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Showing results for tags 'houston'.
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Hello everyone, and thanks for making this forum happen! I am from the Houston area. My kids and I got into fossil hunting when we randomly stepped into petrified oysters and bivalves in the TX hill country. Since then, we've been fossil hunting, mainly in the Dallas area. Usually it's just an excuse to get out, but finding old, strange looking, beautiful things does not get old. Happy to join for trips here and there. All the best!
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found a few interesting things need identifying.... found in gravel from the Brazos river east of Houston Texas. First is a possible toe bone?, Bone fragment. second is a tooth. Possible Bison but I think it looks more equine??. could be wrong though. third is a possible small coprolite? passes the tacky test and when magnifies looking at a small chip in it there are orange and black colors inside can get pics if needed.
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Hey everybody! I've got two bones that I'm looking to ID, and unfortunately neither of them are complete. However, the good news is that they both have enough diagnostic features that I'm optimistic an ID can be made. Here's the first: This first one is a partial limb bone that I found in a river southwest of Houston. The sediments that make up the river bed are from the Beaumont and Lissie Formations and are predominantly Pleistocene in age (although there is the occasional Pliocene/Miocene material that washes down from further upriver). What stands out to me the most on this bone is the giant foramen that seems to connect to a large hollow cavity near the surface that was broken open when the bone was damaged at some point in the past. I can't tell if this is natural or some sort of drainage port that developed because of a pathology like an abscess. @Harry Pristis has several photos of a pathological alligator metapodial that gave me the idea: Half of an articular facet from one end of the bone is fragmented, but still present. It reminds me of the curvature found on the distal end of horse tibias. Unfortunately, it's a little bit difficult to capture it on camera. The only other distinguishing feature of the bone is its flaky surface. It could just be due to the particular way it was preserved, but I don't think I've ever come across another fossil with a similar texture. Here's the second bone: This second bone seems like it should be much easier to identify as it has two very distinctive articular facets preserved. Three foramina are also present, and enough of the long portion of the bone seems remain that it's general shape can be inferred. When I look at it I'm reminded of a calcaneum but after comparing it to horse calcanea (of which I have two), I can't see a match. The same goes for bison and other artiodactyls, even giant armadillos. I'm not sure what else it could be. As always, any help would be much appreciated! I know there are many people on the forum who are much more knowledgeable when it comes to Pleistocene fossils than me, so I'm once again going to ask for their opinions as well. @Shellseeker @garyc @Lorne Ledger @Harry Pristis
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Stumbled upon interesting "imprints" and "casts" in one of our backyard landscaping rocks (Houston). The landscapers call it "Bull Rock"... I think it is actually "chert". Looks to be marine invertebrate fossils? Would that be common or rare in this type of rock? Wondering if it is worth searching more in the back yard?
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I apologize for this not being fossil related…. My wife lost her wedding ring and we think it happened while she was planting flowers. We live in Fort Bend County. Does anyone in this area have a metal detector I can borrow? Please pm if you can help. Thanks!
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Just joined and this is my first post. I’m hoping to learn more about this find in northwest Houston. It was on a site with imported fill material, so it could have come from a different area nearby and at a different depth. It was encased in white/light gray clay with many 1-2mm round river pebbles embedded in the “bark”. I’m interested to know mostly if the outer section being different than the inner section is a normal formation, and additional information will be appreciated. Thanks.
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Houston Museum of Natural Science + T. rex Victoria - July 2021
ThePhysicist posted a topic in A Trip to the Museum
I was in the area, so I made a very brief stop by the HMNS. I'll state up-front that this will be extremely dino-centric. What I saw was really great, they have a chronologically-organized display of animals from stromatolites to humans (I only made it to the Cretaceous). The lighting is very dramatic, so seeing it in person is much better than the dark photos portray (I did edit a few of them to enhance visibility). Lots of dynamic posing which is nice compared to other museums. Also, most specimens aren't behind glass, and you can get really close. I believe most of the skeletons are casts (except for a couple of exceptional ones), but they're done well and don't disappoint. They currently have Victoria the T. rex as a traveling exhibit, although I think it has been recently moved and reduced in size to make room for the new traveling exhibit. She's one of the most complete individuals of T. rex and only slightly smaller than Sue (12' tall, 40' long, ~10.5 tons). Victoria was found in SD in 2013. She died sometime in her 20's (?), possibly from an infected bite on her lower jaw from another T. rex. Various elements: I think the feet aren't original. Coracoids, furcula, gastralia: Caudal vertebrae: Cervical vertebrae, some are fused: They had one of her femurs and her skull displayed separately:
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Hello! Im new to the Houston area Moved down from Virginia Beach, where fossilized shark, stingray teeth are common. Decided to walk along local creek found lots of interesting old bottles, pottery fragments, fossilized wood and shells, eventually came along three large fossilized bone fragments and one interesting partial fossil. The only fossils I’m familiar with are the shark teeth exc. common to my area help identifying these and knowledge on other common local fossils is much appreciated.
