Is this bone? And if so, big enough to tell what it is?

[PSchleis]

Found on Myrtle Beach. I usually find very small pieces of bone. This looks like it has marrow, but I've been fooled before. Is it bone? And if so, can you tell what it might be? Curves and angles all over the place made it hard to figure out how to photograph it. Hopefully one of these angles will work!

 

[KingSepron]

Ok so this is edited for the second time:
 

I should've been more confident in my ID that it was igneous rock

Edited January 26, 2020 by KingSepron
I was actually right

[Micah]

I'm on the fence between saying its a lava rock or a super beaten up cetacean vertebrae or top portion of a femur. Hard to tell with how worn it is. Larger holes in center and smaller on the outside is generally a good indicator of being bone, but some parts look like random variations in size. I truly don't know for sure without being able to see it in person.

[Rockwood]

I think it looks more like volcanic tuff.

[caldigger]

It does resemble a pyroclastic bomb.

( blob of molten lava that is expelled into the air during eruption ).

[PSchleis]

Fascinating! Thanks for your answers. It actually makes sense - the right angles and curved parts might have been created when it hit the water, the pitting is explained when it doesn't really look like bone marrow.

 

Well done!

[digit]

That really is an ambiguous piece. In some photos I see features that look similar to a very worn piece of bone. In others it definitely resembles a geologic piece. I don't get any hits while searching the internet for volcanic material from the Myrtle Beach area so I'm not sure what types of rocks are common there. If it is actually a piece of a pyroclastic bomb--a chunk tossed out of a volcano that would ruin your day if it hit you--it might not have had to hit the water to be found in the water (or the beach). Rocks from inland tend to end up on the beach after being transported along waterways from inland sites. Many of the fossil bone deposits (like the one called the 'Bone Bed' off Venice, Florida) are the result of old river deltas that washed materials from inland areas.

 

If you really want a good ID on this piece, you might consider taking it to a museum that would have a geologist on staff. Would have been nice to have been able to do this in South Carolina but a good local geologist should be able to make a call if this is igneous rock or not.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Rockwood]

This may be a good rock type to use as ballast in a sailing vessel, that could explain its presence there as well.

[digit]

I've found out-of-place granite rocks on known shipwreck sites in the Bahamas that (being carbonate platform islands) obviously came from afar. Though they were interesting artifacts they look like nothing more than a bowling ball size piece of granite out of context--and so they are still (to my knowledge) on that site north of Andros Island.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Micah]

Out of curiosity, how heavy is it? Light in the hand or heavy? If it’s quite light I’d be willing to say it’s definitely igneous rock, but if it’s not then I still wouldn’t be willing to commit either way.

[PSchleis]

On 2/1/2020 at 2:50 AM, Micah said:

Out of curiosity, how heavy is it? Light in the hand or heavy? 

It's as heavy as stone.