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Post by 1dave on Jan 5, 2019 21:37:53 GMT -5
Kai your fossils can be placed here. What is common for your area may be very uncommon for much of the world. When I was in northwestern Uruguay poor people were using beautiful Amethyst Crystals as door stops, while in Europe they were in the crown jewels.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 6, 2019 4:20:21 GMT -5
Oh wow, another thread just for me?!  You guys are spoiling me!! Well in that case I definitely must not disappoint you and immediately post a couple of pics, right?  I'll just post here some pics of the stuff I keep in my living room or in drawers close by. Larger rocks with corals and all that stuff I don't keep in the house. So just a few examples here. First of all, my big babies!  This is a shell - not just a stone core or an imprint but an actual petrified shell in a (probably Jurassic) limestone. This was found in rock layers right above my town, just few kilometers away.
This was found where Soča river deposits alluvium - gravel. It's probably a bit older.
This is an imprint in marlaceous flysch. It has been covered in protective resin, that's why it shines so much.
Now on to more common stuff.
Definitely THE most common in the slopes all above the river which carved this valley is conglomerate or breccia, full of random debris and remains. For example:
Whole layers and large shelves are made of this stuff, it's very crumbly and often you don't even need a chisel to get things out. The bad side of this is that vast majority of fossils are very fragile or already damaged when you find them.
The two typical examples from Mesozoic rocks are corals and megalodon shells. I don't have very good examples here in my house since I only have small fragments. I'll have to go out and take some better photos of the larger rocks. Again, they come in huge rock shelves.
In the top left corner there is an oval indentation the size of a coin: this is a cut through a coral stem. I am planning to have it polished so all the details will be clearly seen.
Bottom right is a tiny megalodon. Really good specimens can measure over 15 cm, common ones around 5-10 cm. I will get you more photos of these.
Now a couple of things that I don't really know what they are, but I find them interesting. I'm guessing they are leaves or stems of plants.
The first one is placed in a piece of karst limestone, but glued in a quartz vein. I'm guessing a leaf.
The second two are in alluvial deposit. No idea, probably some pieces of plants.
Now another mystery to me, in cretaceous limestone. Most likely nothing special, just stems of plants, but I want to interpret it to myself as wing bones of a small bird-ancestor... or maybe finger bones of a dinosaur?! Haha 
So much for now. Don't laugh at me if I wrote any too obvious stupidity, okay? 
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 6, 2019 4:56:12 GMT -5
Nice collection.
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Post by 1dave on Jan 6, 2019 7:26:29 GMT -5
Kai thank you for sharing! 40 miles south of me is the Silver Reef Museum where $7,000,000 of silver was found in petrified logs and vegetation buried in sandstone - previously thought to be impossible. Nearly all was sent through the crushers for their silver content. The museum has only this one small sample to share:  You now know you can create your own threads anywhere you like on this site. Go forth and SPARKLE!
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 6, 2019 10:14:02 GMT -5
Kai, nice specimens you have. I like the curly shell best, but the "maybe fingers" are intriguing, too. Keep posting!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,726 
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 6, 2019 10:17:46 GMT -5
Nice collection of fossils...
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360 
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 6, 2019 11:42:28 GMT -5
Hi there, Kai, welcome aboard! It's great to see what is found in other places.
I am in the northeastern part of the United State, up at the top of Lake Champlain, on the northwestern corner of Vermont.
Your fossil from the Soca river looks similar to Ordovician ones we have around here -- Maclurites.
Your stems of plants look like a mash of bryozoans and other sea animals.
Your top picture is quite intruiging. To me (from here) it looks like something more complicated than a shell... total guess but maybe a kind of ancient shrimp? Do you have any around there? I don't think shrimp is the word I want, but some kind of ancient feathery animal.
I am hoping you will continue to add pictures as time allows.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 8, 2019 12:54:49 GMT -5
Right, I promised you more photos, so I must keep my word! Here's a few more of my pretty babies:
A whole mess of fossils in a reddish rock. Size about 10 cm. Found in Soča's alluvial deposit, so no idea how old it is or where it came from. The rock itself is quite hard, so it's likely older.
