Dinosaur poop?

[Kimber]

I found this in a creek In Portland Tennessee .  What is it.  The inside when wet is beautiful blue with lots of little white pieces. 

[Fin Lover]

That part of Tennessee is too old for dinosaur fossils.

[automech]

Looks cool though!

[old bones]

Those white bits look like echinoid spines to me.

[Kimber]

Tennessee has several dinosaur fossils, including the only known land dinosaur fossil in the state, an Edmontosaurus, 

[Kimber]

12 hours ago, Fin Lover said:

That part of Tennessee is too old for dinosaur fossils.

Tennessee has several dinosaur fossils, including the only known land dinosaur fossil in the state, an Edmontosaurus, 

[Kimber]

56 minutes ago, old bones said:

Those white bits look like echinoid spines to me.

They do look like they could have been . 

Thanks !

[Plantguy]

That is a pretty cool beautiful specimen!

 

It looks like it has layers in the first two photos so I'm thinking its a siliceous chert nodule...but I defer to our scat experts and others on whether 100% non-coprolite, it does have alot of other internal structure/shapes to it but that could just be a fossiliferous limestone hash originally that the nodule formed around. 

 

In looking at the geologic map it, as Finlover says its pre dinosaur in age--Paleozoic-Mississippian. Looks like it could be Fort Payne formation. I see mention of blue cherts/limestones within--map is from the National Geologic Map Database. 

 

I agree with a possible echinoderm. I wonder if it could be the more common Archaeocidaris or one of the other echinoids from that age/formation. Again way out of my league to ID but fun to speculate.. One of your pics shows a pretty good pic of one of the spines. How long is that guy?-need a scale...Good luck with an ID.

Might need a sharp closeup of the grooves/structure/ornamentation.  

 

Did you happen to notice if there were any actual rock outcrops along the creek that this may have fallen/come from?? Any layers or bedding?  

 

 

Looks like one of the other members found a similar nodule years back that we enjoyed discussing. 

Cool stuff!

Regards, Chris 

[Fin Lover]

2 hours ago, Kimber said:

Tennessee has several dinosaur fossils, including the only known land dinosaur fossil in the state, an Edmontosaurus, 

Only in the western part of the state.  We had a similar conversation on the forum recently regarding another specimen.

 

Edited August 8 by Fin Lover
Added map

[Kimber]

2 hours ago, Plantguy said:

That is a pretty cool beautiful specimen!

 

It looks like it has layers in the first two photos so I'm thinking its a siliceous chert nodule...but I defer to our scat experts and others on whether 100% non-coprolite, it does have alot of other internal structure/shapes to it but that could just be a fossiliferous limestone hash originally that the nodule formed around. 

 

In looking at the geologic map it, as Finlover says its pre dinosaur in age--Paleozoic-Mississippian. Looks like it could be Fort Payne formation. I see mention of blue cherts/limestones within--map is from the National Geologic Map Database. 

 

I agree with a possible echinoderm. I wonder if it could be the more common Archaeocidaris or one of the other echinoids from that age/formation. Again way out of my league to ID but fun to speculate.. One of your pics shows a pretty good pic of one of the spines. How long is that guy?-need a scale...Good luck with an ID.

Might need a sharp closeup of the grooves/structure/ornamentation.  

 

Did you happen to notice if there were any actual rock outcrops along the creek that this may have fallen/come from?? Any layers or bedding?  

 

 

Looks like one of the other members found a similar nodule years back that we enjoyed discussing. 

Cool stuff!

Regards, Chris 

I took more close ups. These creeks have had alot of flooding activity so it could have come from anywhere. There where alot of cow patty like rocks , perfectly round rocks and more.  

[Kimber]

Close up pictures