NE Ohio Fossil ID Help Needed

[OhioHeather]

I recently found this fossil while walking in a shale creek bed in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Northeast Ohio just south of Cleveland).

The area is late Devonian - early Mississippian. The piece is approximately 11cm x 7cm (4.25in x 2.75in). 

Any help in identifying it would be greatly appreciated.

 

  

 

  

 

[LabRatKing]

[FranzBernhard]

Welcome to TFF from Austria!

 

LOL!! @LabRatKing without any idea!? This could become interesting! 

 

And no idea also here, of course!  Very interesting specimen. Maybe I am slightly leaning towards some kind of trace fossil? 

 

Franz Bernhard

[Lone Hunter]

I had same reaction when I saw him eating popcorn!  After a couple margaritas it's starting to look like the pectoral fin on my fish lol.

[lkm]

While I can't tell you what it is, I know it is not part of a trilobite and most likely it is not a pectoral fin b/c Ohio is not known for fish fossils except the dunkleosteus (this is not a dunkleosteus fin). It could be a type of shellfish. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by lkm

[LabRatKing]

8 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Welcome to TFF from Austria!

 

LOL!! @LabRatKing without any idea!? This could become interesting! 

 

And no idea also here, of course!  Very interesting specimen. Maybe I am slightly leaning towards some kind of trace fossil? 

 

Franz Bernhard

Oh, I have an idea but am not even vaguely comfortable with my guess...as I’m still in the field and don’t have the bandwidth to research it.

 

 

 

However, my gut tells me there’s something “finny” but not fishy going on here. A photo with a scale is needed.

Edited April 18, 2021 by LabRatKing

[val horn]

crinoid calyx with some broken up pieces.  what ever it is very pretty.

Edited April 18, 2021 by val horn
additional thought

[GeschWhat]

Oooo, this is a fun one. So did the darker colored layer in the 4th photo wash off? It looks homogenous in the first 3 photos, I'm guessing some type of internal cast/steinkern, but wouldn't rule out a trace fossil. 

[Fossildude19]

My vote for this would be ichnofossil or sedimentary structure. 

[OhioHeather]

 

The orange/brown top layer did come off with water and a toothbrush.  Some of the shale started flaking off on the underside so I stopped trying to clean it.  I am a complete novice on all this.  

 

This is what I've found on the creek: The creek lies within the glaciated Allegheny Plateau of the Appalachian Plateaus Province (Soil Survey of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1980). Its bedrock consists of the Cuyahoga Group shales that were formed from hardened black muds over 300 million years ago in the Mississippian Period of the Paleozoic Era. These shales have a great diversity in appearance and texture and form the unique features of the creek valley. The Cuyahoga Group layers include the Chagrin shale, Cleveland shale, Bedford shale, Berea sandstone, Orangeville shale, Sharpsville sandstone, Meadville shale, and surficial glacial deposits. All of these layers are highly visible in the creek valley.

 

The Escarpment is composed mainly of shale and sandstone about 100 feet thick and with abase of 800 feet. The shale portion is approximately 30 feet in depth and formed of Cleveland, Chagrin, and Bedford shales. This shale section is mantled with a thin layer of silt and clay from the Pleistocene and recent time periods. Below the shale is a sandstone unit ranging from 20 to 50 feet thick and composed of Cuyahoga and Berea Sandstone formations from the Mississippian era. Cuyahoga Formation Sandstone contains soft, dark gray layers interbedded with fine-grained, lighter-gray layers. Berea sandstone is bonded by clay and bedded in layers composed of fine to medium grained sand. The escarpment experiences a steep elevation rise of 1150ft.

 

This was found at the escarpment. I believe portions of the area are Bedford shale because it is super soft, but I don't know if I could tell the difference between all five shale types. It is nearby so I can take more pictures or observations.

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks so much for the geology report and the pic with scale, @OhioHeather! Great!

Well, there are already many opinions out there, so the mystery remains.

Have you found out anything about the fossils in these layers in the literature/internet?
Franz Bernhard

[Lone Hunter]

Any resemblance?

[val horn]

i think it has a lot of resemblance.  what is yours and where is it from?  ???horn coral??

Edited April 19, 2021 by val horn
an additional thought

[Lone Hunter]

I can across that picture doing research on a peice of coral, it was on a site listing different types of coral but had a question mark by this one of course.

[Plax]

On 4/18/2021 at 7:21 AM, lkm said:

While I can't tell you what it is, I know it is not part of a trilobite and most likely it is not a pectoral fin b/c Ohio is not known for fish fossils except the dunkleosteus (this is not a dunkleosteus fin). It could be a type of shellfish. 

Cleveland Shale sharks?

[Fossildude19]

I see only a very superficial resemblance with the coral posted by Lone Hunter.   

 

 

[Lone Hunter]

I don't know if this applies but also ran across a facinating article about  coral criniod biocoenosis, the description and drawings/pictures also had some resemblance.

 

[abyssunder]

Maybe it's related to sole marks (flute casts).

[val horn]

the dry dredgers are an excellent fossil club in ohio.  It is clear that there is no consensus about your fossil on the forum and there are a lot of knowledgeable people here.  Local experts should have a better handle about what you have found.  I would contact them.  I looked on their website, they will have a zoom meeting april 22 and a field trip the 23.  If you get a clear answer please let us know.

[westcoast]

1 hour ago, abyssunder said:

Maybe it's related to sole marks (flute casts).

Yes, it looks like there are other smaller sole marks on the same slab. 

[OhioHeather]

I sent a message to the Dry Dredgers group - thank you for the suggestion. I have reached out to half a dozen fossil groups and the responses have been all over the board.  It was suggested that I contact the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and see if they have anything similar so I'll probably reach out there next.  But if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to throw them out here.  Thank you all for your input!

There are a ton of what I believe to be flute casts in the area, but I've never seen anything as detailed before.  

[GeschWhat]

Another possible source you could check out is the Ichnology Group on Facebook. I know, I know...Facebook. But this group is pretty much all professional ichnologists. 

[OhioHeather]

I had shared this with the Ichnology FB group before posting it here - they are the ones who recommended this site.  I heard back from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and their paleo team does not think it is a trace fossil, but a soft-sediment structure.

[Caverat]

Well Darn! I'll be in Chagrin Falls Father's Day weekend and was looking forward to finding another specimen of Heatherae sp. Keep digging, you are in a good area to reach out to great fossil sites.