This was found in limestone, probably Jurassic or Cretaceous. If it wasn't SO BIG I'd say the pattern looks like a longitudinal cut through a coral stem... but I've never heard of a single stem being 5 cm thick.  This is coral, those little holes are probably around 1mm each. Limestone.
I love this guy because it's one of the very first fossils I ever found and it kinda sparkled my interest for them. I was probably about 7 at the time. Leaf in shale, the shape of the leaf has me guessing that it's probably quite young.
And just for a little cherry on the top of the cake: it's not a fossil, but interesting nevertheless. Above my town there used to be a village of iron workers in the 1700s, there were some 15 huge kilns and all the population there (just a couple dozen people) would do nothing else but smelt iron all day long. The ore was brought from somewhere else, but if you poke around the corners sometimes you can find a little treat such as this broken iron geode.
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Post by 1dave on Jan 8, 2019 14:13:31 GMT -5
Thank You!  My guess is that the above is marble - metamorphosed limestone. And I think this one came from someplace near a large impact crater. |
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 8, 2019 14:48:33 GMT -5
Cool, thanks for your input 1dave . This is really interesting about the impact crater. Regarding marble - not sure, marble is quite common around here. There's even an active mine about 50 km (30 mi) from here, but none that I know of is such red colour. It's grayish or whitish, sometimes maybe a bit brown or orange because of iron.. but never such beautiful red. Then again, what do I know... are there any tests to determine if it is marble? |
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 8, 2019 15:03:55 GMT -5
We have a marble near here that is red. Well, technically, it's not metamorphosed to the level of marble, so I guess it would still be limestone.
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 8, 2019 15:06:25 GMT -5
Your coral stem resembles conularia. Which I have also found near here, though not as large.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 8, 2019 15:44:43 GMT -5
Wowzers. Thanks for sharing. I love fossils and have found many glacial ones on my land. Keep sharing your special specimens. Everyone on RTH loves photos.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 9, 2019 0:34:49 GMT -5
Your coral stem resembles conularia. Which I have also found near here, though not as large. Interesting suggestion, the rectangular break would support this... but the age wouldn't, I think the rock might be a bit too young. |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,726
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 9, 2019 9:09:15 GMT -5
Not bad, nice looking pieces! Thumbs up
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 10, 2019 15:52:20 GMT -5
I didn't forget you! Here's one more:
 No idea what is this, how old it is or where it came from. Any ideas/suggestions? |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,726
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 11, 2019 10:53:54 GMT -5
Looks like sea shells in matrix... Probably a beach find..
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 20, 2019 15:04:58 GMT -5
Right, fulfilling my duty and posting photos of large fossil rocks/shelves as promised. By far the most common are mixed sea-bottom sediments and corals. MIND: not all of these are mine, however! Some are from the local museum.
you could see my report about the local area geology. The hills above the valley where I live are made of limestone sediments and gravel, mostly remains from the Triassic or Jurassic sea floor which has been tumbled about during the ice age and then deposited again. It's a messy breccia/conglomerate with lots of karst phenomena when exposed to the weather. If you find layers with lots of fossils, they look like this:  Acidic water dissolves limestone and when phenomena like "rain tubes" or holes are formed, also fossils show up, because they are usually harder and can't be dissolved so easily (my hand for size comparison):
Rough bunches of corrals like this are relatively common:
  If you're REALLY lucky, however, you can find some more detailed stuff like this (I just haven't been so lucky yet):  A few more examples of large stone surfaces with fossils protruding out of dissolving limestone: Triassic megalodon shells:  Cretaceous corals - smaller ones in sediment:
Cretaceous corals - this is a slightly larger tube:
 Jurassic limestone with various fossils:  And a few more examples of those "if you are really lucky (but I'm not)" fossils. Same type of sea-bed sediment limestone as above, but if you have good tools or get it polished, you can find pretties like these: The stems of sea-lilies are about as thick as a finger. |
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Feb 7, 2019 16:06:21 GMT -5
Another little toy of mine!
Small, definitely much smaller than the corals above, but this one is in black stone, so the corals are much better visible.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on May 5, 2019 5:05:20 GMT -5
Another pretty little find from one of my latest hounding trips. Not sure what it is, probably cell structure of a plant or scales of some animal? Set in limestone. |
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You guys are spoiling me!! 
... to the New Guys from The ChatBox V.2 Crew