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March 23, 2020 Peace River Unknown (geologic?)


Sacha

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The attached photo shows material that seems to be fairly common in areas of the Peace River that have allot of deteriorated limestone and limestone slabs.I don't think it has any recognizable structure suggesting it is the result of some life form. Just generally a botryoidal shape. Does anyone know what it is or have any experience with it?

 

DSCF1750.thumb.jpg.4017ebd7916569dc5cfda0253b82043f.jpg

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They look like pieces of worn limestone with bivalve and gastropod steinkerns IMO

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt

 

-Mark Twain

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Looks a lot like my first wife's cooking unfortunately. :fear:

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Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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I have found a few perfectly-spherical objects that look like these - but not a cluster of them in matrix. I think those little balls erode out and are found as loose individuals from time to time. I found one a couple of weeks ago. It has a sandstone-like texture to it and it doesn't feel very dense. I have no idea what they are.

 

 

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1 hour ago, GeschWhat said:

I've wondered about similar that I've seen in micro matrix. They don't stick to your tongue do they?:popcorn:

 

I haven't the heart to lick these Lori! They come in sheets or layers and don't look like individually excreted items.

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How unusual, Sacha.  I don't recall running into this phenomenon.  Can you clean one, bleach it perhaps, and give us a close-up image?

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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4 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

I've wondered about similar that I've seen in micro matrix.

I too see little botryoidal clusters in micro-matrix quite often. Tried saving some of these once to see if I could find someone who could explain what they were.

 

2 hours ago, Sacha said:

They come in sheets or layers and don't look like individually excreted items.

If the large bubbly pieces John is finding (shown above) are more layered or sheet-like, I'd be leaning more toward the same process that builds up the botryoidal chalcedony in the hollow Withlacoochee silicified corals that we know quite well.

 

Can't say I've run across these before in my sifting screen while standing in the Peace River.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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Just finished picking a bit of micro-matrix and these are the little botryoidal clusters that may be similar to what Lori is finding--but decidedly different in scale to the sheet-like bubbles John found.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P3245534.jpg

 

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52 minutes ago, hoffy said:

Sacha were you south of Arcadia? I may have passed by you

 

No. I was upstream of Zolfo .

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14 hours ago, digit said:

Just finished picking a bit of micro-matrix and these are the little botryoidal clusters that may be similar to what Lori is finding--but decidedly different in scale to the sheet-like bubbles John found.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P3245534.jpg

 

Cookie Cutter Creek?

I think I remember finding these little ones from that matrix.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Harry Pristis said:

How unusual, Sacha.  I don't recall running into this phenomenon.  Can you clean one, bleach it perhaps, and give us a close-up image?

 

@Harry Pristis Soaked in clorox solution overnight. Unlike botryoidal growth, there doesn't seem to be multiple layers involved and there are sand grains included, at least on the surface.

 

DSCF1756.thumb.jpg.141d6cd9f249505984d1a7e259d468c8.jpg

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12 hours ago, caldigger said:

Cookie Cutter Creek?

I think I remember finding these little ones from that matrix.

Yup. :)

 

29 minutes ago, Sacha said:

Soaked in clorox solution overnight. Unlike botryoidal growth, there doesn't seem to be multiple layers involved and there are sand grains included, at least on the surface.

Easier to see in the lighter color. Toward the bottom their seems to be one or more of these rounded forms broken in cross-section (possibly). I'm wondering if these are true botryoidal growth or separate rounded forms cemented together (as it seems to appear from that bottom cross-section)? Might be interesting to try to run that piece through your rock saw and try bisecting several of the lumps to get a feel for how they formed.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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What does the other side of the plate look like, Sacha?  I've got a hunch (and just a hunch) that this is a cast of fodichnia.  That would make your specimen in the image upside down.  Please show us.

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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with those phosphatic bits looks like a lag deposit made up of large clasts. Some could be steinkerns, casts and molds as seen in the last shot (right side). Maybe some kind of overgrowth after things calmed down in the sea.

  You Florida folks know better than I. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

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1 hour ago, Harry Pristis said:

What does the other side of the plate look like, Sacha?  I've got a hunch (and just a hunch) that this is a cast of fodichnia.  That would make your specimen in the image upside down.  Please show us.

 

Here you go. Pretty nondescript to my novice eye.

 

DSCF1758.thumb.jpg.3e2698e6bcd757f5540d22bfaab30884.jpg

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I wish I could say that this new image is dispositive.  What I see are no lobe-shaped prominences covered in coarse sand (as on the other side) and many micro-perforations (burrows?).

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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21 hours ago, digit said:

Just finished picking a bit of micro-matrix and these are the little botryoidal clusters that may be similar to what Lori is finding--but decidedly different in scale to the sheet-like bubbles John found.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P3245534.jpg

 

Yep, that's what I was finding. I was wondering if they were some sort of steinkern...like from a sponge? The ones I was seeing were from the Rattlesnake Creek matrix, so they were a little shiny.

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1 hour ago, Harry Pristis said:

I wish I could say that this new image is dispositive.  What I see are no lobe-shaped prominences covered in coarse sand (as on the other side) and many micro-perforations (burrows?).

 

I'm going back to this same area again Thursday. Instead of just tossing them back, as I have in the past, I'll look at both sides to see if there is something more definitive in the structure of one or more pieces. I think your idea has a lot of merit. Sea cucumbers excrete material that looks very similar, although in long tubes. I'll add to this post if the trip is productive, otherwise I appreciate your time. 

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3 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

Yep, that's what I was finding. I was wondering if they were some sort of steinkern...like from a sponge? The ones I was seeing were from the Rattlesnake Creek matrix, so they were a little shiny.

I've seen ones that are broken open and they have an internal structure that doesn't make them look to simply be infilled sediment like a steinkern. Some sort of geological process seems to be producing these or they represent the first fossil preservation of popcorn. :P

 

John, maybe you'll come across some additional examples on your next trip that will shed some light on this. I think it might still be informative to run one of these through your rock saw and see what a clean cross-section might reveal.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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@digit Ken, I took your suggestion and cut one in half. I don't see any kind of discernible structure to it.

 

DSCF1761.thumb.jpg.182ecb64d1f4b49912e8b4861fb57dc3.jpg

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Nope. Indeed there isn't.

On 3/25/2020 at 8:41 AM, Sacha said:

 

DSCF1756.thumb.jpg.141d6cd9f249505984d1a7e259d468c8.jpg

In this photo there seemed to be a separation around some of these "bubbles" that made them look like rounded items cemented in a matrix--kind of a Hershey's bar with almonds. From this cross-section it appears to have really no discernible structure inside. It now kind of seems that these might be sandy sediment that has been cast inside a rock layer pockmarked with small cavities. I've seem limestone that has an eroded pitted surface that could be the negative of your curiosities.

 

Garden_Cave_-_karst-pitted_limestone_wall_at_entrance_(San_Salvador_Island,_Bahamas)_1_(16427715105).jpg

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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  • 1 year later...

@Harry Pristis, @digit, Here's an update on this since you were both kind of interested when I posted originally.

 

I sent several pieces I collected recently to Roger Portell to get his opinion. He received them today and gave me the following:

 

"All specimens are complete and partial borehole linings of the torpedo-shaped rock-boring bivalve genus Lithophaga.  Mystery solved!"

 

I've got to read up on Lithophaga now.

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