rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 18, 2018 21:46:19 GMT -5
Hi all, These were pieces that I collected in southern California, maybe 5 years back. When I picked them up, thought they could be bone, but really don't know anything about petrified bone/other animal products (💩😅) at all. 1st three photos are the same piece, I really don't want to cut it since the colors are so great on the outside, & this material seems to be much less colorful on the inside. I guess it could be wood, but the texture is so different from all the pet. wood I've found before. Then a couple pics of a cut piece, which only thing that comes to mind is fossilized poop? Idk really though, just because of the weird texture, but maybe just some conglomerated/concreted quartz material. What say y'all?
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 18, 2018 21:52:15 GMT -5
Also, I collected probably 50+ pounds of this stuff back then, but gave most away to the 'ex' from that time, since she was really into fossils. Think I still have more from that site, but there was literally an infinite amount of similar material out there ... Probably still there since it was kind of an odd site for 'hounding.
I had cut one piece back then, but since the colors were pretty drab on the inside, compared to the colorful exterior, ended up tossing it aside somewhere. Probably could find it after the snow melts.
Maybe the 2nd piece is just figurative shi* rather than literal, but the 1st piece looks awesome no matter what 👍
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2018 3:30:30 GMT -5
Texture on the first piece looks almost like a skin print - dino toe Second looks like lizard skin. Petrified wood does seem more likely (woody on the first, palm or fern on the second). Really nice colors, whatever it is. Might help to narrow down the area, in case others here are more familiar with what occurs there.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 19, 2018 9:45:41 GMT -5
I'm not seeing any sign of reptile skin in either. Scale patterns should show some degee of pattern or order. Random grooves have some other origin. JusT an alternative perspective. Maybe I need a larger image.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 19, 2018 10:33:03 GMT -5
Wow, cool material. For me, has sort of a bryozoan or coral feel to it, Definitely a fossil material but I'm thinking not quite the right look for palm vascular bundles....Mel
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Post by MsAli on Jan 19, 2018 11:55:59 GMT -5
Those are really cool. The texture reminds me of something, I just cant place my finger on.
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 11:57:57 GMT -5
Thanks for all the input!
Rocks2dust, you got me there for a minute, dino toe 😅, I can be pretty gullible... But it does look a little like skin when viewed from above the vascular bundles!
Peruano, I agree, definitely something hard to quite 'put a finger on' for id...
Sabre52, excellent, bryozoan/coral/sponge of some type seems most likely! Especially apparent in the 1st piece. Makes sense because I seem ever drawn to the ancient inland sea material. I even put that piece on a pile of KY fossil corals/sponges/clams like it somehow belonged there, even though I thought it was wood/dino.
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 11:58:38 GMT -5
Those are really cool. The texture reminds me of something, I just cant place my finger on. Ditto, especially the 2nd piece just seems so complex....
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 12:01:43 GMT -5
I'm not seeing any sign of reptile skin in either. Scale patterns should show some degee of pattern or order. Random grooves have some other origin. JusT an alternative perspective. Maybe I need a larger image. Think the random cut grooves on the surface may indicate the piece being dragged along some hard surface? They're from a pocket of ancient river gravels near Blythe, CA. I felt like they had been tumbled/washed along for some time.
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Post by rmf on Jan 19, 2018 16:02:11 GMT -5
Image #2 & #3 appear to be quartzites. You can see the sand grains in them.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 19, 2018 19:15:38 GMT -5
I see some oolites or cell structures in 1. Oolites are common where I live in Central WI. A local geologist told me they were formed by a replacement process occurring in organic material. 2. Looks to some of the jasper on my land.
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 131
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 19, 2018 22:36:51 GMT -5
Well, I think that as a group we have now suggested just about every common fossilized material as a possibility . Unless we have any takers for trilobite? Nautilus? 😉 At least we can assume that one of the options in the thread is correct. But having the piece in hand, bryozoan/other similar 'pored' marine creature seems most likely. Rmf, I can see why you'd think quartzite, since the rock actually has sand/desert caliche still stuck on the outside. Hasn't really been cleaned, & pics are pretty small. If you had the piece in hand you would see that each of those grains is only the top or bottom of a long tube, the whole Rock being composed of roughly parralel tubes. Lacks any real quartzite 'grain'. Fernwood, interesting thought, I've never really understood what oolites are, and after briefly browsing Google, still don't really get it, haha. Can oolite material be composed of a cluster of parallel tubes like what I described above? Tubes like what you'd see in a natural sponge or coral. *& yeah, in my limited opinion, the second piece probably would be best classified as a Jasper, even if it is a fossil replacement.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 21, 2018 9:49:44 GMT -5
Here is how a local geologist explained the local oolictic agates to me: They were formed during a many year process. Many started as organic material, ie, bones, shell, or plants. Major geological events such as volcanoes, glaciers, glacial lakes, cooling/heating, caused the original material to be replaced with rock. In order for an oolite to form, there must be movement, hence the round shape. Oolites often have several layers of different colored material. This is a result of the different materials that became a replacement. So, any rock that contains oolites, is made up of many tiny rocks <2mm, where were fused together over time.
He also told me that most of the Central Wisconsin Oolictic Agates I am finding were knocked off the Niagara Escarpment by the Green Bay Globe of the glacier which passed through here. The Niagara Escarpment is a Marine Reef, which was once on the bottom of the sea, composed of decomposing marine life. Over time, water movement caused different materials to accumulate on the original, tiny particle. They were then fused together to form a larger rock.
I know, simple explanation, but that is what the geologist gave me, knowing I had no experience with oolites.
Hope this helps a little.
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lookatthat
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Whatever there is to be found.
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 21, 2018 10:49:15 GMT -5
Looks like coral/bryozoan things. Or, as they would say on e-bay, dinosaur egg!
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rockhoundoz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
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Post by rockhoundoz on Jan 23, 2018 22:12:03 GMT -5
Thanks Fernwood, think I get oolites now after your description & a little research. We actually have tons of oolitic material around in KY, mostly crumbly lumps of plain oolites, & oolitic limestone. Just never knew what it was before. Think I even found some oolitic agate, piece pictured below, top & 1 side I ground down to see better. This is the only solid piece I've noticed yet. & lookatthat, indeed, eggs & coprolites, 😅
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