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I am new to fossils and have inherited some interesting items. Can anyone identify these?

Any idea what this is? I found it in AZ, Desert area, Sandstone, Agate and Quartz around, but no others like this. It's about 5" across. IMG_20230322_153126.heif IMG_20230322_153144_HDR.heif

We find a lot of fossilized wood here in Texas, but as I learn more I’m discovering some may be coral instead. The rock in the first four pictures below I assumed was petrified wood, possibly palm. But as I learn more, it looks like it may have some coral like features? The second couple of pictures are of a light weight rock we’ve come across a few times. Out of curiosity, I cut one in half and cleaned it up with high strength vinegar followed by CLR. I now can see what looks like a branched chalcedony vein running through it and a druzy or two, I believe they’re called. Is it volcanic? A fossil? Or just a kinda cool rock… My wife, 10 year old daughter and I got into rock polishing a year ago. Now we’re trying to learn about fossils because we’re constantly running across them. I appreciate any opinions on both rocks as it’s helping us learn. Have a great week everyone!

Hello, forum! I recently came back from a long polar summer trip in Iceland. I was not ready for the hot air in Texas but luckily I brought some rain back with me to help with the drought conditions in DFW! I got to stay there getting to learn about my family’s culture. Homebase was in Hveragerði so I got to go to Vík a lot! I also stayed in the capital for a little bit which was fun! During my adventure I got to see glaciers, felt mini earthquakes/tremors, went to many hot springs, went to all the popular waterfalls, climbed a few volcanos. As long as I was there however I didn’t get to see the whole country! I only got to see the south, west, and some of the northwest fjord areas. Bull-Giant territories. Next time Eagle-Dragon territories for sure. *I didnt get to see the new eruption near Blue Lagoon unfortunately, I just missed it! Maybe the country is mad I left. If you’ve never been, there are almost no fossils to find there but some amazing stones and rock formations! Its a very rocky, bumpy, volcanic island. Rockslides happen, fog happens, volcanos are normal and eruptions can happen. It’s illegal to take anything from nature home- except when I went to the lava show in Vík where I got a sand necklace and glass fibers they made called “witches hair”. Most beautiful country I’ve ever been too! Very happy to know its second home and that the region is part of my life. If you ever visit there please be respectful of the nature. Best part of temporarily living in Iceland is: Fresh air, fresh local seafood, fresh dairy made next door in Selfoss, local made products, dramatic landscapes, midnight sun was a cool experience, black sand/dark rocks, cooking bread and boiling eggs in the hot springs daily (sulphur smell!), horsies are the perfect size for me, clean water, mild temperatures in late winter-summer, the names for landmarks and cities are a literal translations of a combination of nouns, and best of all it’s a “green” country that runs on geothermal so never-ending hot water in shower! (no it did not smell like eggs.) I love that its NEVER allowed to drive or park offroad to protect the nature. It’s also illegal to disturb large stacked stones usually seen in the country (ancient settler path markers!) however I saw people in the capital coastline and beach do it with tiny stones which is fine- just don't do it on the grasslands. Iceland was overall the best experience of my life! If you love geology- this is a great place to visit. Rock pictures! *It wouldn’t let me upload more photos but here are some attachments! Bonus pic of fox at a shelter, puffin photo through my binoculars, abandoned wild puffin burrows I found. Also-eider ducks! I have about a thousand pictures of food and animals as well.

Hello! I've had this piece in my collection for a while, and for the longest time I thought it was a bone. It's very heavy, more so than my other rocks this size. It also has a bone-like appearence. Any idea if this is indeed a bone or what it could be? I know this is a fossil forum and not a rock one, but if this is just a rock, any idea what it is and why it looks like that? And why is it so heavy? Thank you!

In the area Cabo de Gata in SE Spain is what is known as fossil beach because of it's feature, a fossilised dune. It is also a very popular place for fossil and mineral collectors. Walking there today and casually moving rocks and stones, I came across these two items which I will post separately. The first is an object that to the touch is solid and is very firmly attached to the rock surface. Around it appears to be some markings that do not appear anywhere else on the rock. I have been unable to locate a similar image on the web.

This was found on the beach in Romania (Black Sea). It is about 6cm. I have no idea what it is. At first look it seems like a fossilized coral. But as I did some research, this doesn't really look like other fossilized corals I've seen. Another option could be borings made by creatures, but a lot of them are openings rather than holes (apart from a big deep hole which is visible in pictures, is that a boring?). Another option I found is something volcanic, but why does it have so many holes? Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hello. I found this in the area of Nornern California's Table Mountain. It's a volcanic plateau basalt messa. The Miocene lava flow that created Table Mountain is named the Love Joy Formation. It was heavily hydro mined for gold and diamonds in the late 1800s. This rock has basalt fragments embedded. Some shiny pulled areas like it's been melted. It's very light .75lb or .34kg feels consistent to pumice. I'm wondering if this is a product of the extinct volcano or some byproduct of the mining the volcanic ash? Thank you for looking!

