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Showing results for tags 'pseudofossil'.
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Hi everybody, I am looking for some identification assistance, hopefully somebody here can point me in the right direction. I will let the pictures do the talking. Most fossil bearing shale here is devonian era, this was found washed up so I can't properly date it. It was found in buffalo, NY. I looked at it under a microscope, and my conclusion from that was, I have no idea what I'm doing. Any information or help would be appreciated. The part that looks like bone is pourous, it is a very heavy piece for the size.
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Hi everyone, I'd like to know your opinion on an item I found during a trip to a former (since turned into a museum) coal mine in Belgium, near the Liège (Luik) area. The coal that was mined there was created during the Westphalian. Massive amounts of waste from the mine were dumped out near it and fossils can be found there. Among this rubble I found an item that I suspect to be an imprint from a plant or tree but it could also be a pseudofossil as I have no idea how to properly id it. Any help on getting an id would be greatly appreciated! To be clear: the units on the ruler are millimeters and not centimeters. For this next image I held the item at an angle to get better lightning so the grooves are more clearly visible: Finally, the last image is the underside of the item, which is how must of the usual rubble at the mine looks: Thanks in advance!
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This Strange Ancient 'Fossil' May Not Have Been Left by Any Living Thing Carly Cassella, ScienceAlert, Nature, February 25, 2023 The open access paper is: Nolan, M.R., Walker, S.E., Selly, T., and Schiffbauer, J. 2023, Is the middle Cambrian Brooksella a hexactinellid sponge, trace fossil or pseudofossil? Peer J. Yours, Paul H.
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Here is a great video from a geologist that explains how purported giant tree fossils form. Reminds me of what we try to do on the Forum: using geological principles and logic to determine if a rock is a fossil. Debunking purported fossils seem to be a Sisyphean task around here.
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Igneous fossils? Yes… I know! Bear with me here. Welcome anyone’s views on this item. It belongs to a friend of mine and she’s in the States, so I haven’t been able to personally examine it (I’m in the UK). She thought might be a trilobite. Apart from the odd shape, I see heat shrinkage cracks, black glassy or crystalline material in the cracks and the typical colours of basalt weathering. So, my initial reaction was that its basaltic lava… probably pillow lava from rapid cooling as a result of molten rock meeting water. Igneous tells me it can't be a fossil so it has to be just an odd, weathered shape. The pseudo-fossil form seems to be actually a continuous part of the rock itself. This was from the Licking River region of Ohio, where my friend is finding other pseudo-fossil shapes of highly weathered basalts, but nothing quite as weird as this. Also fossilised corals (in limestone) from the Lower Devonian or Silurian. Fossils as we know them don’t generally occur in igneous rocks, apart from occasionally in volcanic tuffs… like the late Miocene petrified trees from the Yakima basalts of Southern Washington. But volcanic tuff is more or less sedimentary. It occurred to me later that there are exceptions. Igneous fossils of sorts… or moulds and casts at least... can arise from molten lava meeting something organic. Like those found in Hawaii (and also the Galapagos): http://lovingthebigisland.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/hawaiis-amazing-lava-fossils/ Fish cast in basaltic lava from Hawaii: Penguin & seal pups enrobed in basaltic lava from St. Barthalome Island, Galapagos: These are all recent… within the last 2,000 years and sometimes within the last 10 years… but surely there is no reason why ancient examples could not also exist? Most of Ohio's basalt is from the Middle Run Formation and truly ancient (ie pre anything that could be organic), but there have been volcanic intrusions in the Ordovician and again in the Devonian. So, is this just a very odd pseudo-fossil or could it conceivably be an organic cast? The morphology looks wrong for trilobite, but is there anything else that it could be? Roger
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Found this while splitting some black shale (Millbo ro Shale, Devonian) open, unsure if it is a trace or just a diagenetic feature.
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A friend likes to pick up rocks and other assorted things at estate sales. Then he brings them to me for ID. But this one is not in my areas of expertise. It seems like I've seen these for sale at rock shops, not sure. And, I'm not certain it isn't some kind of nodule or pseudo-fossil. The matrix is sandstone, with rusty iron color when scratched with fingernail. Also, because it was purchased, its natural location is unknown. il.
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Hi all, see pictures below, i’m jn doubt if this is an egg or just geological. found in The Netherlands Holland, in mining area. thank you
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Hi everyone! I recently found this strange curled relief on a rock in Monmouth County NJ, due to the prevalence of burrows at this site, my guess is that this curl could be a worm (unlikely due to the whole soft tissue thing) or a worm burrow, or perhaps one of the tricks bog iron likes to play. Anyone got any ideas?
