BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 (edited) Hey Guys--here is some fossil weirdness from my recent wanderings. Any idea what these star shaped guys are? Edited February 21, 2010 by BobC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 The bottoms look like this--I found probably 40 of these little guys and the bottoms all looked the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Mystery spines amidst the snails. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Another spine from same area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 And here is another weird fossil I found in a layer of fossil-packed limestone that lay beneath a rudist reef in North/Central texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 To me they look like Crinoid stem segments (crinoid columnals) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 I'm taking a wild stab in the dark here, but I think you are hunting Pennsylvanian/Permian aged rocks. That being the likely case, the spines look like those found on Urchins and I think the first two photos are Crinoid cups. The mystery fossil is likely a Orthocone type Cephalopod. I could be wrong, The very late Paleozoic (not to mention Texas!) is not the most familiar to me. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlichia Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Depend of the ages,maybe if are from Paleozoic the mystery spines are Tentaculites (problematic organisms),but these are quite long and thin.Or also common spines from echinoids if these rocks are from upper Paleozoic or Jurassic. The other with the arrow maybe is a cephalopod fragment. ->>>>> < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Thanks for the input guys--but all of this stuff is from Cretaceous era formations. I found the stop-sign shaped thingees this morning and at first I thought they were just weirdly-shaped weathered rocks until I found close to fifty of them. They are certainly very weathered, but the shape of all of them is very similar. If you look closely one of the smaller specimens has very evident spikes on the corners--so either he is something else altogether (he is round, whereas the others uniformly have flat, broken up bottoms) or he is just a much better preserved specimen of the others. I haven't a clue Re:spines. I looked through tons of this rock and found lots of spines but not a single urchin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 First pics reminds me some crinoid calixes. Here is an example: Delocrinus Brownsvillensis Next ones, no idea, excepting the one with rudist reef, looks certainly to another type of rudist... RUDISTS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 (edited) Thanks, Mor. A very Knowledgeable person once told me that there are no crinoid anythings in Central Texas, but I will say that pic looks pretty close. The bottom especially looks like what I have. Your assessment of the rudist is probably right. The actual intact reef was above this layer, and crystallized-- so I thought maybe this might be something else altogether. Here is a pic of some urchins I found waaaaay West Texas. Can anyone ID them? Edited February 22, 2010 by BobC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Since we're exploring my WTH file (what the heck?), is this a Geode? It was found around salado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Here are the two biggest, by far, heart urchins I have ever seen. 4 inches by 3. The normal sized heart urchin found around here is in the foreground for perspective. These two guys are in craptastic shape, but I kept them because they were so ginormous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 This is it for now: here is an ammonite and what I think is a Globator from W Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Possibly Comatulid crinoids from the Glen Rose formation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 The mystery spines maybe a super long and narrow gastropod called Nerinea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Good to hear from you, Lance. I definitely do not think the spines are gastropds--every single one has a knob on the end that I see on all urchin spines. Obviously I am no expert, but I really think these are echinoid spines. Could be wrong. Now as to Crinoids--I frankly have no clue whatsoever. All i can say is these fossils are unlike anything I've ever found, and came out of a roadcut that looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. The cut is only maybe 100 feet long and it is a tan/gray color. There were ZERO other fossils except for one lonely Arctica, and one large gastropod that I find in the Glen Rose all the time. No oysters, no clams, no nothing--which is extremely rare for this area. Maybe it's been hunted to the brink, but I don't see why the hunter would leave these guys all over the place. If you go 100 yards further down this road, you will find typical GR stuff. This is why I love wandering around--finding these anomalies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Nice finds, Bob. Looks like you've been getting around. I agree with Lance that the "spine" is a gastropod. I think the WTH may be a coral cross section. Need to clean up one of those strange things with an air abrasive to see it better. I think may be on the right track there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Lance is right about crinoids in the Glen Rose Formation. I've seen a few types of small to tiny crinoids there (Pentacrinus). I've also seen those dome-shaped things before. The ones I've found never had enough detail to be useful. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 But why the knob on the end of all of them? I looked up the Nerinea images online and none have that knob. I think I know the gastropods you all are talking about and have seen them, but they never had the knobs at the base. My head hurts. I wish I was smart like JohnJ. Re: the possible coral cross section--there is absolutely nothing to clean. I have looked at them under a 10X mag, and there is almost nothing there to clean. If anything, they are very weathered. What's weird is the fact that these guys have almost no identifying surface structures. All I can say is that in two years of exploring Central Texas, this discovery is a first for me. If these guys are a cross section of coral, why are they all almost exactly the same shape with the flat bottom? They vary in size from dime-size, to bigger than a silver dollar. I'm not arguing here, like I said I am clueless. When I found these fossils, I had a gut feeling I'd found something new to me. Did you see the one with the pointed corners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I think your spine things are definitely gastropods because of the corkscrew turn on them. Here's some more of those Nerinea from "Texas Cretaceous Gastropods". The book has several pages of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 I concede. That one illustration fits the bill. Good man, Lance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Since we're exploring my WTH file (what the heck?), is this a Geode? It was found around salado I was talking about the one from this post as the coral. Sorry for the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Gotcha, Mikey. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I was talking about the one from this post as the coral. Sorry for the confusion. I agree with you of weathered coral cross section... Many of that cretaceous stuff, is quite familiar with the things you can find around here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now