Coral Fossil Find in Goodsprings Valley

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(Fig. 01)

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

Trip Notes: I actually found this rock buried in the middle of Pauline Mine Road (Fig. 03) on a hike to Aztec Tank on 02/20/2014. The picture in (Fig. 01) is just short of where it was located. As you can see from (Fig. 02) it was nearly flush with the top of the road, and had already been split into two pieces. I poured a little water on it to clean it for this picture. Not knowing how big it was or how deep, I had nothing with me to dig it out. Planning to go back at a later date to retrieve it, I placed a cairn on the side of the road so I could locate it in the future. On 03/17/2014 I returned with a small pick and shovel and was please to find that it was still there. Fortunately it was only about five inches thick and came out relatively easy. Interestingly, I searched the entire area and was unable to find anything else with even a hint of fossilized matter. When I got it home I rinsed it off and sprayed a clear urethane finish on half of the specimen (Fig. 04) to help bring out the detail of the coral.

(Fig. 04) (Fig. 05)

Description: The picture in (Fig. 05) is a 'scanned' closeup of one of the specimen's. I have yet to have anyone look at it, however I did find some similar pictures on the Internet that identified it as Phylum: Cnidaria corel; Class: Anthozoa; Subclass: Zoantharia; Order: Rugosa; Rugose Coral; from an age know as Mississipian. If anyone has any better information, I would certainly appreciate hearing from you.