Coral or something else?

[Hat]

Hi.

 

Found this in a dry creek bed north of Silver City, NM. Can't tell if it's a coral or something more like an ammonite.

 

The rock is very pink and reddish color.

 

Thanks. 

[ynot]

Not a coral, could be a partial ammonite or brachiopod or bivalve.

[Darko]

Probably a fossilized seashell.

[FossilDAWG]

I'm confident it is an ammonite, and I'll take an educated guess at an ID: Tarrantoceras.  There are outcrops of Mancos Formation (AKA Colorado Shale) in the Silver City area that produce a variety of ammonites including Tarrantoceras.  I recommend that you pick up a copy of Cobban, Hook, & Kennedy 1989 Upper Cretaceous Rocks and Ammonite faunas of Southwestern New Mexico, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 45.  There are a lot of outcrops of Cretaceous rocks around the area, with a variety of ammonites and other fauna.  The Silver City area also has great Devonian and Mississippian faunas, and some Cambrian and Ordovician as well.

 

Don C

[Hat]

1 hour ago, FossilDAWG said:

I'm confident it is an ammonite, and I'll take an educated guess at an ID: Tarrantoceras.  There are outcrops of Mancos Formation (AKA Colorado Shale) in the Silver City area that produce a variety of ammonites including Tarrantoceras.  I recommend that you pick up a copy of Cobban, Hook, & Kennedy 1989 Upper Cretaceous Rocks and Ammonite faunas of Southwestern New Mexico, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 45.  There are a lot of outcrops of Cretaceous rocks around the area, with a variety of ammonites and other fauna.  The Silver City area also has great Devonian and Mississippian faunas, and some Cambrian and Ordovician as well.

 

Don C

Cool!