Texas Fossil

cds7189 · Jan 12, 2015

I found this in a creek bed and cleaned it up with a dremel tool and diluted vinegar. I know it’s a ligament fossil but does any know what it is?

old digger · Jan 12, 2015

I believe what you have there is a Fossil trilobite in the curled up position.

austin · Jan 12, 2015

Where in Texas (roughly) did you find this?

bone2stone · Jan 13, 2015

austin said:
Where in Texas (roughly) did you find this?

Yes by all means general location. It does not look like a Texas specimen.
It needs to be documented.
Truly if it is a Texas specimen there are people that would definitely want to examine this.
Trilobites are few and far between here in Texas and this one could have potential for "first".

Jess B.

cds7189 · Jan 13, 2015

I did find it in Texas. I found it in brushy creek in Round Rock.

cds7189 · Jan 13, 2015

The specimen was in soft sandstone partly imbedded in the bank of the creek. I found it by noticing the fossil somewhat protruding out of the sandstone. I used a chisel and hammer to carefully break up the rock around the fossil so that I could retrieve it. The location is easily accessible by foot. Who should I contact so the specimen can be examined and possibly documented?

bone2stone · Jan 14, 2015

cds7189 said:
The specimen was in soft sandstone partly imbedded in the bank of the creek. I found it by noticing the fossil somewhat protruding out of the sandstone. I used a chisel and hammer to carefully break up the rock around the fossil so that I could retrieve it. The location is easily accessible by foot. Who should I contact so the specimen can be examined and possibly documented?

As far as I know there are no deposits in or around that area that would support trilobite finds.
They are old in the extreme and that area is Cretaceous.
The LLano uplift is not far from you that area is old enough.
Take it to the fossil link below and post.

Jess B.

The Fossil Forum

Doubter in MD · Jan 14, 2015

bone2stone said:
As far as I know there are no deposits in or around that area that would support trilobite finds.
They are old in the extreme and that area is Cretaceous.
The LLano uplift is not far from you that area is old enough.
Take it to the fossil link below and post.

Jess B.

The Fossil Forum

I am curious about this find. If a thread is or has been started on the fossil forums could someone please post a direct link to it? Thanks!

cds7189 · Jan 14, 2015

I will post a link as soon as I go and start one. I'm new at this and even willing to post a gps location where I found the fossil if I need to. It was absolutely found in the creek bed of brushy creek mid way through Round Rock Texas. I found it not long after a big rain.

cds7189 · Jan 14, 2015

I started a thread on The Fossil Forum
Austin Texas Area Trilobite Find - Fossil ID - The Fossil Forum

Produce Guy · Jan 14, 2015

So maybe it got washed down from Cedar park?

austin · Jan 14, 2015

Just give UT's Paleontology folks a call. They will know...

cds7189 · Jan 14, 2015

Some one said this specimen may be a Devonian phacopid from Morocco. That's impossible because I have pictures of it still in the sand stone bank of brushy creek before I removed it. Should I contact the Paleontology department at UT and who would I speak with? I'm sure they get calls about some bone or rock found is someone's back yard everyday.

Clint
cds@att.net

Doubter in MD · Jan 15, 2015

You mentioned that you have pictures of in the matrix or hole you dug it out of. Could you post them?

cds7189 · Jan 15, 2015

Yes I will

cds7189 · Jan 15, 2015

I will when I get home from work.

cds7189 · Jan 15, 2015

I was told that there is not sand stone in brushy creek so please understand that I'm no geologist.

Tigger · Jan 15, 2015

cds7189 said:
Some one said this specimen may be a Devonian phacopid from Morocco. That's impossible because I have pictures of it still in the sand stone bank of brushy creek before I removed it. Should I contact the Paleontology department at UT and who would I speak with? I'm sure they get calls about some bone or rock found is someone's back yard everyday.

Clint
cds@att.net

And they are probably just waiting for that one call about something different! :hello2:

Your pictures are nice and clear - you can probably do it by email unless they want to follow up in person. Here is a link to other Texas museums of interest - scroll down: Rockhounding Texas | Gator Girl Rocks

And please let us know what they say. I thought it looked like a trilobite, but I'm a amateur. Would love to hear the end of this story.

cds7189 · Jan 15, 2015

I posted pictures. Link below.
Austin Texas Area Trilobite Find - Page 2 - Fossil ID - The Fossil Forum

yakker · Jan 18, 2015

Wow- what a story! That little piece sure did have those guys going sideways... glad you finally have found 'closure' 8-)

-- to whatever degree you could. Dang. Y'know, that reminds me of a crazy thing that happened to me a couple years back. I was down here visiting- I actually live here now), and was out by a local reservoir I like to visit. In the water I spotted a rutilated quartz crystal nearly the size of my fist. Imagine my surprise! I contacted as many folks as I could reach on line, and because it's so hard to take a decent picture of a clear crystal, I just couldn't nail it for them- everyone had big huge exploding question-marks over their heads! Finally once I got settled down here and unpacked that particular box, I was lit up again with curiosity. Brought it to a local rocks/minerals/gems shop and had the most immediate answer ever. Brazilian, no doubt about it (which is what I saw on line originally when investigating my find). The big question remains however. Why the heck did someone chuck a beautiful 100$ + rutilated quartz crystal into a reservoir

I'll never know.
Thanks for the opportunity to learn -- and to not feel alone in my weird (wha

) predicament! :thumbsup:

Yakker