Hey guys, Forgive me for my lack of knowledge when it comes to this subject, but I was recently hunting through some shale piles at Florissant when I found an ironstone concretion, unattached to any shale. It feels lighter than most stones of the same size. It was really bizarre, and when I asked one of the owners about it she said it was a 'fireball' thrown from the Guffey Volcano. This was strange to me because the fireballs that I am used to seeing are the chunks of pumice in the shale. Here is one from my own collection: Here's a close up showing the little black bits of volcanic glass (?) in it. For comparison, here is the ironstone concretion with what looks like tephra showing from a crack in the nodule. To simplify my question(s), what is the difference between these two 'fireballs', what are they made of, why the difference in preservation? If they aren't fireballs, what are they? I'm really interested in this and I hope you guys can shed some light on it. Any additional info is appreciated, I'm anxious to learn more! As always, thank you, I'm very grateful for your informative responses.

Has anyone seen this before and if so how was it formed? Appears to be sandstone, full of striped layers of metal, in ribbons and bubbles - some bubble features are as large as 9 feet. Never seen anything like it. It was found in the honey creek area of big south fork in Tennessee, outside the town of Onidea. See photos.

Found in Central Auckland, heavily volcanic area. Have found volcanic bombs, glass etc in same place. This looks like a root mass to me but I've never seen its like before. Trace petrification? Is that even a thing? Thanks in advance!

Firs, cedars, metasequoia and others traced over time. High elevations helped develop temporate forests when the rest of the area was as warm as Florida. https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2019-02-fossil-emergence-pacific-northwest-temperate.amp

Excited to be here. Location: SE Portage County, Central Wisconsin, USA. Geology: South Western advance of Green Bay Glacial Lobe. Former Glacial Lake Oshkosh. Niagara Escarpment Debris. My land. Ordovician onward. Been lurking here for a couple of years, learning everything I can. Finally decided to join. Always loved fossils, but never had access to many. That changed a couple of years ago, when I unknowingly purchased some very unique land. The age of fossils I find on my property range from Ordovician era to more “modern” times. Have found Chain Coral, Favosites and Horn Coral previously. Plus a few other marine, plant, bone and tooth specimens. There are many moraines in the area, some smaller ones are on the land I have. It is located on the South Western edge of the Green Bay Lobe of the Glacier, during the furthest advance, about 18,000 years ago. Some of the fossils are attributed to when the glacier advanced through the Niagara Escarpment. As the glacier melted, escarpment debris was deposited. The Niagara Escarpment is located from Wisconsin, into Canada and includes Niagara Falls in New York. Yes, some here may know this, but others maybe not. Many of the fossils/rocks on my land are the same as all others near the other Niagara Escarpment locations. Glacial Lake Oshkosh also covered the land. Glacial Lake Wisconsin was located on the very edge of the land, when it and Lake Oshkosh were one entity. Lake Wisconsin contained volcanic debris from the Miladore Volcanic Range, which is located less than an hour from where I live. 6 months after purchasing the land, I rented the 15 acres of fields. They were plowed for the first time in modern history. Had been used for hay prior. In the spring/summer, I spend hours walking the fields. Due to limited vision, I often do not know what I have until I wash it and photograph. Rely mostly on shape, color and any other distinctive characteristics I can make out. My first find was an accident, while riding ATV along edge of fields to pick berries. Contacted a local relative, who referred me to the local college Geology Department. The Department Chair., put me in contact with the local Natural History Museum Director and the local fossil/artifact/rock expert. They have provided the initial ID’s for some of my finds. Fields will be plowed again in the Spring and I am excited to see what else surfaces. Hoping to learn everything I can here. Appreciate the knowledge of members. Will try not to use regional names for my finds I post, but list as unknown (common name) until someone can provide the scientific name. In the process of cataloging and storing all finds with names. Also have some I think are worth further processing, so am excited to learn how to do that. Would love to connect with others in the Upper Midwest USA. Sorry so long, but wanted to share Thank you.

I noticed some interesting rocks in the railroad bed while walking along some tracks in Illinois. I thought they looked like obsidian but one side of them has a porous, bubble looking surface that made me wonder if it was a piece of someone's countertop with old grout on the back. Most of the other rocks in the bed seem to be shale and quartzite. I also found other rocks that look like they could contain the holes made from volcanic gases. I am about to teach a unit on plate tectonics and one lesson has students compare eruptions of volcanoes with gassy and less gassy magma. If that is what these are, I thought they would be good examples for my students to examine. What do you think?

My uncle found these rocks and he thought they were interesting. My thoughts were volcanic, maybe a spindle lava bomb and another strange rock that has a porous top layer, but is heavier than pumice.

This looks like a fossilized egg in basalt or other rock but the pics I've seen of fossil eggs look brown. This is white and rock hard. I found it near the eastern end of the Mogollon rim in Arizona. Can anyone ID it?

there's a "fossil forest" about 10 minutes drive from my house, consisting of tree molds in volcanic rock formed when a local volcano erupted around 200,000 years ago, in Pleistocene times. the lava probably had the consistency of runny porridge, and when it ran around the trunks of ancient trees some of the larger ones were resilient enough to still be there when the lava cooled. of course, the trees died, but as they rotted away they left permanent holes where whey once were. there is one big enough to swallow a man, and therefore has been blocked off. i found a smaller mold, and broke off a small piece off a ridge inside of it. it's not much in the picture, but it's got a story behind it. clicky clicky!---->

I've found this slab in the creek, upstate NY (Greene county). It doesn't really look man-made to me, so I was wondering if this could be a fossil footprint, or just something created by the nature? Thanks for looking, I'll appreciate any comments you may have (dark color is just water) this pattern on the side of the slab reminds me of a hardened lava flow