FranzBernhard Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Together with these two coral colonies http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/96001-corals-10-11-from-the-campanian-st-bartholomä-formation-styria-austria-gosau-group-eastern-alps/ I "discovered" also this specimen during my last visit at point 25, east of Kalchberg, in St. Bartholomä. "Discovered"? - I have found this specimen about a year ago, but did not take it with me - "It´s just a mineral". As I have not found much during my last visit, so I took it with me this time... After cleaning, I saw a somewhat faint wavy lamination - "Ah, some kind of calcite deposit"... Inspection with a hand lens revealed a tiny mesh or sieve structure in some parts - "Oh, that´s interesting"... Now I asked my local fossil expert. After some pondering he said: "This looks like a stromatopora from the nearby Devonian Plabutsch-Formation!" A quick look at his voluminous library revealed, that there indeed exist Cretaceous stromatoporoids, with nice names like Actinostromaria (compare with Paleozoic Actinostroma). I don´t think, this is an Actinostromaria, but we are rather sure, that it is a Cretaceous stromatoporoid. What do you think? Thank you very much for your opinion! PS, I found also this interesting diagram, from Wood & Reitner (1988). See also: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/94175-fossil-ball-campanian-st-bartholomä-formation-gosau-group-eastern-alps/ Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Is it safe to assume that a study of the other views excludes any thought of it being wood ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 2 hours ago, Rockwood said: Is it safe to assume that a study of the other views excludes any thought of it being wood ? Thanks, good point! We have not thought of that, because it is calcite all over. But sure, you are right, at a first sight, it somewhat resembles a thick piece of very compressed and somewhat folded wood. I will check it out, thanks again! And calcified wood exists, I have a piece found myself somewhere else. Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 One of the holes sort of looks as if it were a boring through growth rings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 10 hours ago, Rockwood said: One of the holes sort of looks as if it were a boring through growth rings. Thanks! Yes, there are many circular holes in this specimen cutting right through the "lamination". Could be Teredo borings in wood or Lithophaga borings in "rock". Or something else? I don´t know in this special case. Lithophaga are rather abundant there, though. Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now