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Hello together, Something I quite often see in the ID-section are pseudofossils commented as "geological/rock". I dont want to be nitpicking, probably it´s just short for "purely geological". Simply "geological" doesn´t seem opposed to fossil, in my understanding fossils do happen at the interesection between geology and biology. So "no biologic structure"=no fossil (except chemical fossils) , but "geological" seems to apply to all the specimens (if they are not molten plastic, recent bone, or something else entirely. ) English is not my native tongue as you may have noticed, but in my understanding fossils are also rocks, at least some kinds, for example steinkern preservation, (rocks with) impressions... So it may be confusing especially for the newbies that often ask about pseudofossils if "geology" stands as the opposite of fossil. What do you think? Best Regards, J
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I found a drainage ravine with thousands of these these in them. I'm almost certain they're an iron concretion of some type but I've gotten several different identifications. I took a few of them to the MAPS expo last spring for an ID. One person said michelinoceras, but then an expert on cephalopods said no, definitely not, but he had also never seen anything like them. These were found on the north side of Dubuque, IA right at the top of the lower Galena dolomite just above the upper chert beds. They are in a thick sticky grey clay which sits just above a thick iron rich encrusted layer that varies from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (blackend hardground?). The clay layer is approximately 20' thick and contains thousands of these. They are almost all vertically oriented, cylindrical in shape, and vary from 1/2 inch to as much as 6 inches in diameter, and vary in length from several inches to several feet long. Some of the smaller ones that have weathered out do look amazingly like cephalopods. I had previously found a few pinky finger sized weathered ones farther down the ravine and thought cephalopod but then found the clay with the bigger ones. They have a center that resembles a siphuncle but I don't see anything that looks like septa or individual chambers. There are too many of these to think they haven't been found before but I can't seem to find anything describes them specifically for this area. I did find a paper from a study done in Finland titled "Ferruginous Concretions Around Root Channels and Fine Sand Deposits". That paper seems to describe what these may be be but since I've gotten a couple different ID's and none of them concretion I was hoping someone with a little more knowledge can tell me for sure. url to the research paper - https://doi.org/10.17741/bgsf/47.1-2.020
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Hi folks, I found this on Killiney Beach in Dublin, Ireland. I usually find fossiliferous limestone there full of crinoids and corals and other fragments. This caught my eye but I have no idea what it is. Any thoughts anyone? Sorry for the use of a 1 pence coin as a scale here, I just saw that using coins is not ideal but I am back in Ireland and the piece is at my home in London where I took the photos. Sylvana
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Yesterday I bought a fossil box from the local natural history museum, just for the sea urchin inside. And there is a mysterious thing inside that looks like fossil but I've never seen something like this. Maybe it's just a weird looking rock?
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Red Flag on "Medusoid" fossils from the Ediacaran of Namibia
connorp posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
For those interested in Ediacaran fossils, you may have seen a lot of supposed medusoids coming out of sandstones/quartzites in Namibia. They are usually labeled as unidentified medusoids, but sometimes as the enigmatic genus Namacalathus to command a higher price. At first glance, some specimens do bear resemblance to a top-down cross section of Namacalathus (such as the specimen below), however note that Namacalathus are preserved as calcite skeletons, not as molds in sandstone. A thread discussing these was posted several years ago, without a definitive conclusion. As far as I can find, there have been no published articles on these so called fossils, and perhaps rightly so. After a recent trip to the Field Museum, I am fairly confident that all of these specimens are simply the result of weathering in sandstone. Here is the specimen at the Field Museum that piqued my interest. A quick scan of our favorite auction site will reveal a number of nearly identical specimens listed as medusoid fossils. These holes are likely what are known as tafoni, defined by Wikipedia as "small (less than 1 cm (0.39 in)) to large (greater than 1 meter (3.3 ft)) cave-like features that develop in either natural or manmade, vertical to steeply sloping, exposures of granular rock (i.e., granite, sandstone) with smooth concave walls, and often round rims and openings." They have various methods of formation, but the more "Namacalathus"-looking specimens look (at least to me) to be the result of iron nodules rusting out. They may also be several tafoni that overlapped. Here is an image of tafoni in sandstone from Namibia. (image credit Wikipedia) Regardless of the exact process of formation, I am confident in saying that these are not fossils. There are plenty of other Ediacaran fossils out there for purchase, and given the high price tag these pseudofossils seem to command, I hope this post helps collectors avoid wasting money.
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Hallo forum, this was in the craggy field where the sea was once decomposing on the limestone subsoil. It reminds me of Hibolites hastatus. What is your opinion ?
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Hi, I'm new here. My husband and I bought a house in the Mojave desert last spring and have found many rock treasures there over the summer. The area we're in used to have volcanic activity in addition to ocean streams. We've found huge bones, tons of petrified wood, some oddly shaped rocks, points & frequently find seashells. Initially I thought this rock might be some old Paleoindian art. It looks a lot like a tortoise except I don't believe they've had teeth for millions of years. I found some photos of old tortoises which have a strange small white row of something bony along the bottom insides of their mouths so maybe? It could be some sort of petrified extinct reptile I don't know about - maybe it was buried in ash which preserved it's details, otherwise I can't explain why there are no holes as a typical skull would have. The back and side are broken off but I'm hoping to dig around and try to find them (and maybe a body?) on our next trip to the property. I'm confident there are other missing parts as the broken back and sides look nothing like the smooth side shown. I'm willing to accept this may just be a very cool looking rock and nothing more but I think the area I found it in being known for this type of reptile, the size, the perfect placement of the eye socket, 2 dots for the nose, and lower jawline would be a pretty amazing coincidence. If you look closely there are also scales outlined along the top portion. So cool rock or maybe something more, what do we think?
