Someone told me this is a tabulate coral?

[Jurassicz1]

Found it in a beach in sweden. But theres no fossil sites near so its not from sweden so i really dont know the location or age. 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yes, I think tabulate coral.

Something along the lines of Heliolites, I suspect.

[Tidgy's Dad]

The funny thing is, just ten minutes ago, I was looking at a fossil I have of a heliolitid found on a beach in Sweden in an area of Ordovician strata, but I believe my specimen to be Silurian. Lots of glacial interference in Swedish strata and tides washing things about as well. 

[Johannes]

I agree with corall, but it is heavyly rolled.

 

(But from what I see, I doubt a little it's palaeozoic age, but with @HansTheLoser we have one of the most experienced specialists for modern corals (mesozoic-subfossil), maybe he has an idea)

[oyo]

No chalices, no septes. For me this is not a coral but a sponge probably. We'll see what Hans says.

[PaleoOrdo]

If the site of the beach is in or near Gotland, it should be silurian.

[Jurassicz1]

17 hours ago, PaleoOrdo said:

If the site of the beach is in or near Gotland, it should be silurian.

The location is gothenburg.

[HansTheLoser]

I cannot see anything. A better image of the surface would be helpful.

[abyssunder]

It's a bioeroded material. Hard to say what it was. 

[Rockwood]

Sponge, possibly calcareous algae. I'm not seeing coral at all though. I think the textural features seem transverse to the layering in too uniform a manner to be purely bioerosion.

[Tidgy's Dad]

With my very limited experience of beach rolled fossils from Gotland, Sweden, all sent to me by my friend @kasia, I think there are two problems here. 

Firstly, it seems that the specimens are very roughly replaced by calcite crystals, so that a lot of the detail is lost in preservation. 

Secondly, the rolling about on beaches doesn't do them a lot of good either. 

Here is a favositid :

Not a lot to go on. 

In this next photo you can see the gleam of the large calcite crystals that have obscured some of the detail: 

Not that you'd expect to see septa in this or Heliolites, being tabulate corals.

But you can sometimes see enough to give hints. 

Here is the underside of the specimen shown above :

And another specimen, just a slice that looks a lot like a pebble :

But the cross-section :

You can also see where erosion has left very rough holes.

A seemingly dubious Halysites: 

But on one edge :

A rugose horn coral :

Not much detail preserved, here's the calyx :

And finally, the other type of coral you might be expected to commonly find in such an association, a heliolitid :

You can see where some of the calcite crystals have been eroded away and then further eroded to leave gaping holes.

Here you can see some of the big calcite crystals still in place and shining :

And the underside, a bit, but not much detail. 

But i'm pretty certain it's a heliolitid, it compares in regards to size, shape and general features, or at least what you can make out, with the British Wenlock specimens. 

So I contend that the OPs specimen might be a heliolitid. 

Though I wouldn't bet any cheese on it. 

[Rockwood]

Solutions ?

[Jurassicz1]

On 9/14/2020 at 6:49 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

With my very limited experience of beach rolled fossils from Gotland, Sweden, all sent to me by my friend @kasia, I think there are two problems here. 

Firstly, it seems that the specimens are very roughly replaced by calcite crystals, so that a lot of the detail is lost in preservation. 

Secondly, the rolling about on beaches doesn't do them a lot of good either. 

Here is a favositid :

Not a lot to go on. 

In this next photo you can see the gleam of the large calcite crystals that have obscured some of the detail: 

Not that you'd expect to see septa in this or Heliolites, being tabulate corals.

But you can sometimes see enough to give hints. 

Here is the underside of the specimen shown above :

And another specimen, just a slice that looks a lot like a pebble :

But the cross-section :

You can also see where erosion has left very rough holes.

A seemingly dubious Halysites: 

But on one edge :

A rugose horn coral :

Not much detail preserved, here's the calyx :

And finally, the other type of coral you might be expected to commonly find in such an association, a heliolitid :

You can see where some of the calcite crystals have been eroded away and then further eroded to leave gaping holes.

Here you can see some of the big calcite crystals still in place and shining :

And the underside, a bit, but not much detail. 

But i'm pretty certain it's a heliolitid, it compares in regards to size, shape and general features, or at least what you can make out, with the British Wenlock specimens. 

So I contend that the OPs specimen might be a heliolitid. 

Though I wouldn't bet any cheese on it. 

So it is a fossil Then I will label it heliolitid for now is it then from Gotland? If so then its silurian aged?

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Jurassicz said:

So it is a fossil Then I will label it heliolitid for now is it then from Gotland? If so then its silurian aged?

I am never certain of anything. 

I would say Silurian, but not sure where it originally came from. 

Silurian deposits are found in many areas of Sweden, erratics are common and fossils left by the erosion of higher beds, now gone, will occur.