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Coprolite? Charleston, SC


cthamon

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Found on a beach I stop by when I’m in Charleston. Not sure if it’s coprolite, but it seems to be my best guess. The conglomeration of odd little chunks doesn’t strike me as anything else, but maybe a very odd sediment deposit or something? 

 

The white chunks are bits of oysters/barnacles left on there, don’t think they were original. The main part of the piece is what throws me off. It looks like a giant peach pit or something, all the textures on it are pretty odd. 
 

Let me know what you think, I apologize if this is just a mineral or something man made... I always fear posting on here and looking like a simpleton, so I try to only post when I’m really confused and have exhausted other search options.

 

 

 

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Could you download the pictures directly to the forum, I can’t see it right now.

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2 minutes ago, Familyroadtrip said:

Could you download the pictures directly to the forum, I can’t see it right now.

Sorry, original uploads made it look like I couldn’t take a picture lol. Up now.

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11 minutes ago, cthamon said:

Sorry, original uploads made it look like I couldn’t take a picture lol. Up now.

No problem... I don’t think it’s a coprolite, it does look like some type of fossil, but I can’t ID it. 

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Appears to be bits of teredo bored fossil wood.

The matrix is just stony enough to miss being called coal.

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I think the problem is to define the category of the substrate. It could be lithic, xylic, or maybe osteic. :)

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

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2 hours ago, cthamon said:

Found on a beach I stop by when I’m in Charleston. 

@cthamon If it was found on the beach (or any of the local intercoastal or dredged bays) .. they often have beach renourishment that picks up these nice phosphate nodules (similar to your own). They are a common clast for the area.  They can have all kinds of fun stuff stuck in them, but not recognized as a coprolite. There was actually a nice Otodus angustidens stuck in a piece of local phosphatic rock that was (similarly) misidentified as a coprolite.  

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Here is a similar specimen to the one (pictured above) above held at the Charleston Museum collection.

2020-10-02_14-26-45.png.abbf4e39f186edca6006e1a7b9de858c.png

 

Here is a discussion of the fossil after the local news picked up the tall poop tale ... :chatter:

https://www.chsfossiladventures.com/single-post/2018/01/26/Step-aside-Megalodon-this-fossil-is-raising-quite-a-stink

 

Another shot of the phosphate nodule with steinkerns. Which exhibits similar properties to your nodule. Impressions etc ... 

2020-10-02_14-30-07.thumb.png.e930fd82b0865b61f1d6f27d3cec9ac1.png

"Above: Phosphate nodule with embedded Carcharocles angustidens tooth, exhibiting phosphatic steinkerns (internal casts) of bivalves. Locality - Charleston. (ChM specimen, PV 55.105.25.)"

 

Cheers,

Brett

 

 

PS. Here is a coprolite from Summerville, SC ..  And I will say that coprolites from that area are not uncommon.  Hope these help.

 

01_SummervilleSC_Coprolite_062317.thumb.jpg.abcdacea74539f178829bc57cec90569.jpg

 

And a larger one from Savannah, GA .. dredge material ....

 

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46492185_289963108187967_1361460343129243648_n.jpg.f06bc8aae38fa8af5187bd0d52b6aede.jpg.1b533ed300e0d51233c708274be63180.jpg

2020-10-02_14-57-28.png.5bca335bfe7efc6175ad07c55fa5aa2d.png

 

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2 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Appears to be bits of teredo bored fossil wood.

The matrix is just stony enough to miss being called coal.

I'm with you on this one, @Rockwood.

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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