Button Fossil

[collector]

I have this rock. It looks like it is covered with a thin layer of cement. There are raised orange colored portions that have rounded out areas.(picture1) Are they purely geologic, not fossils? In picture2 you can see that there are small circular pieces of fossils, some with a t shape cutout in them. There is also a small circular one that reminds me of a button. (picture3). There is a second one on this rock as well. It seemed like I had seen this before. I poked around and another rock that I had actually posted here before has the same type of structure, cement covered rock, raised orange colored sections over chert with rounded areas and small pieces littered about.(pictures4&5). Picture 6 shows a horn coral with a button-like fossil next to it and one further to the left. It is a bit blurry.

Has anyone seen these before? They are like columnals with the wrong cutouts in the center. They are only a couple of millimeters in diameter. The first rock is 8 inches across.

Thanks for looking.

Patti

[prem]

These are bits of crinoid (sea lily) columns, also known as crinoid columnals. The tooth-like object is a rugose coral.

---Prem

[collector]

Are you sure that they are crinoid columnals? I've seen columnals with single holes and flower petal shapes in them and also star shapes. Do they come with t shapes or a hole in the middle and 4 smaller holes around it?

[howard_l]

I concur with crinoid and coral, crinoids can very quite a bit in appearance. The orange material looks like chert that could be burrows that were replaced.

[Herb]

I concur with crinoid and coral, crinoids can very quite a bit in appearance. The orange material looks like chert that could be burrows that were replaced.

Ditto

[collector]

Thanks to all. I keep on learning.