Ordovician in Tennessee (Help!)

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 03, '11, 7:05pm

By the way, nice avatar Terri

**Terri** · Jul 03, '11, 9:44pm

Well thank you very much Kevin, I like it and it's an original to boot! I thought it was about time to chose something, I was getting tired of the blue silhouette.

Thanks for the Id on that last fossil too, very cool.

**Terri** · Jul 04, '11, 1:05am

It sort of looks like a siphuncle and chamber to me or it could just be an oddly shaped rock, if it's the latter I'll be a little embarrassed.

I'd really like to know so I'll risk it.

About 5 cm. long.

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 04, '11, 9:55am

It has the appearance of a well worn siphuncle and body chamber from a cyrtocone. However, without much symmetry, I'd have to say it's just an oddly shaped rock. Sorry,

**Terri** · Jul 04, '11, 10:41am

Thanks Kevin, I had a feeling it probably wasn't but wanted to know for sure before I put it away. The similarity between this one and the first fossil in this thread had me doubting myself.

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 04, '11, 12:42pm

The siphuncle looking part keeps wanting me to say it used to be a fossil of a cephalopod, but the rest of it just don't look right. If there were a more well defined distinction between the siphuncle and last septa, or if the body chamber showed it's shape a little better.

**Terri** · Jul 04, '11, 1:19pm

If there were a more well defined distinction between the siphuncle and last septa

Cool, I didn't even catch that, went back to the first page again and looked at mine and one Hajar posted. Now I'll know what to look for next time.

**Terri** · Jul 06, '11, 12:11am

Here's one more fossil (maybe

) that I've been trying to figure out for a while...It may be just another weird rock. In the first pic. you can see the lines on the left side, on the second pic. you can see that the lines go around to the other side. There are a few more lines that aren't showing in the photos. So what do you think fossil or not?

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 06, '11, 12:04pm

Fossil

On the left side of the top & bottom photos, it looks like septa. On the right side of the bottom photo, some lines look kinda like septa. This looks like two breviconic cyrtocones connected in a single concretionary mass.

Pathologic crinoid columnals...

Just throwing this into the mix as something to be eliminated. While alot of these fossils look like cephalopods, they also look like crinoid stems (see posts 106 to 115) that have had some kind of parasite caused swelling. Have you ever noticed a bulge in some of the crinoid stems you see? Again, just trying to eliminate this as a possibility.

**Terri** · Jul 06, '11, 8:58pm

hhmmmm....are you saying this could be two b.c.'s connected in a concretionary mass OR pathologic crinoid columnals? When I picked this fossil up it was the shape that caught my eye and when I saw what appeared to be septa I was really thrown. Holding it up with the larger curved edge towards me I see more lines and I can almost see what you're seeing (b.c.). I'll take a pic. from that angle tommorrow. But in the meantime how about some of those squiggly lines you like to draw so much? (please) I can't really SEE the pathologic crinoid columnal angle, but I don't have your eye. It would have to be really distorted or crushed, wouldn't it? Either way pretty cool, I'm just glad it's a fossil.

**DWhatley** · Jul 06, '11, 11:26pm

I was betting rock

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 06, '11, 11:41pm

Click image for larger version.

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My vivid imagination at work.

The red is the two BCs, (the one on the right is questionable). The green is an imaginary crinoid stem with two bulges (parasitic infestations). Have you seen anything like this on a complete crinoid stem?

I may just be barking up the wrong tree.

**DWhatley** · Jul 06, '11, 11:52pm

like the ladder

**Terri** · Jul 07, '11, 10:48pm

Have you seen anything like this on a complete crinoid stem?

I don't think so, nothing that large. I went back and looked at the posts you mentioned, I can see some distortion in the first one.

I'm really liking the B.C. angle though. Here's a picture I took today....

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 07, '11, 11:58pm

Looking like a BC

I think we can eliminate the pathologic crinoid hypothesis

**Terri** · Jul 08, '11, 12:18am

Mystery solved! I was really getting tired of looking at this one, it was one of the first fossils I picked up at this location. I don't think I would have come to this solution on my own.

**Terri** · Jul 11, '11, 11:16pm

I'm really proud of this little fossil, it's the first one I found while learning how to split rock, there are a couple of pockets of gravel left behind (mostly hand size chunks) where I practice. So I've done a lot of browsing and can't figure out what it is, I'm wondering if it could be part of a gastropod shell? It's about 1 cm. long.

**Architeuthoceras** · Jul 12, '11, 12:32am

It looks like a very nice little Horn Coral

Rugosa

Kentucky Horn Corals

Cincinnati Horn Corals

We get them in Devonian-Permian rocks out here, but not in the Ordovician. Nice find!

**Terri** · Jul 12, '11, 6:18pm

Well, I'm a little embarrassed, I searched everything but corals! I think the shell material is what threw me (looks like original shell material??). The Horn Corals I've found around here usually are covered with beekite, like these below. They're a little older too from the Ridley Limestone, middle Ordovician.You can see the beekite rings on the little broken one in the left top corner of pic. thanks for the id. and links.