BillyPage Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I've been collection fossils as a hobby all through my childhood and went creeking at Pfeffer Park in Oxford, Ohio the other week and found a fossil I can't identify. I took it to the director of Miami University's Geology Museum and he was stumped too. I attached pictures and am hoping someone can give me a lead on this bad boy. I attached 4 pictures from some different angles. It's roughly 3 inches in length and 1 inch in diameter. It has a hexagonal column shape with grooves in the side like roman columns have. It also has concentric growth rings like a tree trunk. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Try as I might, I can't make out any features that are indisputably biological. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyPage Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 Here's a couple more photos. Let me know if I can give any more information that would help ID it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammathus Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) I have to agree with Auspex. Teeth are not "layered." With the general shape of it I would have said Horse, but too many contradictions exist. Is it definitely a fossil? Often extant and old dead animal can end up in streams. Better pictures would help. Any way it goes you have a fun and interesting thing. It looks like it has processes for muscle attachment and bone is layered, but there is just not enough of it to be definitive. Edited September 22, 2013 by Mammathus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyPage Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) I have no idea whether it is definitely fossil or not. It's definitely rock! There's a little bit that has been chipped off and it has a solid crystaline composition. Thanks for any more input. Edited September 22, 2013 by BillyPage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I see nothing to indicate a biological origin. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Better photos would be useful to be certain but I'm seeing a possible resemblance to an aulacerid stromatoporoid. Attached for comparison is Aulacera (=Beatricea) undulata and this LINK to a webpage with photos of Aulacera plummeri. The end-view of the posted specimen also has radiating ridges as seen on A. plummeri. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyPage Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I would call it "Aulacera sp." also, though I don't know if they are reported in Ohio. I know they are found in the U.Ordovician of Indiana and Kentucky. Nice find, they are not too common. 1 "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Better photos would be useful to be certain but I'm seeing a possible resemblance to an aulacerid stromatoporoid... I would call it "Aulacera sp." also, though I don't know if they are reported in Ohio. I know they are found in the U.Ordovician of Indiana and Kentucky... A good case is being made here! If words had calories, I'd be packing on the pounds now (pass the salt, please) "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyPage Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) Thanks for all the help! I'll look more into it! It has a lot of the same feature like the circular core and the deep grooved edges. You guys are awesome. Edited September 24, 2013 by BillyPage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 I agree, Aulacera sp. would be a good ID. With a little detective work and a better idea of exactly what formation it comes out of you may be able to attach a species name. As you can see here http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/fauna/stromatoporoidea/Aulacera.html there are numerous species in the Richmond age rocks that would be found in Oxford, OH. Great fossil for the Cincinnatian. Keep your eye open at that site for more specimens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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