blueovalfever Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 hello,first off i would like to say thanks in advanced for any info that i recieve. secondly,i know this most likely isnt a fossil but i looked on the net and still havent found anything like it. i have 2 of them. one is completely round and the other has a flat spot on the bottom of it like it was removed from another surface(like a cave floor or wall or something) they seem to be some kind of quartz but actually look like intestines wrapped up in a ball...lol.i have taken pics but may need to take better pics. sorry i dont have anymore info on them. i dont know if they were brought to the location by someone or if they occurred there. they were found in elsberry missouri(about 50 miles north of st louis) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakaritai Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 (edited) Well, you can do a hardness test to see what it is. Can you easily scratch it with a knife? I've found lots of these things, though much, much smaller. All of them that I have ever found thus far (and had the guts to crack) are geodes (basically, the middle is hollow and full of crystals). But I've never had the guts to run the risk of ruining one much larger than an inch or so across. I don't know much more than that, though. BUT, I will add one more thing. Some of the corals (and other fossils) I find are in various stages of being covered by such crystalline growths. They look like tumors. They are easy to spot because they are harder than surrounding materials, which means they keep their "bumpy" shape, instead of being ground smooth. Some of them are so covered that their former selves are barely recognizable. Others just look random, like they were formed sans-fossil. But I've wondered before if they were just covered to the extent that the original fossil is no longer obvious. Perhaps they all form from fossils. But I really don't know. If you find some info, though, I'd love to read about it. I can post some pics if you like. Edited August 22, 2010 by Wakaritai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 kinda surprised none of our geologist members have chimed in, but i agree that it does not appear to be a fossil. to me it looks like an evaporitic mineral like calcite or something. but minerals manifest themselves in so many different forms and colors that my aging brain doesn't wrap around all the info and retain it all that well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Edonihce Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Is there any kind of mineral whose crystals have that kind of growth pattern? At ~1:47 in , you can see lava streaming out. I wonder if it could be from anything like that. It's not black, but I don't think lava necessarily always is black (?). Also, could it be a metamorphosed fossil?....either a burrow or maybe even some echinoderm columnals or some such thing? Of course, it's probably just some mineral crystallization pattern, but just throwing ideas out there. . ____________________ scale in avatar is millimeters ____________________ Come visit Sandi, the 'Fossil Journey Cruiser' ____________________ WIPS (the Western Interior Paleontological Society - http://www.westernpaleo.org) ____________________ "Being genetically cursed with an almost inhuman sense of curiosity and wonder, I'm hard-wired to investigate even the most unlikely, uninteresting (to others anyway) and irrelevant details; often asking hypothetical questions from many angles in an attempt to understand something more thoroughly." -- Mr. Edonihce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalfever Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 i also had wondered about some kind of tunnel or worm holes that filled in with a crystalin substance. if you look at the middle pic in the second row you can see there is what appears to be a limestone or similar stone in the wrap of the other substance. that particular piece in question has a few more stone pieces trapped in it like that. as far as hardness it doesnt scratch easily,there is a spot that i did chip it and you can see what looks like crystal under the white exterior shell,it did not chip real deep though so i dont really think they are geodes but i guess anything is possible. i had considered taking it to someone with a good rock saw to section it to see what i have....if anything i will end up with a neat pair of bookends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 You have something there that looks unique and very interesting. Frankly, sawing it to find out what it may be should come in a very distant second to preserving a (?)species that displays nicely. Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 You have something there that looks unique and very interesting. Frankly, sawing it to find out what it may be should come in a very distant second to preserving a (?)species that displays nicely. He has two of them. I would consider cutting the least displayable one, and show them side-by-side, whole, and cross-section. I would first exhaust all avenues of identification, though. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Brotoideal Smithsonite? Looks like a mineral of some sort. A geologic map of the region will be necessary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalfever Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 the problem with a geologic map of my area is that im not completely convinced it came from my area....all the years i have spent playing with rocks i have never seen anything like it. it doesnt have any of the characteristics listed for the BOTRYOIDAL SMITHSONITE, as it has no luster at all and doesnt have any color to it other than a few areas that loo like it was in contact with iron as it looks rusty in some spots(im sure it is from surface contact and not from within itself). i understand the need to be cautious about damaging the specimen as i dont know what it is and if its rare. unfortunately i live in the country and a drive to a college to let their geology department look at it is out of the question for now. so i was hoping to find someone who has seen something like it.i do thank everyone who has given any kind of comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalfever Posted August 26, 2010 Author Share Posted August 26, 2010 does anyone know of a forum i can look on to find out more on my questionable stone/rock/mineral/fossil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 You could try posting on this forum. http://treasurehunter.proboards.