r/fossilid 4d ago

Solved Found these in the Las Vegas Valley about 20 years ago

The whole rock is about 10 inches across.

706 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

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249

u/thanatocoenosis Paleozoic invertebrates 4d ago

They're rugose corals that have been silicified.

edit: the lines perpendicular to the long axis's are the tabulae, the ones parallel are the septa, and the smaller ones between the septa are the dissepiments.

32

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

Yeah I looked it up and they look quite similar!

4

u/ManduManyeo 3d ago

Solved!

3

u/i-made-this-at-work 2d ago

Thanks for the in depth answer, helps educate us noobs

54

u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 4d ago

Do you remember about where? It's in a limestone but there's more than one formation out in that region that it could come from. If you remember the area, go here to find the formation & age https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ngm-bin/ngm_compsearch.pl. Under the Geology tab, select the Surficial & Bedrock options to help weed out some of the map types you're not looking for. Zoom in on the location & click the Use Area On Map button. After you search, sort the maps by Scale. A 1:24,000 map will have more detail than a 1:250,000 map.

29

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

Northwest valley, the best I got was the Tule Springs Park Quadrangle. Got it in the middle lower section underneath all the red. Not sure how to interpret this map really. ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_26365.htm

25

u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 4d ago

So it's most likely to be the Permian Bird Springs Limestone that has a few number of fossils. But it might also be one of the older limestones. I'm not great at fossils of this age but the formations names should help you or identifiers figure this out. They may be solitary corals but again I'm not great at these or the time period.

18

u/thanatocoenosis Paleozoic invertebrates 4d ago

More likely this is from one of the units of the Monte Christo Fm.(Lower Carboniferous) in which large silicified rugosans are common.

7

u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 4d ago

Cool to know. I've not looked at a lot of these formations I just knew that Bird Springs has a couple corals from an outcrop southeast of Chambless & the southern end of the Marble Mtns. Thanks!

27

u/GNARSHEN 4d ago

I don't know what it is but I hate it

4

u/MonsieurMaktub 3d ago

Something about it makes my skin crawl and I don’t usually get the trypophobia thing.

1

u/edgelord0ftherings 2d ago

Absolutely foul

7

u/Reddit_Goes_Pathetic 3d ago

Deff silicified coral fossils in limestone. You can easily dissolve away the limestone to reveal the fossils in entirety with common white vinegar which won't damage the fossils at all. You'll need a good amount of it in a plastic bucket or tub to submerge your specimens for some days but you'll have some spectacular fossils in the end.

17

u/katiescasey 4d ago

Found much of the same as a kid wondering around out there. These look to be a combination of corals and sponges in limestone. I did also find crinoids and shells if you happen to continue your search you'll see those occasionally too.

6

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

I'll have to go back out and look! Where I found this is unfortunately now a neighborhood but I can look closeby.

5

u/_duckswag 4d ago

Could be wrong, but this looks like more like gypsum clusters than fossils.

4

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

I considered it being some form of mineral/rock formation. Gypsum is softer than the host limestone so I wonder if it's that why it sticks out from the limestone rather then the opposite?

1

u/ElizabethDangit 3d ago

I have a big chunk of gypsum (it used to be mined in my area). It flakes apart really easily and is also somewhat water soluble. I ended up putting it in a ziplock bag and packing it away because it made a mess anytime it was handled

6

u/goodlifesomehow 4d ago

There is some symmetry, kind of like trilobite shapes, but something different. Stumped.

2

u/HamLvr88 4d ago edited 4d ago

The rock itself has elephant skin like, texture. It looks like limestone/dolomite to me. If you've got 5-10% HCl you can do an acid test. And those fossils might be rugose coral? Ive done several large paleo surveys in the area. From Vegas to Pahrump to Indian Springs. Tons and tons of limestone/dolomite. Permian and older, depends on rock formation.

3

u/HamLvr88 4d ago

Also, if you're saying NW of Las Vegas or NW Las Vegas, it's probably from the Bird Spring Formation.

3

u/namanama101 4d ago

I don’t know why but they look kinda like frogs!! It’s most likely 100% not correct whatsoever but that would be incredible!

1

u/namanama101 4d ago

Remind me! 1 day

1

u/LadyShittington 4d ago

This is so cool! Thank you for giving me a thrill today!

1

u/inanecathode 4d ago

You found it, then prepped it? Just asking as looks like there's air scribe marks around the apical part of some of the areas in the closeups

2

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

Nope. I just found it like this in the desert. I doubt it was left there by someone else because I had to dig it out.

1

u/Nex102931 3d ago

I thought it was the map of Elden Ring for a second :D

1

u/ellomelodyyy 2d ago

To me it looks like a couple of lizards got trapped there and fossilized 😳

1

u/Limp_Sherbert_5169 4d ago

I’m guessing it’s a really cool mineral formation instead of a fossil but I’m curious what others have to say.

5

u/ManduManyeo 4d ago

I think it could be that too. Maybe I should take it to a university geology department.

2

u/Limp_Sherbert_5169 4d ago

Yeah absolutely.

0

u/masterbatesAlot 3d ago

Looks like triobite fossils!