Unidentified skin fossil

[Scratch]

Hello everyone. I'm not at all up on fossils, though I do sometimes turn them up while fieldwalking for stone tools in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Normally I just find belemnites, ammonites and other shellfish but today I found this piece at a field edge not far from Horncastle. I've put "dinosaur" and "fish" in the tags purely because I had to put something.

I'd love to know what this is and would be delighted if anyone can identify it. Here it is at the moment of finding and after a gentle wash.

Thanks in advance, Ted.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Scratch

[Ludwigia]

Stratigraphy please.

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Stratigraphy please.

 

It was on the surface at the edge of a ploughed field. Chalky soil if that's any help.

[Rockwood]

I don't believe this is a fossil. It looks purely geologic in origin.

I'm not sure which fork in the diagram to take after that though. 

[Scratch]

The "scales" feel raised to the touch, if that means anything.

[TqB]

I'm pretty sure it's a piece of a sponge from the Cretaceous Chalk, Ventriculites or similar.

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, TqB said:

I'm pretty sure it's a piece of a sponge from the Cretaceous Chalk, Ventriculites or similar.

 

Thanks, that would certainly fit with other fossils I have found in the same general area.

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Scratch said:

 

It was on the surface at the edge of a ploughed field. Chalky soil if that's any help.

Not really. Stratigraphy.

[Scratch]

6 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Not really. Stratigraphy.

 

Borrowed from the Wikipedia page on the Lincolnshire Wolds. This is the best I can do as geology is a closed book to me.

 

"The Wolds are formed largely from a series of pure marine limestones formed during the Cretaceous period, known collectively as the Chalk Group. The chalk overlies a series of other sedimentary strata of late Jurassic/early Cretaceous age."

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Scratch said:

 

Borrowed from the Wikipedia page on the Lincolnshire Wolds. This is the best I can do as geology is a closed book to me.

 

"The Wolds are formed largely from a series of pure marine limestones formed during the Cretaceous period, known collectively as the Chalk Group. The chalk overlies a series of other sedimentary strata of late Jurassic/early Cretaceous age."

Thank you. I'll go along with TqB's analysis.

[Tidgy's Dad]

3 hours ago, TqB said:

I'm pretty sure it's a piece of a sponge from the Cretaceous Chalk, Ventriculites or similar.

Good call, I think. 

[Scratch]

OK there seems to be a consensus here. Thanks one and all!