ChrisSarahRox Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 This one was found about 1 meter under the soil in Hidalgo County NM while digging for irrigation piping. The area is from the Maastrichtian epoch as far as my research has lead me. It was found directly beneath the soil where my " ocean dwellers" post was found. It's very heavy for it's size, maybe 40 lbs or more. I have spent many hours with this monster perched on my lap and with small tools and nylon brushes (very very carefully)trying to reveal as much as it shows. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Hunter Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 Nice piece! I think they are rugose corals but wait for expert opinion. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 9 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said: Nice piece! I think they are rugose corals but wait for expert opinion. Thank you! I've put a lot of work into it and it's fallen on my toes a time or two and I realized something, I still love the heck out of this field of science! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Hunter Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 Someday, you will stop and look around your house at the buckets, cans, boxes, Tupperware, fish bowl, tins, wastebasket, dog bowl, cake pans, and milk crates filled with hundreds of pounds of rocks and fossils and realize there is no turning back and you can never move. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 30 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said: Someday, you will stop and look around your house at the buckets, cans, boxes, Tupperware, fish bowl, tins, wastebasket, dog bowl, cake pans, and milk crates filled with hundreds of pounds of rocks and fossils and realize there is no turning back and you can never move. As I read this I was looking around my "rock dungeon" laughing and thinking truer words have never been written! Thank you Loan Hunter, I needed that laugh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 I'm also not an expert, but I do know for sure that those are corals, although if they come out of the Maastrichtian they can't be rugose, since they died out in the Late Permian. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Lone Hunter said: Someday, you will stop and look around your house at the buckets, cans, boxes, Tupperware, fish bowl, tins, wastebasket, dog bowl, cake pans, and milk crates filled with hundreds of pounds of rocks and fossils and realize there is no turning back and you can never move. Fact 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 3 hours ago, ChrisSarahRox said: while digging Is it safe to assume that bedrock was not being displaced ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 Just now, Rockwood said: Is it safe to assume that bedrock was not being displaced ? Your assumption is correct, this piece seemed to be alone as far as fossils go but with a few other softball to soccer ball sizes of "ordinary" rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 Thanks. Now I feel more confident in saying that this sure look like rugose coral to me. Things may have been much different around there at some time allowing some kind of transport of the material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 12 minutes ago, Rockwood said: Thanks. Now I feel more confident in saying that this sure look like rugose coral to me. Things may have been much different around there at some time allowing some kind of transport of the material. Well now I feel compelled to ask a question that may not be the smartest but I'll ask regardless, is it possible for it to have been "transported" by means of maybe violent ejection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Hunter Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 I wouldn't think so, usually that refers to glacial deposits or carried by water and sometimes by people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 44 minutes ago, ChrisSarahRox said: Well now I feel compelled to ask a question that may not be the smartest but I'll ask regardless, is it possible for it to have been "transported" by means of maybe violent ejection? Seems unlikely. However, it does seem like there was that whole nuclear testing thing somewhere in the southwest ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 12, 2022 Author Share Posted November 12, 2022 15 hours ago, Lone Hunter said: I wouldn't think so, usually that refers to glacial deposits or carried by water and sometimes by people. I see, then that would explain the others I just added to this thread yes? And still only a small fraction of what still remains on the surface and just below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisSarahRox Posted November 12, 2022 Author Share Posted November 12, 2022 Just now, ChrisSarahRox said: I see, then that would explain the others I just added to this thread yes? And still only a small fraction of what still remains on the surface and just below. Correction, I added photos to my previous post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted November 12, 2022 Share Posted November 12, 2022 Rugose corals have been around for about half a billion years. That is literally older than the hills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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