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Hi, It looks like geodes of quartz which I found in a cultivated field. I suppose you have more. Open a little one and see what is inside. Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Pareidolia : here Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakaritai Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 ^^^ the similar-looking ones that I have are quartz as well. I'm in the process of dremeling a 2-incher one in two now (scoring it, then I will attempt to crack it along the score). It's taken me about an hour (and 8-ish discs) so far to get about 3mm deep around the whole thing lol but you reminded me of what I do to all the specimens I find that look like quartz geodes- the shake test. I simply shake them and listen. If I hear little crystal pieces rattling around, I'm sure that it is a geode. It could still be a geode if it doesn't rattle, but at least if it does you can be sure of something non-intrusively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 (edited) does anyone know of a forum i can look on to find out more on my questionable stone/rock/mineral/fossil? How about Mindat good luck with an id. Edited August 26, 2010 by Bill KOF, Bill. Welcome to the forum, all new members www.ukfossils check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilshale Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 (edited) Try your luck and offer it at eBay as a "fossilized human brain". If a "primate skull" is supposed to bring more than 1.000.000 US $, a human brain must be worth even more :lolu: (If you succeed, I claim a share of just 30% for the idea). http://www.thefossil...rimitive-skull/. Sorry, I have no idea what it really is, but it looks very interesting. I've never seen anything like this. Thomas Edited August 27, 2010 by oilshale Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiofossilhunter Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 I have seen small ones that look kind of like that. I think there called desert roses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbrick Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 It reminds me of a specimen a friend of mine found on a college fossil and geode trip that we took in '89. (Yeah, that ages me, I know) Anyway, we were in, I believe, south central Illinois, collecting geodes in a dry wash, when he found a nice one about five inches long that was an "exploded" horn coral. According to the geology prof, it really was a geode that formed from a coral fossil. I can't remember if Reuben ever cut it open though. As a correlation, I still have one of the geodes I collected, a white crystalled quartz that looked almost identical to yours on the outside. If it were me, I'd cut one and leave the other intact, just like Auspex suggested. Andy (redbrick) "All living things do one of two things. They either grow, or they die. When they stop growing, they immediately start dying. The mind is also a living thing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procynosuchus Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) I have a clue of what this should be because i am studying evaporitic rocks right now. Conglomerates like this are called entheroliths since they resemble intestines, and they're basically anhydrite nodules formed in sabhka (dryed tidal flats) for the precipitation and replacement of calcium sulfate in the ground. http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg-Sabkhas/6SBK-anhydrite-nodule-hand.jpg Anyway it is a very beautiful specimen, it is very rare to find one whit such a shape. Edited October 3, 2010 by Procynosuchus delarpheae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 ...They are called entheroliths since they resemble intestines, and they're basically anhydrite nodules formed in sabhka (dryed tidal flats) for the precipitation of calcium sulfate in the ground... That is very interesting! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) Hi, It looks like geodes of quartz which I found in a cultivated field. I suppose you have more. Open a little one and see what is inside. Coco yes, but geods alwase retain a round shape, not all bumpy like this... Edited October 2, 2010 by trilobite guy -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozen_turkey Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 yes, but geods alwase retain a round shape, not all bumpy like this... not always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 ya i guess.. -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 It's what I sometimes refer to as a geode "dud". They are typically solid quartz all the way through or have a minimal cavity. They are not uncommon in areas that produce the "Keokuck" type of geode. That is one of several atypical geode shapes that I have seen while collecting the more typical round specimens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I found the same type of thing this weekend in the Texas hill country in a dry creek bed. I'll try to post some pictures this evening. I also found some geodes and fossils in the area, so I am leaning toward it being a type of geode. Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Ok. I went and cracked the one I have open and it is a geode. It isn't the most spectacular looking thing, but a geode none the less. I couldn't get my camera to cooperate with me, so I will rob my wife's camera this weekend and post the pics. Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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