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Collected this about a week ago on a gravel bar in a local river near Houston that is mostly late Pleistocene material. I've labeled it Hespertestudo crassiscutata based on the size. Can someone confirm this is the left epiplastron? Thanks, Darrow
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Hello, complete newbie here posting though I have been lurking for some time. I found the pictured today in the San Jacinto riverbed north of Houston. This river is known to have a great deal of petrified wood everywhere, and I've found a lot of it in many odd forms. Other than a baby mammoth tooth I was fortunate enough to find while camping years ago, I have not yet found any fossilized bone. I was wondering if this is bone(feels as weighty as a mineral would) or petrified wood. If bone, I assume it is too deteriorated to tell possible species, I would more be interesrted in knowing that it is, since I am completely knew to this. Since it was so deteriorated, I fractured one tip to see inside. The dark circular area seems to run inside of it and is also visible along one side in a kind of channel. Sorry the pictures aren't great, I will get better!:) Thanks in advance for any opinion you could give on it. regards, Brian
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Found on the Brazos River just southwest of Houston. I'm fairly confident that this is a nuchal bone, but I my real interest lies in identifying what species of turtle it is from. I seem to remember reading a post on here mentioning that nucal bones are diagnostic to taxon, so that should make it easy. Unfortunately, I can't find anything anywhere about different Texas Pleistocene turtle species. Hopefully someone here is more knowledgable than me! I would appreciate any suggestions.
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Hello guys! Nathan here. I have a few fossils I would like to get y'all opinions about what they are or if there even fossils! Here is one rock I found outside my house in Houston Texas.
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Found on the Brazos River just west of Richmond, Texas. My best guess is Equus sp. judging by how flat it is, but any confirmations or other suggestions are welcome. Unfortunately the occlusal surface is extremely worn down, so identification may be difficult. If anyone knows exactly what tooth it is (such as location in the mouth) that would be very helpful too. Thanks for looking!
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I was searching the gravel bars in the Brazos River just southeast of Houston almost every day last week before the storm hit this weekend. Now the water's too high to look, but I found a pretty good assortment of fossilized Pleistocene aged bones during my trips. Most of what I've found have been fragments that are totally unidentifiable, but a handful still have some significant features that could lead to an ID. These two are both rib bones, but that's about all I know. The first one I initially thought was from a modern cow due to how clean it was, but after picking it up it was clear that it's definitely a fossil - it's mineralized all the way through and has a decent weight to it. The only animals of that size that could produce such a large rib that I can think of off the top of my head would be either bison or hoses. The second bone also looks like a rib, but a lot smaller than the first. It has two deep grooves on either side that seem to match up with pictures I've seen of the origin point in deer and horse ribs where the bone begins to branch away from the vertebral column. As always, any help would be appreciated!
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I've been searching the gravel bars in the Brazos almost every day this week while the water is still low enough to get down there, and I've collected a pretty good assortment of fossilized bones. Most of what I've found have been fragments that are totally unidentifiable, but a handful still have some significant features that could lead to an ID. There's too many pictures to post all at once, so I'll reply a couple times with more. Thanks for the help! This first find is definitely a tooth and is the only piece I have that isn't from the Brazos, instead I picked it up on a trip to one of the small beaches north of the Texas City dike. I'm thinking bison, but I'm open to suggestions.
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Hi all, this is my first time posting so please be gentle. I found this in my back yard and I am just looking for help with an ID. In Katy Texas, just west of Houston. It's small, less than 2" total but the fragment is around 1 inch. It's in a sandstone matrix (a couple of geologists told me it is "young" sandstone, whatever that means). I am new to Texas and not familiar with the history here. Based on Googling, it looks to me like maybe a Pleistocene-era alligator claw or possibly snapping turtle claw. It does not look like a tooth, alligator or otherwise. it has a groove running down the side (probably down both sides) and isn't really conical. the only ridge is on the outer/top part (the curved edge). Just curious about what it might be and hoping someone with more expertise can assist. Thanks in advance for any insights you may have!
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Another find today from the Brazos River just southwest of Houston. The grooves on top of this piece look very similar to pictures of mammoth teeth that I have seen before, but it is obviously far too small to be a full tooth or even half of one. Is it just a fragment? And is it even really a mammoth tooth? If it's a pseudofossil after all, it's a darn convincing one. It's definitely mineralized and has a crystal-like sheen with slight sparkles here and there when it catches the light. Any help on an ID would be great!
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Found these two teeth still attached to a segment of jawbone on the Brazos River just southwest of Houston today. They're definitely mineralized, so I believe I can rule out ordinary cows. However, after doing some research online the teeth seem to be much too flat to be bison, so maybe horse? They both look like molars, although one of the roots is broken off of the first tooth - I honestly have no idea how it managed to hang on for so long. Either way, I was incredibly excited to find this, especially after braving the 90 degree plus heat for several hours without sunscreen. Any help on an ID would be much appreciated. Thank you!
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at first glance this small stone looks to have an impression in it the thing is the stone is smooth to the touch I found this stone in the drive did not have a ruler with me or a coin so you may have to judge its size by my finger found in driveway gravel from Brazos river west of Houston Texas.
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Found this in my yard while digging. Is this a fossil?
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found this weird stone in a gravel load from the Brazos river west of Houston Texas
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found in gravel from Brazos river here in west Houston it appears to be a very tiny claw but will let the more experienced determine also there is what appears to be a small bone also took a pic of it with micro scope camera. I guess another possibility could be a tiny tooth?
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found this tiny odd thing could this be the feces of a turtle poo or is it an odd concretion?
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ok found this but never took a really good look at it but upon looking at it a bit closer today I found it really resemble a Glyptodon scute. my question is is this what it looks like or is it another bust? If this is what it looks like that would be a cool find. it is 2 inches across and an inch and a quarter thick found in a gravel load west of Houston Texas from the Brazos River
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