New Members MelissaL Posted April 6, 2022 New Members Share Posted April 6, 2022 My backyard has a large area where it's mainly rocky, meaning you can't really dig. Separating it from the "nice" grassy side of the yard is a hill. My daughter and I have found fossils there of bivalves and snails. I've attached some pictures of what I found today. But my question is regard to these tiny, circular, flat pieces that seem to cover the hill (first 3 pictures). I'm thinking they're a fossil of some kind, but I'm not sure. Can anyone help? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 (edited) yep! Small flattish echinoids of some sort? Edited April 6, 2022 by Plax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 G. I don't think so. Had this ready to go. The little flat disks are concretions. typically, a small percentage will have fossils in them though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I would guess some type of foram. Orbitulina maybe? 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members MelissaL Posted April 6, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted April 6, 2022 Al Dente, typing in Foram also showed pictures of Nummulite fossils. I'm not sure which mine would be though or if they're just concretions as Rockwood suggested. Either way, I think they've been narrowed down a bit. So thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 35 minutes ago, Rockwood said: The little flat disks are concretions. typically, a small percentage will have fossils in them though. If these were found in Florida then I'd guess many are forams and some could be flattened echinoids (i.e. "sand dollars"). Echinoids will have pentagonally symmetrical markings on them and forams generally have spiraled markings. You may need to look under magnification to see any of this. A bit of cleaning by soaking some in vinegar for a minute and then soaking with fresh water may remove some of the encrustation. You have a number to experiment with and if they are forams or echinoids, they should be calcitic and hold up to a weak acid treatment fairly well. Give them a bit of a cleaning and see if you can get some close-up images. Probably tough with a smart phone (the camera of choice these days). Many have used small slip-on diopters made for these phones to help with micro-photos. You should be able to find an inexpensive one online. That will certainly help us to see these better. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members MelissaL Posted April 6, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted April 6, 2022 Thanks, Ken. I'll clean some and see what I can see. Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleorunner Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 (edited) I think they are orbitulins. I pass this photo of my orbitulins for you to compare them. Mine are the same size too. Edited April 6, 2022 by Paleorunner 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Orbitolins as in forams of the genus Orbitolina? I love it when I learn something new. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitolina Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members MelissaL Posted April 6, 2022 Author New Members Share Posted April 6, 2022 Yes, they do look like your orbitulins. Very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Orbitolina concava? Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 @MelissaL They are Orbitolina texana, forams. Chances are your house is located in the upper Glen Rose Formation. 4 2 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 2 hours ago, JohnJ said: @MelissaL They are Orbitolina texana, forams. Chances are your house is located in the upper Glen Rose Formation. I missed it by this ( ) much. 2 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared C Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Here's a fun trip report featuring the Glen Rose formation - in the photos included, you can see that around the sea urchin (echinoid) fossils found, there sit many forams like yours. Hopefully this is inspiration to keep a keen eye out around your local rock outcrops - hiding among those forams you may just find fossils like those below 1 “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) 12 hours ago, MelissaL said: My backyard has a large area where it's mainly rocky, meaning you can't really dig. Separating it from the "nice" grassy side of the yard is a hill. My daughter and I have found fossils there of bivalves and snails. I've attached some pictures of what I found today. But my question is regard to these tiny, circular, flat pieces that seem to cover the hill (first 3 pictures). I'm thinking they're a fossil of some kind, but I'm not sure. Can anyone help? Had to edit my post.That'll teach me not to read all posts in a thread! agreed. forams Edited April 7, 2022 by hemipristis 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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