Id: What Is This Fossil Found On Coast Please?

[EnglishGrace]

Hello.
I found this on the Northumberland coast in England. What is it please; is it a marine or land fossil? Please can you tell me as much as you can about it... the name, when it lived, is it a rare or common find, etc? Also, please could you say what type of rock this is as it seems different to the usual varieties of sedimentary rocks I see/find on the Northumberland coast - it is harder, with a uniform texture and has a kind of look/feel of hard, glossy toffee? Thank you very much.

Best viewed at full size.

[Fossildude19]

Looks to me like a coral of some sort.

Maybe Tarquin can confirm or deny.

The rock matrix surrounding the coral looks to be Chert, or Flint.

Regards,

[Auspex]

It is different from the local rock because it came from some place else. Judging from the stream/surf rounding, it has traveled some distance.

[TqB]

I think it's a rhynchonellid brachiopod or a bivalve in flint - there's plenty of glacially derived flint on the north east coast derived from denuded Cretaceous Chalk during the last ice age. Clear fossils in flint from this area are quite scarce in my experience, unlike southern England.

(Carboniferous chert is a possibility but I'm 99% sure it's flint.)

[abyssunder]

I agree with Tarquin.

[Taogan]

Looks like a brachiopod in chert or it could be flint, but it could be from anywhere, we ship these round the country as decorative rocks for the garden so it could be introduced that way or from ballast from a ship or it could be part of the glacial erosion. No real way of telling.

[TqB]

Looks like a brachiopod in chert or it could be flint, but it could be from anywhere, we ship these round the country as decorative rocks for the garden so it could be introduced that way or from ballast from a ship or it could be part of the glacial erosion. No real way of telling.

Fair point!

[EnglishGrace]

I think it's a rhynchonellid brachiopod or a bivalve in flint - there's plenty of glacially derived flint on the north east coast derived from denuded Cretaceous Chalk during the last ice age. Clear fossils in flint from this area are quite scarce in my experience, unlike southern England.

(Carboniferous chert is a possibility but I'm 99% sure it's flint.)

Thank you Tarquin... are you the same Tarquin on the British fossil forum site? I think you are!

I imagined it was some kind of bivalve and was hoping someone would come up with a name, but maybe that's not possible. Please could you tell me when this was alive and is this little thing a fossil, or the actual shell of the organism preserved?

Tarquin is correct that on my bit of the Northumberland coast there are a lot of glacial rocks on the beach mixed in with the shale pebbles/cobbles and other local stones - there are a huge variety of different rocks on my local beach.

Thank you.

[TqB]

You're very welcome - yes, same person.

Assuming it's flint, it will be about 70 - 90 million years old, from the Chalk which is Upper Cretaceous.

It's a fossil whether or not the original shell is preserved. In this case, the calcium carbonate has probably been replaced by silica.

I think rhynchonellid is the most likely ID. A brachiopod specialist might be able to narrow it down further but there may not be enough visible.

[EnglishGrace]

the calcium carbonate has probably been replaced by silica.

Thank you for adding to your answer. I find the above bit fascinating.