Large cone/bowl shaped trace fossils.

[Innocentx]

Cottowood Mbr, Beattie Fm, Council Grove group, Permian. Western Greenwood County, Flint Hills, Kansas.

 

I've found 6 of these in only in this one place. They are most likely the interior molds of the actual trace. They were discovered over a period of several months. They were found as tumbled out, not in situ.
I'm inferring what's top and bottom due to some obvious features and basic physics. 
Some retain what appears to be an original edge around the top. The top diameters range in size from 5" to 10+", with heights from 2" to 6". 

 

These were found in an area disturbed by oilfield work where it looks bulldozed out for some purpose. Geologically, the area may have intermittently been shallow or shoreline. I've done an amateur's inventory of fossils in the immediate area and found highest numbers are of very! small bivalves.

 

 

[Innocentx]

I've numbered these in upper left hand corner for future reference and will add more views soon. I'm not sure the 6th one belongs with this group.

[Innocentx]

Top views.

 

#1

 

#2

 

#3

 

#4

 

#5

 

#6

 

 

[TqB]

They're like large Kulindrichnus/Conostichus/Conichnus.

 

There's a tantalising abstract about some large Pennsylvanian ones here:

Enigmatic Structures in an Upper Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) Marine Limestone

[JohnBrewer]

Oh, I was thinking a large coral like this but much larger. 

 

[Innocentx]

Bottom views.

 

#1

 

 

#2

 

#3

 

 

#4

 

 

#5

 

 

#6

 

 

 

 

[Innocentx]

44 minutes ago, TqB said:

There's a tantalising abstract about some large Pennsylvanian ones here:

Enigmatic Structures in an Upper Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) Marine Limestone

Very interesting and still mysterious.  Thanks for this.  Some trace fossils are hard to impossible to pin down as to maker.

[Innocentx]

9 minutes ago, JohnBrewer said:

Oh, I was thinking a large coral like this but much larger. 

Here is a representative view of one side and a view of broken section.  I should have posted already.

[Innocentx]

Better side view:

 

 

 

[abyssunder]

" The systematics of the single-entrance, plug-shaped, soft-substrate trace fossils have long been in need of revision. At least 15 ichnogenera, comprising 32 ichnospecies, have been used, but an examination of the type material that is available suggests that this is excessive. A review of ichnotaxa indicates that the valid ichnospecies can be encompassed within five ichnogenera as follows: Conostichus (five ichnospecies), Bergaueria (including Kulindrichnus, three), Conichnus (including Amphorichnus, two), Dolopichnus (one), and Astropolichnus (one). In addition, several minor ichnogenera for related structures are considered. These are Calycraterion, Margaritichnus, and Mammillichnis.The majority of plug-shaped structures are interpreted as cubichnia or domichnia, dominantly of actinarian sea anemones. The occurrence of these trace fossils is predominantly in Paleozoic rocks. "  - Pemberton et al, 1988

[KimTexan]

I have found this piece on trace fossils helpful.

Let me know if you don’t get the URL.

[Bronzviking]

1 minute ago, KimTexan said:

I have found this piece on trace fossils helpful.

Let me know if you don’t get the URL.

Link didn't work.

[Innocentx]

25 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Let me know if you don’t get the URL.

I did not. Thanks if you might try again.

[Innocentx]

@abyssunder. Thanks for this info. I looked into these and at 25 cm the ones I've found seem too large for the such makers. However I don't know how big anemones or other possibles were during those times. 

 

My theory is that these may be fish nests. I'm going by my personal observations of modern fish making depressions near shore, for purpose of laying eggs. I know we shouldn't infer things about the past from present day happenings, but I haven't any better ideas.

 

Of course it all depends on whether local fish at those times, were egg layers or gave live birth. 

 

 

 

 

[abyssunder]

Lungfish burrows might be another possibility, I think. link

 

Similar may be the Torridorefugium eskridgensis.

