What The Heck Are These?

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

These were found in some rock slides at the base of the Wellsville Mountains in Utah. Among the rock slides were Spence Shale trilobites and Brigham Quartzite. The other layers rocks though, I don't know. Age could be between now and the Mid-Cambrian, unfortunately. Please excuse my bad photography skills

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

One more

[Auspex]

The first three are oolitic limestone, and fine examples!

No idea on the fourth.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

That fourth one is still keeping me locked in suspense.

[Auspex]

That fourth one is still keeping me locked in suspense.

It may be geologic, but I am at a loss to explain the forces that might have caused it.

[piranha]

This one looks like a serpentine mud crack.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

This one looks like a serpentine mud crack.

Is it, with fair amount of certainty, not a trace fossil?

[Auspex]

Is it, with fair amount of certainty, not a trace fossil?

"Certainty" is sometimes elusive, but I would go with mud crack, were it mine. The fact that there are cracks radiating from it (and elsewhere on the plate) adds a lot of weight to the idea.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

"Certainty" is sometimes elusive, but I would go with mud crack, were it mine. The fact that there are cracks radiating from it (and elsewhere on the plate) adds a lot of weight to the idea.

Certainty is almost certainly elusive. Sounds logical.

[Diceros]

I don't think this is either a sedimentary structure (like a mud crack) or a trace fossil (like a wandering trail). I think it's a carbonized plant fossil on a slab of shale. Notice that the area around it has been oxidized a bit lighter than the surrounding rock? I think it's oxidized because the plant decayed just a bit when it died, reducing the oxygen, and created a regional reducing environment around itself.

Fossil plant guys - Couldn't this be a horsetail rhizome like these: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/54823-fort-union-seed-pod/ ? The difference is mainly that this one is tuber-free.

[Auspex]

The range of interpretations tells me that this is a BVD (Better View Desired).

[piranha]

One of the UO geologists said: "Maybe an algal biscuit or septarian nodule, I am inclined to the latter."

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

I will get new pics up soon after I get my camera fixed.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

As promised here is some new photos.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

cont.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

cont. again

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Camera still has issues but better than it was before. Hopefully those help!

[Diceros]

Just my opinion, of course, but to me the new pics make it clear this is a carbon film of a plant, and neither a septarian-type crack in a rock, or any kind of trace fossil (it's a plant body fossil). Not being a paleobotanist, that's as far as I go.

[Auspex]

It is possible that the apparent carbonized organics were bits trapped in an emergent mud crack. Organic 'lees' suspended in a shallow wash of water.

The details just look to me more like a dessication crack than a plant root or stem.