RiverHunter312 Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Hello everyone! Spring is almost here! Thank god. I don't think I could shovel my driveway one more time to be honest. Today was a beautiful day and so I ventured out to hike and do some exploring. We have had a bunch of flooding lately so my usual river hunting spots are underwater but I found an area south in the same river and I found some cool items. These are from the DuPage River, western suburbs of Chicago. Northern Illinois. I believe rock number one has a crinoid on one side and maybe a shell on the other? Hard to tell but I knew it was something as soon as I saw the circular object on top as I walked past it. The second item was right on the edge of the banks in the water. I saw the crack in it and hoped it had something inside it. I picked it up and it cracked open in my hand. It seems to be a worm. Maybe? Any guidance in this is greatly appreciated and I think you for your time! OBJECT #1: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverHunter312 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 OBJECT #2: The worm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 I see a crinoid columnal in the first picture, I don't know what the second picture is. Looks kinda like calcite, but I'm not sure. The last one looks to be a worm tube, IMO. 1 Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverHunter312 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 11 minutes ago, DevonianDigger said: I see a crinoid columnal in the first picture, I don't know what the second picture is. Looks kinda like calcite, but I'm not sure. The last one looks to be a worm tube, IMO. Thanks for the input! I thought that same thing about the bottom object being some sort of calcium deposit but I wasn't sure. I almost want to gently crack it open and see what's inside it. The worm tube seemed like an actual worm to me since it isn't smooth or hollow looking like the pictures of tubes I have been looking at. It seems to have the ridges and solid form of the actual thing. It almost looks like a nail stuck in the stone if that makes sense. I'll dig deeper on that angle. Here are some more close ups if they help: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 I don't know how it works out in that matrix, but the worm tubes we get up at PD are frequently pyritized and very solid. It's hard to tell exactly what the features on the surface are as the resolution is a little artifact-y in the photo when zoomed in. I have exactly zero experience with fossilized worms proper, so I wouldn't be a good person to weigh in with any authority on that one. Hopefully more members will come and put this one to rest. We have some pretty legit authorities on most things fossil here, as I'm sure you know. Someone will be able to help you out! Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverHunter312 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 31 minutes ago, DevonianDigger said: I don't know how it works out in that matrix, but the worm tubes we get up at PD are frequently pyritized and very solid. It's hard to tell exactly what the features on the surface are as the resolution is a little artifact-y in the photo when zoomed in. I have exactly zero experience with fossilized worms proper, so I wouldn't be a good person to weigh in with any authority on that one. Hopefully more members will come and put this one to rest. We have some pretty legit authorities on most things fossil here, as I'm sure you know. Someone will be able to help you out! Thank you for helping out with this. I will keep digging into the worm hole. Pretty cool either way. I love just finding such ancient items sitting around in nature. Every little piece is fascinating to me. I will bust out my bigger camera and do some more detailed shots tomorrow morning. I'm still tempted to crack open the first stone. I usually never do that but it is tempting. Can't hurt really that crinoid part isn't a T-Rex skull or anything. Thank you for your time and information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Your first item looks like a Rugose Coral to me. Possible trace fossil for the "worm" fossil. 2 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 @Fossildude19, just out of curiosity, what makes you lean rugose as opposed to crinoid? Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 The first rock probably has one rugose coral which is exposed on both sides. The looping shape is what distinguishes it from the radial line geometry of crenelations on a crinoid columnal. The other side is likely a geodized void left from concretion that had formed in the calice. I'm basing this on the shape in the center and the fact that it is so misshapen around it. The second one looks like a sectional view of a large spirifer, Mucrospirifer perhaps. It has roughly the shape of the hinge line. I suspect the shape of it's calcite crystals are what makes it appear tube like. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 This piece may help to illustrate my idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Russell Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 I agree with Tim on the first picture. Horn coral. If you smash the rock open you may recover the whole thing. The second, a geode. The third may be a weathered crinoid column. Sugar Run formation, Silurian in age. Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 56 minutes ago, Rockwood said: This piece may help to illustrate my idea. Very clever. I could see that being the case. Never even crossed my mind! Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonianDigger Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Alright, so I guess I’m leaning more toward rugose. If you look very closely and what would be the septae, you can see they alternate between longer and shorter rays. Definitely indicative of rugose and not indicative of crinoid. Jay A. Wollin Lead Fossil Educator - Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve Hamburg, New York, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverHunter312 Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 First off, thank you to everyone for contributing their time and knowledge to this thread. I have a lifetime of outdoor nature activity (fishing,camping,hiking etc) and a passion for history. Like a lot of kids I was fascinated by dinosaurs and ancient life on earth. I try to learn as much as I can but it is such a broad field that it is quite difficult. Finding unusual items seems to be something I am very good at but knowing what it all is, is something entirely different. So, thank you! I did crack this sucker open slowly and carefully. The bottom geode was small and there were two very small pockets of glitter crystal formations inside. The main object, which was facing up as I walked past it and caught my attention in the first place, looks for sure to be a rugose coral piece. I plan on doing very careful work to free it up a bit more but overall I am very happy with this piece! It is very cool. To me, every piece you find is kind of a miracle, don't you think? The amount of time this little guy existed then sat frozen in a stone is mind boggling! Thank you again for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Russell Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 It’s a rugose coral. Very common in the sugar run. 1 Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Crinoid columnals have a symmetrical radiating morphology of the crenulae in most of the cases (except for the ones with excentric lumen), similar to the scleractinian corals, while the specimen shown in the third picture don't resembles that. It conforms to the rugosan morphology. " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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