Search the Community

The tag on the box that I picked this out of (silver pick) identified it as, you guessed it, petrified monkeypuzzle wood with shipworm borings. The ID seems right but it's such a beautiful piece I wondered if anyone has any further thoughts.

First of all thank you for accepting me as a member. I have a fossil that I hope catches your attention. I think they are Miocene worms. They belong to the Vallès-Penedés. What is strange is that they are in such good condition, I think they are unique. I await your opinion.

Hi guys! Can anyone tell me is this maybe a worm or something else? It has rings normally on it like a earth worm but I'm not sure what to think... It's also from my hunting spot at Popovac Marl stone Quarry.. Please help and thanks!

Hi everyone, i am new to the forum, I am from the east coast of the US but spend my summers in Southeastern Minnesota. I found this (what I think is an oyster shell or bigger Brachiopod) while agate hunting near Winona MN. But I have no idea, that is why I am posting. The Interesting thing about this fossil is that it is whitish with what looks like little worms or possibly sea weed? The shell is 2 inches long (50.8 MM) and 1 inch and 3/4 wide (44.45 MM). Please let me know if you need any other info to help identify what it is.

I'm new on this site and have a few fossilized rocks that I need to ID. This first rock (from Tooele County Utah) looks to have fossilized worms on it. My town of Tooele sits on the ancient dry remains of Lake Bonneville, so I'm always finding rocks with shells and fossils. The rock has some florescent properties, but I think this maybe due to the saturated caliche in the soil (not sure though).

Hi Everyone, This is my first time posting on any kind of fossil forum, and I was wondering if someone could help me ID something that was given to me years ago. Unfortunately I have pretty limited information, but a friend found this while motorcycling from Sturgis, SD back to Ohio. I think he said he found it along the road while still in SD, but it’s been so long I’m not sure. It’s 6.5in length and weighs about 3lbs. When tapped it almost has a ceramic sound in some places. The angle of this pic is looking down through the tubes (some of which you can see straight through). Some tubes are larger but most are 1/16in in diameter. A side angle would show that most of them are straight and run in the same direction, kind of like a bundle of straws. On the insides of the larger tubes, the walls are lined with even smaller tubes. I’ve been able to find one other pic of something similar (from northern Texas), but it was also unidentified. I thought it looked like coral or maybe even worms of some sort, but I don’t know much. Maybe it’s not even a fossil!

Hello,I found some fossils,but im not sure about ID. Thanks for any help .

Are these worms different from one another? Is anyone able to name them? And what does their appearance mean from an ecological standpoint?

I have a few places I can go here in norther Wyoming where I find a lot of Gastroliths. The last couple of times I have gone out I find at least one or two that had been fossils before becoming a gizzard stone. I have heard of and found Gastroliths that was petrified wood . I haven't though seen any that were like these.

