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Set out yesterday morning to dig up seedling blue bonnets in area by a gulley I hunt, haven't been there for a year so thought I'd check it out before it started raining. I think this is an outcrop of Britton formation, Eagle Ford. Didn't get far before it started raining so basically filled my bag with globs of clay for most part then proceeded to clog up bathtub washing it all off. Pretty happy with results, wish I could find whole ammonites the preservation is so good, was tickled with two Inoceramus that had some shell. So mystery #1, I'm stumped and afraid to chip at any more not knowing the rest of shape. #2, not sure if the piece of shell is related, looks an awful lot like a ptychodus tooth but I'm sure it's something boring Threw in last one just curious what it could be.

Models can be viewed using this website: Online 3D Viewer or through other software. These are two very nice examples found in the Rocky Ridge Sandstone in Larimer County, Colorado. I am not able to upload many files at a time but I will be making posts occasionally with models of either inoceramid bivalves or scaphite ammonites. 123223080_Inoceramus-Kprl(2)-9.glb

Little slice of heaven near Fort Collins with some nice Inoceramus Clams. Usually try to not bust open big rocks like this and instead find ones that have already eroded out but this nodule had a crack running along really nice bivalve so I couldn't resist.

A cool piece frozen in time from the day they were buried together. Also a decent size Inoceramus shell for the area and always fun to find an ammonite. This piece is from Boulder, Colorado.

I was really enjoying hiking around different spots in Boulder, Colorado and eventually I came across a beautiful outcrop of the Niobrara Formation. I thought it was so cool that there were shell imprints in the rock and nobody had ever taught me about the Geology of the area and it was really fascinating to see for myself that the whole area was once under the sea. I stumbled upon a massive Inoceramus and I knew I had to haul it home. Not bad at all for a first fossil hunt I don't think I ever found a Inoceramus as impressive as my first. Begginers luck.

I've had some beautiful little hikes around a sandstone outcrop and I've stumbled upon some very decent bivalves

Never seen anything like this so far. I know it's an Inoceramid from the shell structure but I've never seen one in this shape before. I know there's a lot of variety with this species but I have a lot of experience collecting bivalves and I've never seen one like this.

Lots of large Inoceramus bivalves from the middle unit of the Pierre Shale (kpm). Almost every rock I flip over is a bivalve been having fun hiking around

The only fossils I brought with me when I moved from Boulder. I can't wait to go back to visit and see all the other beauties down there.

Inoceramus shells could grow up to almost 2 meters long but this is by far the biggest one I ever found. From Boulder, Colorado in the Pierre Shale

Took a trip down to my childhood museam and found a little corner I missed back in the day with some beautiful ammonites and baculites

I took a geology excursion a couple of weeks ago, and had the chance to explore the I-40 road cut through the Gallup Hogback east of Gallup, New Mexico. Rather to my surprise, I came across a nice oyster horizon within the Mancos Shale. I realize the preservation is sketchy enough to make precise identification difficult. I'm wondering if these might be "baby" Inoceramus. I'll try to post some better pictures of samples I brought home later. And, since I consider myself lucky if I even get the right phylum -- I suppose another possibility is ostracods.

In my amateur collection there is such a run-in bivalve from the Picardy cretaceous deposits (France). It was identified primarily as Inoceramus concentricus. Is it correct?

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to look for fossils among additional Pierre Shale outcrops in the Sheyenne River Valley. I didn't post anything about that trip as it came up a bit short and read like my last Pierre Shale trip with more partial specimens. Today I went back to the area to look again, and also made it to an outcrop of the Gregory Member. Low water levels made for a great collection from the Gregory. The DeGrey was rather typical. The side of one of the so-called "Indian Mounds" of the DeGrey member and a frog which was hanging out on the mound. This portion of the river is also the DeGrey. The DeGrey is well exposed in many parts of the state but is often poor in fossils. That fantastic looking ravine produced nothing, not even fragments. Glacial till and boulders are often mixed into the worn outcrops. Some things still grow in the worn shale. Prairie Crocus (Anemone patens) coming up from a few weeks ago. Exposures of the Gregory. The mark of the Gregory, tan claystones compared to the mark of the typical DeGrey, iron manganese carbonate concretions. Frogs were everywhere. I counted 19 frogs in a 7 foot line along the bank here. Freshwater mussels are abundant in the Sheyenne and the low water beached several. Many became muskrat and raccoon snacks. This male Fatmucket (Lampsilis siliquoidea) was one that survived the feast. The first fossil from the Gregory, a nice Baculites.