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Not sure why my thread was moved as I do want to know wether I have fossils in here, but I'm not too fussed about it. Instead of doing something productive, I went outside and (with permission from the principal) gathered lots of rocks from around the school. I only took one angle for most of them, but if you'd like more angles or a zoomed picture, I can do that, just mention the number of the picture. I also have to add measurements, but I'll do so when I have some time. #1. I'm going with the assumption that this is a manganese oxide pseudofossil, but it does vaguely resemble an egg, especially with the two thin 'shells' at the bottom. It's unnaturally flat on one side, no clue why. #2. Not much here, but still worth a glance in case I missed something. #3. The streaks are interesting. #4. Indentations and streaks #5. & #6. Both have this blurry, oval shaped creature with a triangular 'head' complete with two 'eyes'. It's more obvious on the second one, but the first one is actually larger. #7. Streaks #8. The white vein of crystal appears to be very 2-D
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Hi! I’m a newbie in every sense of the word. Zero background with fossils but interest in rocks. Two days ago, while hiking Heil Ranch in Boulder, a turqouise blue glimmer caught my eye so I picked it up. When I got home I took these photos. It looks like a small egg shaped rock with a little lizard shape in it. There is even a little ridge that looks like a spine. My son says it’s just a rock, and I’m sure he’s correct, but thought I’d get confirmation from the experts. Thanks in advance for your time, and for humouring me with my silly request.
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A gentleman asked for help identifying this and told me he found it near Mt. Pleasant, TX. Based off images on the internet he thought it might be a fossilized egg. He was NOT willing to break it open. I forgot to include something in the photo for scale, but it's about 5" across the long side. He's asked me to call him when I find out more information. My first thought was a geode. Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society's Facebook group said an iron or limonite concretion. What features differentiate this from a fossilized egg?
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Greetings! This washed up on the shores of Myrtle Beach in SC a few years ago, and I picked it up and brought it home due to its odd shape and the possibility that it may be a fossil. It kind of looks like coprolite, but then again, it may just be a pseudofossil (or maybe a different type of fossil). Anyone have an idea of what it may be?
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"Dragon" Skull
I_gotta_rock posted a fossil in *Pseudofossils ( Inorganic objects , markings, or impressions that resemble fossils.)
Limonite is a type of iron-rich mineral found in igneous formations. It was once used as a source of iron ore and in Delaware was mined for the purpose for two centuries. Limonite tends to form with vugs of easily-weathered minerals, including druse quartz, which leave behind gaping holes and slots. It is easy to picture skulls and other bones in these rocks, whether freshly fractured or stream-worn. This one always reminded me of a dragon skull. -
I'm a newbie to the forum but am used to finding fossils in matrix, never like this, so help is very appreciated! I found this on Double Bluff Beach (Whidbey Island, WA), and though it looks like it could be an igneous rock (like pumice) it is heavier than most volcanic rocks would be. To me, it looks a lot like the (not fossilized) bones I have found, but it is too heavy to be a bone from recent times, which is why I was thinking it could be a fossilized bone (or maybe even wood)? Please take a look at the photos and tell me what you think, thank you in advance!
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Fossil or Pseudofossil (Not Dendritic) from the Oregon Coast Range
Hominid posted a topic in Fossil ID
I found these rocks in the Oregon Coast Range (central to north) many years ago and have always wondered whether the interesting image was a pseudofossil or an actual fossil. If it's a pseudofossil, any ideas on how it would form? If it's a fossil, what on earth is it? The image measures about 37 mm at its widest point. I'm afraid that's all I know about it; the plane of view is unknown, although the right side could be tapering down to a stem/pedicel of some sort (or not). Web searches have proven futile. (Although probably wouldn't have if I knew what it was!) Thanks for any insight you can provide!
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A colleague of mine approached me today and loaned me what he believes is a fossil that he found in the Chestnut Ridge Park area in Western New York. I didn't have the heart to tell him on the spot that it simply was not 'dinosaur meat' as he was told by someone else. So I figured I would at least try to get a definition of the structures so that I could provide something more satisfactory than 'sorry, it's a rock.' (He was really excited about his dino meat.) I personally think it is just a plate of shallow sediment that was suddenly inundated by a heavier layer of sediment. Alas, I am far from a geologist and could use some thoughts that aren't just shots in the dark. Thank you in advance, and apologies for the less-than-stellar picture, my business partner has the high quality digital this weekend, so I had to suffice with the cell phone cam. If additional pics are needed I will get them in the next few days. I also included an edited black and white image to show the contrast lines. (The image alone is not adequate, but I figured next to the color version it might help to isolate telltale structures.)
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Hi again! Here are the other two items I found (NW PA, along coast of Lake Erie) that I mentioned in my previous post: Item #1: Approx 2" x 2.5" I did some research and I think this is an example of cone-in-cone concretion maybe? Item #2: Approx 9" x 5", I liked this because it had two things going on. I think the one section is cone-in-cone concretion, not sure about the other section? Thank you for taking a look at my samples! Cari
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