Miscelleous Fossils

[Stacey]

I have a few other fossils I've collected over the years and would like some help with IDing...

Found in Leon Co., Texas at my dad's place. He has a huge exposed area of iron ore to the back of his place, with sand and rocks ranging from boulders to pebbles. My daughter found this laying exposed on the ground. I think it's neat because it looks like the leaves just fell in the mud yesterday. To me they look like oak leaves, but I'm sure they're probably something else. Does anyone have a guess at what kind they are?

This was picked up out of a crushed limestone driveway several years ago. It's about 1 in. long. What kind of coral is this?

Nice piece of crystalized limestone, the cast being dusted with crystals. I don't remember where I found this. Clam?

[Auspex]

Found in Leon Co., Texas at my dad's place. He has a huge exposed area of iron ore to the back of his place, with sand and rocks ranging from boulders to pebbles....To me they look like oak leaves, but I'm sure they're probably something else....

If you notice that the "veins" have no pattern, you will see that these are not leaves.

The iron minerals can produce some crazy looking things.

[jkfoam]

Stacey,

Thats a nice looking coral you have found. Just looking at the picture I think it may be a Septaster sp. It is a scleractinian coral which is to say Phylum Coelenterata or Cnidaria, Class Anthozoa, Order Scleractinia. I wonder where that crushed limestone came from in your driveway. If you know you should go there and try to collect some more of those corals. Um, not a lot of limestone in Leon County.

Leon County has quite a few fossils, especially around Leona, Texas.

That leaf fossil can be pretty hard to identify without it being complete. I suspect it is from the Yegua Formation. Where there is one leaf there are probably more.

JKFoam

[Stacey]

Thanks for the ID. I didn't get the coral in Leon County. I'm trying to remember where exactly I picked it up...I'm always looking through the rocks in places where I think I might find something interesting. I've found many an interesting rock or thing in crushed limestone drives.

My dad lives just south of Oakwood, in Red Branch, if that's any help.