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Skin, Scute, Rock, Or Neither?


Midwest

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About a month or so ago I found something on the side of the road by my house.post-10122-0-92597600-1349545859_thumb.jpg

I am somewhat familliar with the indigenous rocks in the area, however, I am not an expert. This "thing" that I found has layers of some sort, and in places looks like the shed skin of my leopard gecko (it's not), sandwiched between other bumpy layers. The crispy, skin like stuff seems to flake off and folds over in some places.post-10122-0-22910800-1349545831_thumb.jpg

In another area, there seems to be even rows of "pores" that are aligned perfectly.post-10122-0-49530100-1349545802_thumb.jpg

The pictures don't really do it much justice though. I wish they were better.post-10122-0-74360900-1349548606_thumb.jpg

I know that "on the road" is an odd place to find a fossil, but I walk a lot and had never seen it there before. How it got there I can not say, but I guess it adds to the mystery. :zzzzscratchchin: Anyways, I did a little bit of research and thought it could either be a skin fossil, scute, or a bacterial mat. If anyone knnows what it is, please let me know. I won't be too heart broken if it is "just a rock". At least I'll know. :)

Jessica

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looks quartzy to me!!!!

Hunted for fossils in:
UK - Lyme Regis, Charmouth, The Thames and Hampshire (two trips)
Egypt - Desert somewhere near Giza - Nummalites and petrified wood
Australia - Lightening Ridge opal fields - opalised things!!!!
USA - Florida- Gainesville creeks and Diving in the Santa Fe river Meg teeth and 10 000 year old mammals
New Zealand- Around 30 sites visited and collected from. Including Chatham Islands. and now Canada

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Externally it looks like rock but there is too much uniformity visable in the third photo when blown up, easily see in the crack to the left side bottom edge of the third photo.

This looks a little like pores in bone. :popcorn: but what. This piece could be smothed and polished.

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Externally it looks like rock but there is too much uniformity visable in the third photo when blown up, easily see in the crack to the left side bottom edge of the third photo.

This looks a little like pores in bone. :popcorn: but what. This piece could be smothed and polished.

That was my thought. I only wish I could figure out what the heck it is. :zzzzscratchchin:

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It looks to me (with out really touching it up close) to be a piece of chert (microcrystalline silica-quartz) that may be fossiliferous. Given area you are in a gravel deposit that was added to the road bed may have some fossiliferous chert -- usually limestone replaced by silica. the third photo with the ridge has some pores along the left side. Those look to be either bryozoan or coral fossil material (both colonial animals and both marine). Some of the layers could be other fossil debris which was dissolved and left voids something we also see.

russ

I have marked the area of interest on one of your photos with arrow and text...

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Trilobiteruss, I think you just solved the mystery. I never thought of coral or bryozoan even though I have some of those. Something else to add to the marine collection!

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