What kind of dinosaurs were in the Ross, Texas area?

[JinXIII]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and would really like to learn about the egg in picture and of the type(s) of dinosaur that made Ross, Texas their home. (My curiosity is piqued for sure.) 

I found this fossilized egg several years ago when helping a friend tear an old storage building down in the pasture across the street diagonally from my house. We'd finished tearing building down and I was walking back home through the pasture,  looked down and there it was, partially covered with dirt. 

I had the entire egg but someone helped themself to one half of it while I was on vacation.  Whole, the egg was probably 1 foot long, maybe 1" or 2" more than that. 

Any info is appreciated.  Thank You!

 

 

[Pemphix]

Sorry, but this is not an egg, but a chert nodule.

 

[JinXIII]

Oh darn... I  was hoping it was an egg. Thank you for the help.

[Mark Kmiecik]

A very interesting and collectible large chert nodule. Nice find.

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

I agree with nodule or concretion. 

[JohnJ]

It isn't a chert nodule or an egg; it is a 'mudstone' or 'ironstone' concretion.

[Phevo]

5 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

It isn't a chert nodule or an egg; it is a 'mudstone' or 'ironstone' concretion.

 

I agree with this, they are very nice cut and polished on one end, if you are into that

[facehugger]

Ross looks to be in the Waco area - no dinosaur material to be found there, really. Cretaceous marine material is what you'll most likely find from those formations, which may include mosasaur or shark remains, as far as vertebrate material is concerned. 

 

Also there are some Pleistocene deposits, which might include stuff like mammoth-mastodon material. 

[JinXIII]

Thank you for the info. I love looking for fossils, petrified wood, odd shaped/colored rocks, etc. I have found several teeth that belong to some type of shark called a "Skate". 

It amazes me when I think about the amount of fossils that ARE out there to be found. Our planet has been around for a long, long time and mind staggering numbers of living things have died on this planet as well. There has to be so much that we haven't discovered yet! Amazing!

[erose]

Dinosaur skeletal material is not so common in Central Texas. There is the Archosaur Site in Arlington and some scattered stuff closer to Glen Rose. The Big Bend region has Late Cretaceous terrestrial deposits with bones. 

 

But what are common in Central Texas is foot prints. There are 100's of sites scattered across the region.

 

[JamieLynn]

8 hours ago, erose said:

Dinosaur skeletal material is not so common in Central Texas. There is the Archosaur Site in Arlington and some scattered stuff closer to Glen Rose. The Big Bend region has Late Cretaceous terrestrial deposits with bones. 

 

But what are common in Central Texas is foot prints. There are 100's of sites scattered across the region.

 

 I have been curious as to why there are lots of footprints but essentially no skeletons found in Central Texas. Why is this?  I know that fossilization is a very tricky process, but you'd think that there would have been some conditions that would have been favorable.....

[erose]

15 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

 I have been curious as to why there are lots of footprints but essentially no skeletons found in Central Texas. Why is this?  I know that fossilization is a very tricky process, but you'd think that there would have been some conditions that would have been favorable.....

My understanding is that the shallow marine environment was one in which any animal that washed in would be quickly decompose or be scavanged. In most cases the bones of terrestrial animals were preserved where they were deposited and buried quickly. The classic is a river bend where a flash flood washes the animals in and then buries them quickly.  Our Central Texas rocks are for the most part all shallow marine deposits.