strange find

[stairman]

Sorry aaron but the western interior seaway is in reference to a cretaceous sea that separated the western most canadian mountains and alaska from what would become the eastern portion of the us and canada.It was a branch of the ocean that separated america into two different continents.It was never west of the rockies.
It is entirely possible that it came from someones aquarium though.People throw all kinds of junk out in the desert.

Originally Posted by Aaron

Its not a fossil. That thing is modern. Western Interior Seaway was a Cretaceous sea that basically cut North America into two equal parts about 100 million years ago. You find a ton of fossils in sediments deposited in the WIS but its shoreline never made it to the havasu area.

That's a pipe coral (Tubipora musica) probably dropped out of someone's aquarium. Definitely will fizz if you drop some dilute hydrochloric acid on it as like most corals, its structure is made of calcium carbonate (calcite or limestone) Those white worm-looking things on the red structure are the remains of calcareous tube worms (polychaetes). You've probably seen them on seashells at the beach.

That's it for the lesson for the day. I figured that this somehow counts as work...