Well it's been a while since I've last been on (over two months), and I know how much you all have been missing me , so I decided to finally get around to photographing some of the finds I've made over the summer. I've talked a bit earlier this year about collecting in the Frederick Limestone and other upper Cambrian-lower Ordovician units, but these finds are from rocks far, far older than those, nearly 100 million years older! These fossils are among some of the oldest in Maryland, and in the Mid-Atlantic region, which was part of the reason I collected them in the first place (because, let's be honest, most aren't that appealing). If you find these things interesting, the Araby was originally mapped as the Antietam Sandstone until about 1940ish when it became a separate geologic formation due to the strong difference in rock-type most common in either (the Antietam is mostly a quartz-sandstone, the Araby mostly a sandy and muddy shale and siltstone). When the time for the split came, the new name Araby was given to the formation that occupied a band roughly stretching from the Potomac River to the south north in a rough question mark shape to Pennsylvania as the type locality was situated near Araby Church (an interesting bit. A geologic formation from the Cambrian explosion named after a church!). Nowadays the church is gone as far as I know, but the area still bears the name with the apply named Araby Church Road. Going back further, in July of 1864, the Araby Formation would play a major role in the Battle of Monocacy. As Confederate forces under Jubal Early's command were marching east along the B&O RR, they were stopped in the vicinity of Frederick by scattered forces under the command of Union General Lew Wallace. During the day long battle (fought July 9), Wallace's outnumbered force of 5,000 men used the hills and small ridges to their east as a last line to stem the Confederate tide, strength roughly 15,000. This ridge, of course, was made up of the resistant Araby Formation, whose clastics didn't erode through time as quickly as the carbonates of the Frederick Limestone. Unfortunately for Wallace and the Union, the Confederates were able to outflank their positions, and forced them to retreat east past Urbana. Although it was a Confederate victory (the northernmost of the war), the battle delayed Early's advance for a crucial 24 hours, allowing reinforcements from the Union 6th Corps near Petersburg to arrive in Washington DC in time to stop the Confederate attacks on July 11-12 at Fort Stevens. Interesting to see how geology plays a role in how battles (and history!) are fought. I collected twice this summer, once in the early part and another time in September, from a roadcut near Frederick. This cut exposes the early Cambrian Araby Formation, which is nearly 550-530 million years old. The Araby is a nearshore clastic unit, likely deposited in a surf/beach zone on the elevated Piedmont block (a fancy term for a higher lying seabed). As such, it roughly correlates to the Antietam Sandstone further west, as well as, more roughly, the Kinzers Formation in Pennsylvania in the upper sections. Geologically speaking, the Araby is divided into coarser, almost buff siltstone and sandstone units and black, slaty-shale and siltstone (this includes the former Cash Smith Shale, which was found out to be in the middle of the Araby upon later work) ones. The darker, shale layers likely were deposited during times of deeper water, as there exists a degree of faunal differences between the two to suggest such (Olenellus thompsoni has been recorded from the black layers, but I never found any). Later, during the Taconic and Acadian Orogenies, the Araby Formation was slightly metamorphosed as were most other Piedmont and Blue Ridge units, though some parts escaped mostly untouched. These, of course, have the best fossils. Boring rock stuff out of the way, the Araby and the Antietam were formed at a special time in Earth's history called the Cambrian Explosion, which was a period when life underwent a rapid series of diversifications. Luckily we didn't miss out much here! Many beds of the Araby are filled with burrows and other traces of ancient wormlike creatures, as well as rarer edioasteroids, trilobites, and other creatures. Unfortunately little work has been done on the Cambrian units of Maryland, and less still on the Araby, so I haven't found any list of actual names for any species. As such, I'll use names from the Antietam Sandstone, as the two are time, stratigraphically, and lithologically equivalent. By far the most common fossils were the worm burrows, Skolithos linearis. These are rounded, somewhat tube shaped objects in their usual form, though they can sometimes occur as cross sections as you'll soon see. On top of this, they're also sometimes preserved in iron minerals, as is common with many other fossils. From what I've gathered, these "tubes" are interpreted to be the resting places of worms, likely annelids. Now, I'm not claiming to know 100% what some of these are so if any of you may have a better ID please let me know. First up are the Skolithos linearis. The first image is of a fairly typical "tube" shaped structure. The second image shows a cross section cut-away of a "tube", partially mineralized in what is likely iron (iii) oxide. The third image is of a large, albeit poorly preserved, complex of "tubes". The general way to tell where they are is by looking for the dark contours of them, and tracing them that way.

Last weekend decided to drive down to Missouri to catch the solar eclipse and look for some fossils in the Upper Cambrian Davis formation. My time was pretty limited so was only able to check out a couple different spots for short periods of time. Lots of worm burrows, disarticulated trilobites and weird trace fossils. The shale was pretty dusty so it was difficult to see what I was looking at in the field. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. Here's an interesting one with what looks like a long genal spine and water ripples (?). My understanding is this was a back reef lagoon surrounded by a microbial reef and the St Francois mountains were islands during the Cambrian. Not sure what's going here.... any ichnologists out there? Another plate with a lot going on. There are some small tracks on the middle far right.. Trilobite parts... Possible Cliffia lataegenae cephalon? Hard to tell for sure after half a billion years... Thanks for looking and for any insight!

