What on earth did my son find?????

[Marmot_Militia]

Guys,
My son was playing around our artificial wetland that is filled with washed river stone. He found this item. Can anyone help ID it? to me it looks like a partially fossilized horn from the bottom. (size is 1" long) It is very hard.


Thanks,
MM
http://www.lightningtimesavers.com/find1.JPG

[therron258]

definitely a rhinoceros horn

[beards-n-bone]

It is some sort of fossil from the dinosaur era. Our area was covered in a shallow sea that was full of all sorts of sponges and shell fish that you will find fossils from.

[rgb62]

Looks like a horn coral. I've seen them for sale in rock/fossil shops. That one might be worth a couple of bucks!

[Dead Deer Walking]

I found a few of them once in river gravel from Tenn.

[Crockett]

I found some of those when I was a kid. I thought that they were dinosaur teeth. Turns out they are just some sort of fossilized plant.

[Marmot_Militia]

Looks like a horn coral. I've seen them for sale in rock/fossil shops. That one might be worth a couple of bucks!

Did some checking and haven't found exactly what I've got. Most of the horn corals have a wrinklie exterior...mine is very smooth.

Regards,
MM

[WildmanWilson]

I think its coral or a plant part..

[CanisMajor]

Looks a little like something we found on an archeology dig last year at the Lincoln boyhood home. I swore it was a wolf tooth, but the experts said it was just a mineral deposit. Take it to your local university geology or archeology department, they should be able to tell you.

[Duster]

Looks like a shark tooth

[reivertom]

definitely a fossilized plant, but I forget the name. I found many as a kid. The one you have is the "bud" or end piece. The "body" pieces look like disks.

[Foam Steak]

I think it is a Rugosa(horn Coral). Now I am going to look it up and see if I am right.

[Foam Steak]

Man, when your hot your hot!!! The stupid stuff I remember from College.

http://www.palaeos.com/Invertebrates/Cnidaria/Rugosa.htm

[RocketRider]

Looks like one of my ex-mother in law's horns...

[beards-n-bone]

looks like one of my ex-mother in law's horns...
lol:d:d:d:d:d:d

[Mepperson]

definitely a fossilized plant, but I forget the name. I found many as a kid. The one you have is the "bud" or end piece. The "body" pieces look like disks.

I think you are talking about crinoids..... I think he has a type of horn coral. Do a search for "common fossils in Kentucky" with Google.

[B.M. Barrelcooker]

okay .....now QUESTION: after the recent ice storms will any of this debris be eventually fossilized?

my answer is no. because it will rot and decay. how do fossills become fossils then? They are covered up quickly and trapped before having time to decay, right? this goes for plants and animals.

so when some one says that a fossil forms over millions of years they may not be correct. One good thick deposit of silt over some living stuff could actually make a fossil pretty quick geologicaly. Just think about it.

[ptbrauch]

Not really. The minerals from the silt would have to permeate all parts of the material (tree branch, etc) Then the silt would have to become compacted under enough force to make it "rock" hard. And thats assuming that it was all done under the right conditions that the material didn't rot (or oxidize) first.

A person probably could recreate the optimal conditions in a lab or something and speed up the process, but to naturally happen, it'll take longer than you, I, or our grandchildren's grandchildren's, grandchildren will be around.

[westkybanded]

okay .....now QUESTION: after the recent ice storms will any of this debris be eventually fossilized?

my answer is no. because it will rot and decay. how do fossills become fossils then? They are covered up quickly and trapped before having time to decay, right? this goes for plants and animals.

so when some one says that a fossil forms over millions of years they may not be correct. One good thick deposit of silt over some living stuff could actually make a fossil pretty quick geologicaly. Just think about it.


AND... in the literally DOZENS of years that the earth has been arround, I don't remember reading anything about "horn corral" in the bible. Nothing.

Therefore- The earth is flat. Fossils are a myth. All your bases are belong to us.

[ptbrauch]

As for the fossil itself, its a horn coral fossil. I've got a collection of them I've found hunting and fishing (along with some sea shell fossils). I find them in creeks and creek beds all the time. Generally, if you find one in an area, there's usually more. My best one was found on top of a hill above the creek I find the most in. I always thought that was pretty interesting.

[Shelbyhunter]

I found something similar here in Oldham looking for sheds. I thought it was a t-rex tooth!

[Foam Steak]

okay .....now QUESTION: after the recent ice storms will any of this debris be eventually fossilized?

my answer is no. because it will rot and decay. how do fossills become fossils then? They are covered up quickly and trapped before having time to decay, right? this goes for plants and animals.

so when some one says that a fossil forms over millions of years they may not be correct. One good thick deposit of silt over some living stuff could actually make a fossil pretty quick geologicaly. Just think about it.

Not sure what you are trying to get at?

Not all fossils are formed in millions of years. I heard a story once of a coke bottle found in some oolitic limestone. Apparently in equatorial regions stuff can go from sediment to rock (lithify) in relatively short order.

In the case of the horn coral, Its skeleton is CACO3 calcium carbonate, so you you might even say it is not a fossil, just a piece of coral that you found in a rock. Of course it is somewhere around 400 million years old, so that didnt exactly happen overnight.

Lets imagine a Dinosaur turd. When fossilized you would call this a Coprolite. The only way you will get one of these is if the dinosaur deposited it, then it got covered up with sediment, then over the course of hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of years the cavity that was left by the decaying turd was filled in with some other material. This material could be some sort of silicate, or maybe calcium carbonate, or I have seen Iron Pyrite. Pretty much any mineral that can be disolved in water then precipitate out in the cavity can form a fossil. Fossilized wood is a good example of this.

[reivertom]

I think it is a Rugosa(horn Coral). Now I am going to look it up and see if I am right.

You're right ! I was thinking of Crinoids or something like that. They have a different terminal end than this thing.

[trust me]

Lets imagine a Dinosaur turd. When fossilized you would call this a Coprolite. The only way you will get one of these is if the dinosaur deposited it, then it got covered up with sediment, then over the course of hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of years the cavity that was left by the decaying turd was filled in with some other material. This material could be some sort of silicate, or maybe calcium carbonate, or I have seen Iron Pyrite. Pretty much any mineral that can be disolved in water then precipitate out in the cavity can form a fossil. Fossilized wood is a good example of this.

As I understand it, you just gave a good description of the process of petrification.