Help identify fossil found in NE Iowa please

[Irishgal44]

My daughter found this in a dry creek bed in NE Iowa.   Does anyone have an idea of what it could be?  It's about 2.5 inches wide. 

 Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Another picture...

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

Can We see a side view or two?

Thinking a turtle beak.(?)

[jpc]

I am thinking a chert chunk in limestone.  

[Rockwood]

It may need some preparation. I can see it being a piece of gastropod shell, but I see why the texture may be a problem. 

[Miocene_Mason]

Interesting, looks like a bone to me, but further prep is required. 

[Rob Russell]

This area almost looks like Halysites coral to me.  I think her original image shows it better.  

[Irishgal44]

Thank you everyone!!!  And thanks for the welcome!  I will take a couple more pictures when I get home from work. 

 

Maria

[Irishgal44]

 

[minnbuckeye]

Interesting find. Have seen many water worn slabs from streams in NE Iowa that have a similar appearance. Which stream?  May help rule out some possibilities. Can likely rule out bone and turtle beak in that NE Iowa is Cambrian through Devonian. Chert is a possibility as chert exists in many layers locally. However, I do not usually find chert in the type of rock (very fine layering) you present here today.  As for Halysites coral, yes it is an uncommon find for the area. But the Karst topography in the area leads me to believe it is a geologic addition to the specimen. Now that I have argued against many of the posted possibilities, I wish I could ID it for you. I lean toward Rockwood's suggestion if push came to shove.

 

mike

[Plax]

thick end of a bivalve or brachiopod with the thinner, away from the hinge, portion eroded away? Broken gastropod may fit better as Rockwood suggests. I don't recall it in paleozoic rocks but the halysites looking thing resembles cliona, a boring sponge. Perhaps there's a paleozoic equivalent. All of this is guessing of course. Am basing my guesses on experience with resistant shells weathering from limestone like this.

[ynot]

Bit of a brachiopod fits well.

Not a turtle beak for sure.

[abyssunder]

The cropped selection from your image magnified at 8x with pixel corrections (the best I can get) looks like having some encrusting, branching bryozoan (s), maybe something similar in form to Arachnidium or Pierrella, maybe from a different geological time. Hard to tell. High resolution images of the mentioned areas are needed for a confident ID.

 

 

The specimen in question looks to be shell material (possibly brachiopod or bivalve), as it was suggested before.

 

[doushantuo]

Abyssunder,Corynotrypa a possibility?

The branching pattern looks kinda bryozoan to me

[abyssunder]

Could be that, why not? The resemblance might be good and the geological age also.

Here is an example of Corynotrypa from the Ordovician of northern Kentucky, courtesy of Mark A. Wilson:

 

[doushantuo]

confusion with Halysitidae and/or Catenipora seems a given!

Edit:the pattern we see here is not conacatenid,so what i just said might not be true

[minnbuckeye]

As mentioned earlier, the pattern is likely a carbonate deposition on the fossil, a very common occurrence in our area due to the Karst topography. Many slabs have both fossils and "cave like" depositions on them. It used to confuse me often, until someone explained this to me. Bryozoan could be a possibility, but pictures with much better resolution would be needed.

[Irishgal44]

Thank you everyone!  Unfortunately my camera isn't the best.  I need to upgrade now that I've found this amazing community of like minded people. 

[Bev]

Hi Irishgal!

 

I see a lot of these types of "fossils" that are on top of a worn stone. Very hard to say for sure, I go with a contorted bryozoan, but heck, what do I know.  :-)

 

PDF BCF ID Sheet.pdf

 

Here is a PDF of my Ordovician ID sheet that will help you, or I have jpegs on my fossil adventure blog free for the downloading.

 

Minnbuckeye is the best there is around here for IDing fossils. I would go with whatever he says. 

 

Holler at me sometime and we will go fossil hunting together.

 

Bev  :-)