Search the Community

This is a digital microscope photograph of a 4mm clast in a conglomerate rock from Franklin County, Alabama. We have recently purchased property in this area and I am trying to learn about the rocks and minerals. We are in the Tuscaloosa Group, Gordo Formation and our county is a Super Site for the large amount of limonite-geohtite and siderite found there. Around 300 iron mines are also in this one county, so the rocks I am finding are high in iron oxides, as you can see in this example. I am intrigued by this one clast - this rock was broken in half and the clast is mirrored on both sides that broke. Is there any way to identify it by the same or appearance? Thanks! Ramona

This rock (fossil, I think?) was found in Franklin County, Alabama, near Lost Creek. I have studied it and worked on trying to identify it using the methods I have learned here. I can see where it has areas that have crystallized or silicized? There appear to be some parts that have sections to them, which leads me to wonder about coral, but it also has a bony appearance to it. Some of the edges almost look like a mussel or something like that, though... The underside is bumpy, but I am not seeing recognizable bryozoan fossils there? Maybe I just don't recognize them? I think it's a gorgeous rock - the colors and the crystalization in it - but in the end I have no clue what it is... If I were to hazard a guess it would be at least part coral (the sections)? I beg your patience and ask your indulgence on this one... Input greatly appreciated! Thanks! Ramona

I found this fossil back in 2014 at Cedar Creek Reservoir in Franklin County, Alabama. I was told the fossils we'd find there would be Mississippian, contained in Bangor Limestone. When I first found this I thought it might be a trilobite butt or a shark tooth and I recently decided to try to clean it, and now I don't know what it is there are two depressions under each prong, and the prongs bow back up (couldn't really get a side pic) The pictures show the uncovered fossil (the lighter material was what was initially uncovered). Thank you for any assistance! On a separate note: I also feel terrible that I ended up damaging it a little (chipped the left edge on the bottom most segment)

Hi guys, This is my first posting on the forum, constructive criticism is appreciated. Each year, when the water level in the lake is lowered in late fall, I go there in search of crinoids The first set of photos shows one of my better finds of 2017. This small slab (approximately 9 x 12 inches) had partially eroded from the shore. I was more than pleased to see all crinoids exposed along the weathered edge. Hopefully, there are some nice ones hidden in the center. Last year, while walking up a watershed near the lake, I found a slab of bedded limestone with the calyx pictured below. I decided to downsize the slab. The rock split along the bedding plane to reveal this: There were a couple of similar but smaller slabs nearby. I carried them back to the truck to split at home. I found one more nice calyx embedded in the rock. Pictured below are two more of last year's finds: While walking next to the waterline, I found the fragmented cephalopod pictured below. I was not sure if I wanted to keep it, so I set it aside to examine more closely on my way back. It was only after I looked at it again on my return that I noticed the tooth at the top. This year has not proven to be as fruitful as last year. The first photo pictures a calyx in somewhat rotten matrix. What should I use to stabilize it? One more Does anyone know the bryozoan to which the funnel shaped appendage pictured below belong? Thanks for looking