Help identifying potential fossilised poo please

[kazza]

Hi there everyone. I would really appreciate your skills/opinions about if my little ''treasure'' is actually a coprolite or not. I have always believed it to be, just because it looks like a poo with something in it to me. I have forgotten where i found it, but most likely it was in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. It is ovalish in shape and appears to have a ''skin' wrapped around some sort of internal content. As I know zero about fossils, your time and expertise is gratefully appreciated. Looking forward to hearing from someone with excitement and thanks. Photos hopefully attached! 

Many cheers,

Kazza

[kazza]

More photos of my potential ''poo''

[kazza]

And more!

[kazza]

Last one. Thanks again 

[Nimravis]

@GeschWhat

 

[Fossildude19]

@Carl

 

To me, this looks too uniform to be a coprolite.

It looks like a chert or flint nodule, with some matrix still attached.

 

Let's wait for more informed opinions, however.

[rocket]

Can you see fine structures? Do you have any infos about the site, was it a sediment, metamorphic rock, sandstone... there around?

I assume it is not a corprolite, but we have some big ones from US that look "similar" for the first view. But, Jade could look similar, Chert too and other minerals

without detail pics and more infos about the site where you found it I think it is nearly impossible to idenfify it clear

[Kreager]

Wonderful Chert nodule 

[kazza]

Thanks so much everyone so far.

Now I have to ask, what is a chert nodule and what would the processes be that created the 'rocks'' inside, yet stripy on the outside? And what would make it so ''rounded/smooth''? Fascinating!

[Mahnmut]

2 hours ago, kazza said:

Thanks so much everyone so far.

Now I have to ask, what is a chert nodule and what would the processes be that created the 'rocks'' inside, yet stripy on the outside? And what would make it so ''rounded/smooth''? Fascinating!

Hi kazza and welcome to the forum!

To answer your first question: https://geologyistheway.com/sedimentary/chert-nodule/

being rounded and smooth is quite normal for many kinds of concretions, imagine layers growing around a starting point, if nothing disturbs the process, the result will be somewhat rounded. In places where there is a lot of phosphate, which gets concentrated by living things, its often difficult to say if a nodule is a coprolite or just phosphate grown around a grain of sand.

That stripy outside, as stated above, could be just a remnant of matrix, that is the surrounding rock, no matter if talking about a fossil or anything else included in rock.

It does have an interesting structure with these stripes going in all directions.

Wait for the real coprolite connoisseurs to join, but its a rock I would have kept anyway.

Best Regards,

J

 

[Carl]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:30 AM, Fossildude19 said:

@Carl

 

To me, this looks too uniform to be a coprolite.

It looks like a chert or flint nodule, with some matrix still attached.

 

Let's wait for more informed opinions, however.

I'm also seeing something more cherty than coprolitic.

[kazza]

Thanks for your time again. You guys are brilliant and very kind! 

 

[kazza]

Although I was hoping for a poo, I won't get ''shirty' if it is a 'çherty'

[GeschWhat]

This doesn’t always work, but you might want to touch it to the tip of your tongue to see if it sticks. Not all coprolites do, but chert never does.  Here is an example of a coprolite with extremely good stickage.
 

 

 

[kazza]

Thanks so much for the additional information and the wonderful video.  I must admit, I thought it may have been a joke but the video convinced me. So, I have just spent an hour putting 'it' (the possible poo), and a variety of other household objects in my mouth to test the 'stick' hypothesis. If anyone walked in on me that would have thought I was nuts. I initially went  YES, it is sticking, but then tested a shiny shell and it also seemed to stick a tiny bit! I will keep trying...