ID fossils.

trebor28

Hi all,
always been interested in fossils but as it doesnt seem to be that big an area in ireland, or at least not that well known, it never took hold with me.

only now finding this part of boards.
anyway i have two photos of fossils that i would like someone to shed some light on.
they could be as common as muck but i havent seen much of them.
i live in the middle of the country, counties from the sea and any time someone goes digging or ploughing around here these kinda things show up.


looks like a pair of wings to me??


presume this is fairly common?

we found a load of sheet rock when digging around here and its full of fossils, the usual small ones you find. but some of it just crumbles in your hand fossils an all.

Rubecula

The lower one is the "cup" of a Crinoid.

The crinoid was a sea creature (Sea Lily). Not a plant but a sea "worm" that resembled a plant.

Entire crinoid fossils are not quite so common though, as they are very fragile.

Not sure on the top picture I am afraid.

Edit: try this link:

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/crinoid.htm

smcgiff

First pic is very interesting - very symmetrical with straightish form. Would guess some sort of hard plant

Galvasean

Y'know for a secong I thought the first pic was a part of Sharovipteryx:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=65691854

On closer inspection it's probably something more mundane.
How big is it?

trebor28

couldnt tell you right now but off the top of my head id say about 3 inches from top to bottom in the picture.

ill try and get a measurement tomorrow.

Wibbs

First one is the back end of a brachiopod I'd reckon where the "foot/root" attached. The rest of the shell is going into the rock. Though maybe not, that part of their shell seems to have been very thick so wave action could break it apart leaving you with that.


I'd say given it looks like lower carboniferous limestone that its a member of the spirifer family.

The second is a coral not a crinoid IMHO. Crinoids don't have tiny radiant lines running to the centre. And as echinoderms usually show the 5 point sectioning of the group. You tend to see big plates that make up the calyx(cup)

So I'd say a young enough solitary rugose coral, I'd put money on caninia species wise.

Adam Khor

Wow, I can´t believe you guys can identify this kind of thing. I feel like such a kid among experts XD

Oh well... I still can imitate the calls of over 30 animals, tho. XDD:D

Alvin T. Grey

Adam Khor wrote: »

Wow, I can´t believe you guys can identify this kind of thing. I feel like such a kid among experts XD

Oh well... I still can imitate the calls of over 30 animals, tho. XDD:D

They have to be different species to count.
Quacking like a duck 30 times does not constitute different calls....

Adam Khor

Alvin T. Grey wrote: »

They have to be different species to count.
Quacking like a duck 30 times does not constitute different calls....

Of course they are 30 species. Plus I'm good enough to make real animals want to kill me :> (Happened to me twice with a crocodile and a leopard XD)

Rubecula

Adam Khor wrote: »

Of course they are 30 species. Plus I'm good enough to make real animals want to kill me :> (Happened to me twice with a crocodile and a leopard XD)

My ex is a bit of an animal and funnily enough she wants to kill me too.:D

Alvin T. Grey

Adam Khor wrote: »

Of course they are 30 species. Plus I'm good enough to make real animals want to kill me :> (Happened to me twice with a crocodile and a leopard XD)

I would have stayed back while the Leopard ate the crocodile, then clubbed it to death while it was too full up to fight......

Did I pass?:D

SoWatchaWant

2nd picture is almost certainly a rugosa. Pretty sure its not a crinoid.

trebor28

Galvasean wrote: »

Y'know for a secong I thought the first pic was a part of Sharovipteryx:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=65691854

On closer inspection it's probably something more mundane.
How big is it?

i never got back to ye about this, sorry.
its about 70mm.

p.s.
would ye like to see some more?

Wibbs

I would

Galvasean

Yes please.

trebor28

Presume this is just some type of worm...

alot going on here.


this is the most interesting one, i think anyway. no doubt its some common as muck yoke.

this one has a bit of a peeled banana texture to it. not the greatest photo of it though.

another one ill leave up to ye.

Rubecula

Top one looks like crinoid stems, possibly and the fourth one looks like some kind of trilobite, although well worn.

(I stand to be corrected by more expert opinion on this however)

Wibbs

I'd agree and say the first are crinoid stems. They might be rugose corals like individual Lithostrotion but they've no internal structure so... The second is hard to tell, I'd say a mix of crinoid stems and corals. The third one looks like a brachipod that's been eroded away. The V shaped structure looks like the the part of the anatomy the gills once hung from. Hard to tell what species. The fourth one has two on it. The Y shaped on the left is a bryozoan(kinda like a seeweed, but an animal). Gun to my head rhombopora species. I can see where Rubecula is getting trilobite, it looks like a bit of one alright. Trilobites are pretty rare in lower carboniferous rock though. They were on the wane by that stage, down to just one order. When I was collecting I got nearly all the main names but never a trilobite. What do I think it is? I dunno, could well be the "skin" of a rugose coral. It's not unlike canninia.

Oh yea images may help
Crinoid

Brachiopod

Byrozoan


I'm only running on my (well burnt out) memory from 25 years ago so...

PS there are (broadly) two types of fossil deposit. Life assemblages and death assemblages. The first means the animals are preserved where they died fully complete(articulated) and usually not distorted(unless the rock is later exposed to igneous intrusion).The second is where water or wind action breaks and mixes them up. You know if you're walking on a beach and you'll see piles of shells in one spot? That's a death assemblage. Your's look like that. It's more bits and pieces. An example of a life assemblage in lower carboniferous limestone would be at Easkey beach in Sligo where the surfer dudes go(or used to). There's a flat platform on one side of the little river where you can see corals and shells laying where they died pretty undisturbed. As you can imagine it's easeir to figure what you have from a life assemblage as they're not all bollexed and mixed up.