DeepTimeIsotopes Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 In response to the last post: Thanks for the encouraging words and open mindedness. I have a friend that owns a second hand store. About three years ago, a gentleman came into his store with a collection of rocks and fossils he had. He said he travelled around the world and picked specimens that interested him. At that time he was no longer traveling and didn't have an interest in collecting anymore. He decided to sell his collection because he needed money. When I came into the store this piece immediately caught my eye. I bought it and put it in my collection. At that time, I didn't have a rock and fossil shop, and just thought it was a really cool piece. Now I do own a rock and fossil shop in which I have all sorts of cherts, and concretions (none of which look like this piece. the outer two layers ARE agatized and the inner core is pitted and looks just like a peach or avocado pit. It is too big to be an apricot(2 5/8" in diameter) I've never seen a agate concretion. I still fully intend to find out what in the center of the core without damaging it. When I do find out I will let al of you folks know. It IS an interesting conversation piece and I had no Idea it would generate this kind of response. It's like I touched a sensitive nerve or something. If it does turn out to be nothing I will be the first to admit it to you. Some people come on here with an ID in mind and will not let that go. They twist facts to prove their point, the most recent one used x-Rays. According to many sources agate is of volcanic origins and we all know very, very few things that go through a volcano come out the same especially things of organic origins. So it is unlikely that this would be a petrified fruit if the agate ID is correct. If this guy did go all over he might have gotten this from a far reaching country which explains why you haven't seen any. None the less it is interesting and worth displaying. Hope this helps! Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 (edited) What I think that core is made out of looks to me like some of the hardened lava of Southern Utah which is also pitted like yours. This piece has some bigger holes and is slightly water worn. Your piece also appears to be water worn giving it that smooth look. This piece has small holes, like yours but this one came straight out of the cliff side. This last piece is just the same as the others just very water worn but still the holes are there. Its probably not from Utah but volcanoes are everywhere. That's my theory. All rocks have a story to tell, some just have an unidentified origins. These rocks are volcanic and agate is volcanic so that's what lead me to this conclusion which also would explain why it had survived the agate because all the layers are some kind of form of lava. Edited February 5, 2015 by Utahfossilhunter Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donapplianceman Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 The core Is perfectly round, unlike these pics you show. The pitting I described on my piece may not have been an accurate terminology. It's more like dimpled. Agatized petrified wood did not come from volcanoes. If you are implying that I am fixated on one ID, perhaps I am. But NONE of the attempts at explaining this piece as chert or concretion have showed even the slightest credibility, nor does any of these pics of lava look anything like the core of the piece I have showed. I have also tried every way I know to describe what is not seen in the pictures. However, it seem like all that has been ignored. As I said before I will attempt to find out what the inside of the core actually looks like. Then with solid evidence, not speculation we will know for sure. I have seen fossilized jelly fish as well as fossil worms(100% soft body). I know a fossilized fruit would extremely rare and maybe impossible, but there is always the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmoceras Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If you are not able to accept anything that anyone has said in this thread, then I am not sure we can help you. Your specimen is not agate, but it most definitely has features which are consistent with chert. Have a closer look at the fracturing around the edge of the specimen and compare it with the fracturing of this piece of chert - source - http://norfolkminandlapsoc.homestead.com/CoreTechnologycopy_op_640x514.jpg I picked out an irregular chert nodule with a similar colouration with different “layers”. Note, yours is more regular and my section doesn’t have the inner section as it is not a double concretion. Chert forms in a large variety of colours and shapes, each piece is unique so you won’t find two completely identical pieces looking at pictures of the internet. I agree that this is an interesting geological specimen, but unfortunately not a fossil fruit. None of your photos or arguments put forward have shown the slightest credibility of being a fossil fruit and you have not shown any sign that you are willing to listen to us. Scientifically your arguments are invalid - it is not that they haven’t been taken notice of. The structure of the fruit you see this to be is totally inconsistent with what you have shown us, and the rock in which this is has no association with fruit. However, this has pretty much already been said earlier in the thread, and you took no notice of that, so I propose that we agree to disagree on this occasion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Donapplianceman, I do not see any closed minds here, just healthy scientific skepticism that is requisite when considering extraordinary claims. All reasonable alternate explanations must be explored. Nothing would please me more than the solid conclusion that this object is the discovery of a lifetime, and the exception to Occam's Razor that proofs the rule. Beliefs and suggestive appearances are not enough. 1 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I would like to propose just such an alternate explanation for the origin of this piece. I see a small blob of basaltic lava, the "pit", being ejected in a volcanic eruption which is primarily pumice. The gases being released from it as a result of the reduced pressure near the surface form a bubble of less dense material surrounded by a shell of denser material, the rind,caused by the surface tension of the bubble. As the rind cools tiny cracks form allowing colloidal silica, from the degrading volcanic glass, to fill the pores within the bubble. At the same time iron from the basalt migrates outward, evidenced in the photo of it before it was polished. Just my thoughts. I'm very open to constructive criticism. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donapplianceman Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 This piece is not polished. While I'll concede that my assessment of this piece may not be correct, I'm not ready to dismiss the idea. I will still attempt to look inside the center without destroying it and that should determine conclusively what it is. It is a fascinating conversation piece that will sit in my collection for however long I have the collection or sell it. I am thankful for all the input. I never intended to create such a heated debate over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamaman Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 I found a pear also in central Alabama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Delainey Birth and rock 023.JPG Delainey Birth and rock 024.JPGI found a pear also in central Alabama. or the head of a femur... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 or the head of a femur... Exactly. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 I'm inclined to believe that the specimen in question could be a sponge in flint nodule. " 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 My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamaman Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 (edited) Human femur? Fovea Capitus Edited January 29, 2016 by bamaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Human femur? Nah, the dimple in the end rules that one out. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Human femur? Fovea Capitus What size is your find? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtskinner Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Wow, that's identical to the one I posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Compare that a human femur is in no way pear-shaped, and that the 'dimple' is neither as deep nor as symmetrical: 1 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 If the size is right, I would compare it to a deer femur. 1 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtskinner Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 There's definitely something here as they are both terminated across the same plane and have the same center appendage. The one I posted earlier in this thread is the second picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtskinner Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 (edited) Here's the front side...mine is on the right and is approximately 2.75" across and 3.5" long. Edited January 30, 2016 by Mtskinner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Here's the front side...mine is on the right and is approximately 2.5" across and 3.5" long. Your example is pretty big, maybe horse-sized? We still don't have a scale on the first one. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamaman Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 bamaman, can you take a picture of yours with something in it for scale? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bamaman Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Scale picture of femur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 So, I remembered a lamp I made from an old cow femur many years ago...looked under the shade and bingo; a "petrified pear". When the femoral head is separated from the femur, the bone structure is more resistant to erosion along the line I've measured in the photo. The result are the "pears" in the previous posts above. They are likely from some type of cow. 3 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 ...I remembered a lamp I made from an old cow femur... Wait, what? Comparative specimens as furniture... Do you have a matched "pear"? 1 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts