figure out what this thing is. The closest match I can find is this thing called Electrophycus astroplethus which should be mystery solved except I'm having trouble understanding exactly what type of plant it is. https://www.palaeontologie-troppenz.de/amber-bernstein seems to classify it as an "algal flowering body" from the Chaetophoraceae family, a family of green algae. My question is, is my ID right and is that really what this thing is? An algae flower? Is that a thing that existed? The idea kinda reminds me of the "algal fruiting bodies" aka porocystis you find all over the Texas limestone which coincidentally are a very similar age (Mid Cretaceous). Was algae just a lot more creative back then? The plant inclusion measures 14 mm, though I've seen them bigger. Any insight is appreciated as always!

Found in the stone steps at estabrooke park quarried from the Devonian Milwaukee formation.

I check this website from time to time and always learn something new. I am a bedrock geologist for many years - although I had a good training in paleontology, I still have to work hard to try to figure out a fossil. I recently and currently map rocks in northern Maine. The pictures show below are from a recently discovered greenbed basin (probably aged middle-late Early Devonian and deposited in a continental or sea-land transitional environment). My question is what are the dark-colored pieces? They don't look like burrows because they don't occur across layers. They don't look like tracks because they occur as separate pieces. They are not plant fossils. They appear like graptolites but I can hardly see any theca. Are they algae? Or what? Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello fossil enthusiasts! Is this a sea grass fossil? I recently found this stone while digging for earth pigments, on a hillside that was a former ochre pigment quarry. The hillside itself contains a lot of black and green serpentinite and lizardite, and lots of dense blue-gray clay. There is also ample hematite and ochre further up the hill. Oaks and grass thrive here, plants grow thick and fast on this hill. I don't know how to read USGS maps, but according to a USGS map I found (if I read it right), the site is in a pocket of "Alluvial fan and fluvial deposits (pleistocene)" (labeled "Qpaf" on the map) The rock was about three to six inches beneath a 45 degree angled surface, surrounded by black serpentinite and blue clay. If it isn't a fossil, what is it? Any insights are very welcome. Please let me know if the photos do not convey enough information, I will gladly supply more. You all ROCK! Thanks! Jesse

Hi. We found this amongst the mortality plates. It is an ordovician exposure along the water in Green Bay Wisconsin. Can anyone help us Id? There are two of these in this plate. I've never seen anything this delicate looking in any of the other specimens.

I have noticed four of the fossil rich rocks that I found last Friday have a greenish-black film that is very hard to remove and that comes back after a few hours. I found all four near each other and they were all covered in reddish clay. The main fossils are coral animals, sponges, and layers of oyster shells. The matrix is jasper, crystal, and quartz, with one of the four having a few small gravel-like stones. I suspect the film may be rust if that’s possible because on the work space I also had two pieces of hematite and neither have the film. If it is rust, would using a baking soda wash help? I am posting a picture but it’s with my phone so I apologize for the lack of quality. Soon I will post better pictures. If I am unable to post the pictures, I am sorry and will try again when my grandkids get home from school.