I ran across a pile of dumped limestone on a vacant lot in Grand prairie Texas, know nothing about it but I'm relying on the limestone experts on here for help. Most of it was shattered or blank but found one large slab about 4 ft across that was intact but cracked with some large peices left. I pried it apart and gathered up ones that looked interesting, had fossils, and large enough to maybe be distinguish as part of something else. Showing the group front and back for context. First four pics of one rock, next four pics of one rock and most interesting one, front and back of next rock, then the various fossils within, don't know if it's relevant but the ammonite was in the center of the slab and surrounding broken peices looked like it was much bigger. Last four pics of one rock, in several of the rocks I believe I'm seeing crystalized shell, the last rock most prominent, it measures 1 cm at the thickest part. I know there is a lot missing but hoping someone can distinguish if some of these were all a part of something much bigger. Thanks ahead of time for taking the time to read all that and look at all the pictures.

Inoceramus are one of the most widespread and commonly found Mesozoic marine bivalves, ranging from the Early Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. They are found in deposits all over the world, and can be small, or huge. So show us your Inos! Here are two I have found. The first is a plate with two of them from Holzmaden, where they are extremely common. The second is a larger weathered one from a local State Park tide pool. ( Of course, I didn’t collect it.)

I have an ambivalent relationship with the Pierre Shale. I try and try to find good sites that produce fossils but the end result is usually a fossil-less site. For a long time I quit trying exposures of Pierre Shale even though it's the closest fossil bearing exposure to where I live. About a year ago I decided to try the Pierre Shale again because it was close and I was too tired to go elsewhere, like the Fox Hills Formation in Central ND. Mostly I found worn Inoceramus fragments but to my surprise I found a nicely preserved caudal vertebrae from a mosasaur among float material. Following that I began to try the Pierre a little more and today, after finally getting landowner permission, I spent the day at a site with extensive exposures. Most of the Pierre Shale exposures in East-central North Dakota are of the DeGrey Member. The most obvious feature of this member is a large amount of iron manganese carbonate concretions. The few fossils I find in the Pierre here are usually in these worn concretions. The first fossils I found didn't come from the Pierre at all but came from glacial erratic limestone. I occasionally find older material like this among the tons of glacial material that blankets most of this part of the state but rarely do I find such well preserved/unworn specimens. Some nice brachiopods to start. I was happy to collect some of these among a split limestone boulder despite the lack of specific age/locality data. Moving towards the actual Pierre Shale deposits there is distinct worn shale with bands of worn concretions. The large tract of land I had permission to collect on was covered in these exposures.

Hi I recently found this big intact fossil while hunting in North Central Kansas. It's about 18 inches long. It is covered in smaller shells and has one small whole in shell that you can see in pictures. Is this a giant clam? https://photos.app.goo.gl/MMEEuEbGHe4x9a1YA