 

" Burrows of the lysorophid amphibian Brachydectes elongatus occur in deposits interpreted as ephemeral ponds within the Lower Permian Speiser Shale of eastern Kansas. The burrows of B. elongatus have been previously recorded in the Lower Permian strata of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, but have not been described in detail and an ichnotaxonomic designation has not been provided. Torridorefugium eskridgensis new ichnogenus and ichnospecies show two types of burrow architecture distinguished by width-to-length ratios. Type I burrows are elongate, elliptical tubes 4–32 cm long and 2–7 cm wide. Type II burrows are short, elliptical tubes 1.5–3.5 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide. Both Type I and II burrows may contain coiled skeletons of B. elongatus. Torridorefugium eskridgensis occur in clusters of up to 45 burrows with maximum concentrations of 20/m2. " - Hembree et al., 2005

[Innocentx]

54 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

Lungfish burrows might be another possibility

Known examples are too narrow and I would need to invert my examples to fit their description.

 

As for the lysorophid amphibian Brachydectes, it may explain the tiny possible skull bone I found there, though the descriptions of it's burrow don't seem to match.

 

It may correspond to skull part labeled '2' in following figure on left. (this from reptileevolution)

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your help, @abyssunder

 

 

[KimTexan]

On 11/1/2018 at 6:12 PM, Bronzviking said:

Link didn't work.

http://pages.geo.wvu.edu/~kammer/g231/TraceFossils.pdf

OK hopefully this above will work for this below.

 

[Innocentx]

13 hours ago, KimTexan said:

OK hopefully this above will work for this below.

Thanks, Kim. Great PDF now bookmarked.

[jdp]

On 11/1/2018 at 7:43 PM, Innocentx said:

Known examples are too narrow and I would need to invert my examples to fit their description.

 

As for the lysorophid amphibian Brachydectes, it may explain the tiny possible skull bone I found there, though the descriptions of it's burrow don't seem to match.

 

It may correspond to skull part labeled '2' in following figure on left. (this from reptileevolution)

 

 

 

Thanks so much for your help, @abyssunder

 

 

That is not Brachydectes. I'd like to see some other views though.

[jdp]

On 11/1/2018 at 6:19 PM, abyssunder said:

Lungfish burrows might be another possibility, I think. link

 

Similar may be the Torridorefugium eskridgensis.

 

" Burrows of the lysorophid amphibian Brachydectes elongatus occur in deposits interpreted as ephemeral ponds within the Lower Permian Speiser Shale of eastern Kansas. The burrows of B. elongatus have been previously recorded in the Lower Permian strata of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, but have not been described in detail and an ichnotaxonomic designation has not been provided. Torridorefugium eskridgensis new ichnogenus and ichnospecies show two types of burrow architecture distinguished by width-to-length ratios. Type I burrows are elongate, elliptical tubes 4–32 cm long and 2–7 cm wide. Type II burrows are short, elliptical tubes 1.5–3.5 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide. Both Type I and II burrows may contain coiled skeletons of B. elongatus. Torridorefugium eskridgensis occur in clusters of up to 45 burrows with maximum concentrations of 20/m2. " - Hembree et al., 2005

These are not lungfish burrows nor are they Brachydectes burrows. Both are very very different in structure and lithology.

[jdp]

Also also, currently there's some debate about whether Brachydectes is even an amphibian, or whether it's a weird early reptile, but that's a discussion for another time.

[Innocentx]

Thanks, @jdp. Other views are here, and scroll down. I think you've seen them. Beattie Fm is most correct location.

 

 

 

[jdp]

Yep, I thought I had seen that before. I already suggested in the prior thread that I thought it was an ophiuroid ossicle.

[abyssunder]

For comparative reason, I'll put here some examples of Conostichus and Conichnus which may look similar to the specimens in question.

 

excerpt from O. Vinn et al. 2015. Distribution of Conichnus and Amphorichnus in the Lower Paleozoic of Estonia (Baltica). Carnets de Geologie 15 (19): 269-278

 

excerpt from S. J. Patel et al. 2018. Plug Shaped Burrows Conichnus - Conostichus from the Late Cretaceous of Bagh Group, Gujarat, Western India. Journal of the Geological Society of India 91(1): 41-46

 

[abyssunder]

13 hours ago, jdp said:

These are not lungfish burrows nor are they Brachydectes burrows. Both are very very different in structure and lithology.

I gave alternatives which can be ruled out.