Please forgive what is no doubt a very naive question, but I've just found these 2 pebbles on a beach on the Isle of Man, and knowing nothing at all about fossils I'm wondering what they are. Many thanks

Hello fellow TFF Members! I am sorry I am not very active lately, but my job slows me down.... ANYWAYS! I was searching a creek bed by future new house in Illinois, and I stumbles across this - (picture below) Could anyone tell me what creature made this impression? I'm assuming a worm-like creature due to its obvious segments.

I am a novice.I live in south western Ohio (Ordovician). I have some acreage and lots of hills and creeks. I have been picking up what look like sedimentary rocks and many are loaded with marine fossils. The photos below show a piece of soft rock (sandstone I think, maybe shale?) with apparent bore holes (photo 1). I whacked this piece along the edge and a chunk popped off and some brown stuff was in between the layers (photo 2, close up photo 3). Are these spots the remains of the critters that made the holes in the surface of the rock or just some brown gunk? Under magnification the U-shaped brown blob on the left in photo 3 appears to be segmented. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Found this curiously textured Rick yesterday. Upon cleaning it noticed some interesting items embedded in the side of it. Also curious what causes the texture on this type rock. Are they work tubes? Could the white item coming out of the rock be a worm? Found north of Crosbyton, TX.

About a month or so ago, I had a few hours to kill and decided on a whim to go search for the Lecthaylus gregarius in Blue Island, Illinois. I walked down to the river and found the Lockport shale which was really fun and easy to split apart, but all I came across were lots of plates of worms like this one: I wasn't even sure if these were Silurian annelids. In the end, I was unsuccessful in finding Lecthaylus gregarius, however I did find these fossils: If anyone has more info on genus types, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Went to a new spot along a creek behind an old quarry in Racine County WI. Looked like the area had been pretty well picked over. Lots of broken rock fragments, dug up pieces, etc. Had a great day though and it beat having to go to work that day lol. Not sure of the names of some of the pieces. One thing i have found in large abundance here in Racine and Kenosha Counties is the black lava Igneous rock. Some of them are Obsidian and some are Diorite. In this location there was buckets full of it everywhere. No Trilobites at all though which was my main goal. You never no what you will come across that's for sure.

Hello Please could you tell me what these marks are on this rock I found on the Northumberland coast? Is this a type of mudstone? Please tell me everything you can about what these marks are, what made them, how, when, etc? Is this a rare or common find? On two of the close-ups you can see that there are longitudinal lines within the markings (if this helps the ID). Also, why are the markings a copper-brown colour? Could they be a result of prehistoric mud worms? Today I found another circle marked rock, but this time the mark is white with no discernible details. Is this the same as the above; if so, then why the colour difference? Sorry this is such a tiny image for basic reference only (due to the 2MB file limit on posts). Thank you very much.

Here are the pictures: I am sure on the ID on this one but it was nice to see open after the gift that is winter. Mazopherusa prinosi Fan Worm (this isn't from pit 11 either - it is from the braceville location) Here is another I am fairly confident on: I believe this to be a Plain Worm Astreptoscolex Anasillosus..from Pit 11...Do folks agree? Finally, this one I am confused on...any thoughts? image will be in first reply.

Iv had these worm things for quite a while, i found them in a river in the UK, unfortunately i found the fossils broken in 2 in the water but the 2 pieces join together perfectly. Iv been wondering for some time what they are and also what their in as what now is rock must have been some soft substance because they are tunnelling inside what now is rock too, the entire fossil is a V shape, much like if you spread your 2 fingers apart, quite an unusual shape. There has to be over 30 of these things crawling around. Any ideas?

Collected this at the Montour Pit (PA) this month - looks like worms mating, which of course begs the question what event froze all of them in time at this moment? Any ideas for identifying these creatures? This had us all intrigued and stumped. Three views show the two halves of the shale plus two closeups. I recently took some closeup images and compiled them into a sheet - this may help the identification process... Devonian Worms_Montour PA_ID V1_by Michael and Nancy Tomczyk.pdf