subetha73 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Hi everyone! Thanks ahead of time for your help. I found these three specimens in the same area in a field on our farm in Southwestern Kankakee County, Illinois. I think the geologic area is called the Kankakee River Basin, which consists of "a mantle of glacial deposits overlying Paleozoic bedrock". The first one is the size of a grapefruit, and my guess is a sea sponge, coral, or some type of marine life. The second one is 3" x 2" and 1/2" thick. My layman's guess would be bark, compacted grasses, or bone. The third one is 1" tall, 1/2" thick, and is a cylinder shape with a flared base. I provided 2 views of this one. Base of an antler? Thanks for helping me solve the mystery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 The first one looks like a favosite coral. http://www.google.com/images?q=favosite+coral&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1&nfpr=&spell=1 Second on, no idea. But you shouldn't use .gif file format for photos, it does a bad job for photos. The third (and fourth) look like some type of coral, also, but I've never seen one like that. Looks like a cob of corn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subetha73 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Here's a better version of the second one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB88 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 the last third and fourth pic are a weathered rugose coral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subetha73 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Thanks, tmaier and JimB88! Imagine if I'd found these 20 years ago, it would have taken so much time and effort to identify them. But in 2014... 2 for 3 in less than 2 hours. Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Ah, yes, I can see that it is rugose coral now. I don't remember seeing it that way before. And yes, ID is much easier with all the people of the internet in a forum now. Back in my time, pre-internet, it would take me weeks or sometimes years to finally bump into the right classification. When the web was young, I was one of the first to put up a site with common fossils on it, so people would have an on-line resource. People didn't know how to react to that back then and I would get some odd emails that told me people were "stealing" my images. My standard reply was that you can't steal things that are offered for free. The concept of free-and-open was pretty new and confusing back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB88 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Ah, yes, I can see that it is rugose coral now. I don't remember seeing it that way before. Its what they look like with the outer septum worn away, exposing the ends of the dissepiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 colonial coral , possible trace fossil, last 2 partial rugose corals. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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