Fossil ID request

[Aatish]

Hi,

 
I have a bunch of rocks from all around Alberta, and would really appreciate some help identifying them. I don’t have too much confidence that these are in fact fossils, and am sure most of them will turn out to be oddly shaped rocks. Thank you to everyone to takes the time to look at this post to help me figure this out! These are the “fossils” from my most recent outing with the location written above corresponding images.

 
1.

I found this near the top of the tree line on Longview mountain beside a small steep canyon carved by a stream of meltwater coming down the mountain. The fossil was on top of the canyon. About 50 feet above where the bottom is now, on the loose rocks on the side of the canyon.

 

 

2.

This rock was on top of Longview mountain in some rolling hills of shale. It has two very interesting bits that stick out, but there are small bumps all over this face of the rock, and if you can tell from the picture, I would love to know if those are fossils as well.

 

 

 

 3. This next one was found in the same rolling hills of shale mentioned above. I unfortunately broke it into two pieces while trying to clean it up

 

 

 

4.

this next one was on the rocky beach of a fairly large lake in the same area, closer to Banff I believe. I will edit the comment and put in the exact location once I figure it out from looking at a map. It has interesting protrusions all over it, and one side is full of little holes. My thoughts were maybe coral and a small nautilus type creature perhaps? Or maybe just weird rocks…

 

 

 

5.
I have fairly low confidence in this one. Also from the mountains of bighorn Alberta, bordering jasper national park, a bit father North than Longview mountain.

 

 

I think that’s enough for this post, it won’t let me add too many more images( I may have put too many of the same rock…)

 

 

please let me knows your thoughts, and each set is labeled with a number to make referencing them easier in comments. Thanks again for taking the time to look through my strange rock collection, and please let me know if more information and/or images are needed. I am exited to see finally learn if these are fossils or just some wacky rocks!

[Kane]

The first piece seems to be the librigena (moulted free cheek) of a trilobite (likely Cambrian in age given the proximity to the Rockies).

[Aatish]

3 minutes ago, Kane said:

The first piece seems to be the librigena (moulted free cheek) of a trilobite (likely Cambrian in age given the proximity to the Rockies).

Thank you! If I were to get a tool and dig around it, do you think there would be more of the piece inside the rock? It looks like it dips into the rock and continues inside, but I don’t know enough about how fossils work to determine if there is more inside the rock.

[Kane]

I would wager that what you see is what you get in this case as the cut-off point seems to follow along the suture where the moulting occurred. 

 

Here is an image of the moulting process. Figure b shows the separation of the cheeks. Trilobites tended to moult quite a bit since, as most critters with an exoskeleton, they required this process (called ecdysis) in order to grow. Trilobites are said to have moulted about 30 times throughout their lifespan (assuming they made it to full maturity), which is why it is far more common to encounter moulted parts than complete trilobites. That being said, It would be certainly worthwhile to return to the location in search of a complete one!

 

[Aatish]

Thank you so much for the info @Kane, I really really appreciate it.