Mineral and fossil Texas finds

[chillymellow]

I used to have a rockshop with my ex-husband, who did lapidary and had a major in geology.  His collections are fascinating but currently gathering dust in his ancient workshop.

So, I have always had an interest in rocks and fossils and such.  My collection is tiny and most of this I have no clue (and too much imagination) about what it actually is.

I have a few items that I am curious about as to their true identity.  One I am pretty sure is just plain mud or some sort of concretion.  The minerals, well, I am guessing something like calcite.  I think I have a palm heart as well but, hey, I very well could be wrong!  Then there are two fossils I am sure you folks can give a name to for me.  Thanks very much for your time and help!

 

 

First is probably nothing more than some interestingly patterned mud.

 

Then there are two pics of maybe some kind of fossil shell.

 

Next is...??? I'm usually wrong, but maybe a type of coral? The top reminds me of a slab of petrified palm, with the monocot structure but the layering is more like individual tubes.

 

Then there's the possible palm heart.  It is heart shaped and please don't laugh my husband painted it red.  The top of the heart shape is indented (concave?) and pardon my imagination, would be where the palm tree grew from the palm heart.

Or maybe it's just a heart shaped rock but there were many of these where I found it.

 

Lastly, there are two crystalline (minerals) and one goes from clear to yellowish to orange and red.  The other one looks grey but is a bit golden honey colored under a bright light. The growth reminds me of petrified wood and the crystals are more long and slender.

 

All but the heart rock were found on my property near Castroville TX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely finds, all. 

The one you think is a bit of a shell looks like coral to me. 

The next one could well be a coral, it is beautiful and very interesting, certainly a fossil but we'd need better pictures for the clever ones to tell you what it is. 

The heart is gorgeous but I think just silica.

 

 

[Fruitbat]

The first one (the one you think is mud or a concretion) actually appears to be a fragment of mammoth (Mammuthus) tooth!

 

The item in the second/third pictures reminds me of a rudistid (a kind of heterodont bivalve) but I'm less confident of that one.

 

I haven't a clue as to what the third one of...but it's certainly very interesting!

 

The 'palm heart' is definitely heart-shaped but I'm not even going to venture a guess on that one!

 

The crystals in the last picture remind me of calcite.

 

-Joe

[GeschWhat]

The third is very interesting. Can we get a clearer shot and see it from different angles?

[chillymellow]

I will try taking this one outside to see if I can get clearer pictures, but here are a few more angles.

I will try taking this one outside to see if I can get clearer pictures, but here are a few more angles.

Mammoth tooth!  That would be nice.

[Micah]

The one you took multiple pictures of looks like a coral colony to me.

[chillymellow]

 

I was thinking coral colony also.  I took some outside pics, don't know if they are any better.

 

And since the muddy looking rock might be a mammoth tooth, there's a couple of shots of another rock that looks more like a tooth to me.  One shot with the toothy looking part down and the rooty looking part at the top, one from the bottom up.  It is full of little holes in the top and back but not so much on the toothy looking part. It will probably turn out to be mud!  So glad you folks put up with me...

[Tidgy's Dad]

8 minutes ago, chillymellow said:

 

I was thinking coral colony also.  I took some outside pics, don't know if they are any better.

 

And since the muddy looking rock might be a mammoth tooth, there's a couple of shots of another rock that looks more like a tooth to me.  One shot with the toothy looking part down and the rooty looking part at the top, one from the bottom up.  It is full of little holes in the top and back but not so much on the toothy looking part. It will probably turn out to be mud!  So glad you folks put up with me...

The coral looks somewhat like Syringopora to me, but can you see the septa in each corallite? 

Or is it just the mold of the interior making the pattern?

[chillymellow]

 

I was thinking coral colony also.  I took some outside pics, don't know if they are any better.

 

And since the muddy looking rock might be a mammoth tooth, there's a couple of shots of another rock that looks more like a tooth to me.  One shot with the toothy looking part down and the rooty looking part at the top, one from the bottom up.  It is full of little holes in the top and back but not so much on the toothy looking part. It will probably turn out to be mud!  So glad you folks put up with me...

[chillymellow]

40 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

The coral looks somewhat like Syringopora to me, but can you see the septa in each corallite? 

Or is it just the mold of the interior making the pattern?

Okay I tried to figure out exactly what you mean, and it looks quite a bit like Syringopora especially from the top looking down.  The pictures I found look a bit different from the side.  Each little tube is separate, with a bit of space between.

Each layer is very neatly stacked on the parent layer below.  The tubes are hollow.

It looks quite a bit like an ancient colliseum or city built on the side of a cliff next to the ocean.  The spaces between each corallite (tube) look like entrances into the interior rooms.  Or like a huge cruise liner where all the rooms are stacked and have windows.

I'm not sure that describes seeing the septa in the corallite. Each individual is very neatly pressed next to it's neighbor and separated though stuck together (like nostrils separated by a ...septa...(?) 

 

Is Syringopora usually found in Texas?

[chillymellow]

On 11/14/2017 at 5:16 PM, Fruitbat said:

The first one (the one you think is mud or a concretion) actually appears to be a fragment of mammoth (Mammuthus) tooth!

 

The item in the second/third pictures reminds me of a rudistid (a kind of heterodont bivalve) but I'm less confident of that one.

 

I haven't a clue as to what the third one of...but it's certainly very interesting!

 

The 'palm heart' is definitely heart-shaped but I'm not even going to venture a guess on that one!

 

The crystals in the last picture remind me of calcite.

 

-Joe

Perhaps instead of a palm heart it's a big clam-like thing? There were so many of them in that field, they can't all be shaped the same, same size...

Without the paint, it looked a little like this specimen on eBay.