Today I had a good time with fossil hunting at the Dakota formation (early Cenomanian) sites and Greenhorn formation (Cenomanian-early Turonian) sites in Ellsworth county, Kansas. Typical view of the local countryside, but still beautiful! I keep finding these weird vertebrae-like rocks, clustered in this particular site and not other sites. I suspect it's not vertebrae but I still can't figure this out yet. These mysterious vertebrae-like rocks...reminds me of shark centrum and crinoid stems but I don't think it's them. This site is Dakota formation. I took these home just in case it is identified as fossils later. I think it's fossil vegetation of some sort. Maybe reed or horsetail? I found these jumbled at different locations but put it together and it fitted like a puzzle. I took it home and will be prepped. This is from Dakota formation. Inoceramus from Greenhorn formation. One of the best specimen of this genus I have found so far! Took this one home. Another Inoceramus, pretty good specimen! I also took this one home. Tiny fossil in the center. Greenhorn formation again. This tiny fossil, image enlarged and the ridges/grooves are visible. No idea what it was. I took this one home and will be put under the microscope for identification efforts. The storm was brewing at the distance as the cold front is heading south. It was lightning and I was at near the top of hill, the road would be impassable if wet, so it was time for me to go home! I will be posting some of those fossils on the Fossils ID section soon after it is cleaned up. Cheers!

Video does druzy no justice

I found this rock a few years ago and have been wondering about the fossils in it ever since. At first I thought that they where some kind of fish remains, but upon further inspection I am beginning to think that they may be bits of either pterosaur or bird bone. But I really don't know. This rock was found in North Texas in the Upper Coniacian stage of the Austin Chalk Formation. The member of this formation in which I found these fossils is extremely scarce in any vertebrate fossils, with most of the them coming from a more blue/gray toned member of the Austin Chalk which I believe lies underneath this member. In fact, if these are vertebrate fossils then they would be the first and only ones that I have found to date. Aside from vertebrate fossils, the only other thing that I thought that these could be were bits of the hinge of an Inoceramid oyster, which I have found. The last attached photo is of a hinge that I found recently only about 1 mile away from where I found this rock. However, there are a few problems with this theory, the first being the lack of any prismatic (calcitic) crystals being visible in any of the pieces, which there would be if these fossils really were cross section bits of an Inocermid hinge. The prismatic crystals are clearly visible in the cross section view of my Inoceramid hinge. Second, even if I am just not seeing the prismatic crystals, the piece pictured in F7 appears to me to be hollow with a thin, bony looking wall. It is this feature that first got me thinking that these could be bone bits from a pterosaur or a bird. The only thing that makes me rethink that theory is the fact that the larger piece pictured in F2-F3 is completely filled in on the inside and even has something sticking up in the center of it, pictured specifically in F3. But I also do not know for sure whether these two pieces are actually related at all. Compare my fossils with this TFF article about a possible pterosaur bone from the TXI quarry in Midlothian, Texas, which is in the Upper Turonian Atco Formation: And third, at the broken end of the piece pictured specifically in F5 and F6, I see what I perceive as stepped layers where some of it flaked off. That is good evidence against it being an Inoceramid hinge, because the prismatic crystals would be running parallel with an Inoceramid hinge's length, not running perpendicular to it. And as the steppes go down, it seems to show layers of more reddish material, which is also something that I have never seen from an inoceramid shell. There are four main pieces in this rock (which are presumably related) that I am inquiring about, which are pictured in F1-F9. But there are other pieces in this rock that might be related to them, pictured in F10-F12. I also have a few other pieces in this rock that I am pretty sure are not related to the others, pictured in F13 and F14 . F13 is something that I have seen before, but I still do not know what it is, and F14 looks kind of like the shell of a very small urchin, but I really have no idea. The rock its self is 16 cm long. The largest of the 4 main pieces is pictured in F2, F3 and F13 and is 14½ mm in diameter and has 5 mm of it visible above the rock, plus the part of it sticking up in the center. The second largest piece pictured in F4-F7 is 9 mm in diameter and 6 mm in length. The third largest piece pictured in F8 is 5 mm long. And the smallest piece which is right next to the second largest piece is pictured in F4, F9 and is 5 mm long. There are many bits and pieces in this rock that I just can't take pictures of because this post would be 45 pages long. If photos or information apart from what I have already given is needed then I would be happy to give it. I could be way out there and totally off, so I appreciate any help/correction that I get. I am more of an ammonite guy and I don't really know that much at all about vertebrates. Even if these are nothing, I will have learned something. F1 F2