Search the Community

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. I am originally from South Texas, but currently live in Central Texas. I discovered the "rock" in this post, while dove hunting on my uncle's ranch in Southwestern Bexar County (south of San Antonio), almost twenty years ago. The area where my uncle's ranch is located, consists primarily of red clay, sand stone and some stones that look iron. When I first picked this up, I thought it was a fossilized turtle shell, as did my family. Over the years, I noticed it was oxidizing and I wondered if it was some sort of iron meteorite. After some correspondence online with NASA, I almost sent it to them so they could sample it for identification, but after some thought I decided not to. They could break it or conveniently "lose it". It wasn't until recently that I learned that fossils can oxidize too. Once again, after doing some research online and purchasing the National Audubon Society's "Field Guide To Fossils", I saw that there were photos of fossilized corrals that looked somewhat similar to the rock I discovered. The handbook is great, I have some common fossils that I was able to put a name too, but I have many more that remain a mystery... maybe the majority of my collection is not so common. Needless to say, this thing has been a nagging mystery and I am eager to learn what it is. Thanks for your help!