Lyme Regis nodule

[andytaylor756]

Hello! I have got this nodule from Lyme Regis and was wondering whether this looks like a good nodule to contain a fossil and how you can tell from the outside?

Thank you in advance!

 

[ynot]

Welcome to  !

I can not help with Your question. I think if it is not viable on the surface then it is anyone's guess if there is something inside.

But the rock looks like it has a crack, some light taps with a hammer may open it.

Good luck with it!

 

Tony

[Troodon]

Good luck

[Trickworm]

Open that sucker up and find out!

[DLB]

Just tap it in , just a little tapy tap .

[RJB]

Looks very interesting.  I can see a small dark line on the outside.  Fish maybe?  very hard to tell from here.  If you do split it open and there is a fossil inside, save any and all pieces that may have come off during 'opening'.   Good luck. 

 

RB

[Mike from North Queensland]

Not a big believer in breaking up concretions just to look but that one appears to have a crack that suggests a weak area in the rock.

There is a good chance that is caused by a fossil.

Gently split along crack.

 

Mike

[andytaylor756]

I have finally got round to start splitting this. It is very hard rock it seems. I have found a small calcific ammonite and keep coming across black flecks which I presume to be scales?

I am struggling to get through it though... does anyone have any tips as to the best way of splitting it without potentially ruining what is inside? Thanks!

[Ludwigia]

What tools do you have available? It makes a big difference how you could go about it depending on what you have.

[andytaylor756]

1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

What tools do you have available? It makes a big difference how you could go about it depending on what you have.

Literally just a hammer and chisel. Hard work and not very delicate!

[Ludwigia]

In that case, take your time and move in carefully. You could also try the hot/cold treatment. Put it in a hot oven in some kind of heat-resistant container (it might pop at some point) until it's heated up, then directly into a cold water bath and then directly into the freezer for a few hours, but again in some kind of protective container. Repeat a few times. This method should enduce the concretion to crack open along natural fractures and at points between any shell substance and the matrix. Of course you could just whack away at it with a heavy club hammer, but then it's the luck of the draw. Anyway, whatever method you use, don't be disappointed if not much shows up, although that little ammonite should spur you on.

[Wrangellian]

Is that not a crack visible in the first pic? Seems like it should just pop open along that, with a light tap from the hammer or preferably the chisel lined up on that crack. But I have been rebuked by conc's that seem to have a crack along the plane of deposition (ie. around the rim like yours), but they did not open the way I expected to and there were no fossils.

If you whack it and it does have a fossil, but splits in a way you didn't want it to, you can always glue the pieces back together and look into prepping it the high-tech way.

[andytaylor756]

7 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Is that not a crack visible in the first pic? Seems like it should just pop open along that, with a light tap from the hammer or preferably the chisel lined up on that crack. But I have been rebuked by conc's that seem to have a crack along the plane of deposition (ie. around the rim like yours), but they did not open the way I expected to and there were no fossils.

If you whack it and it does have a fossil, but splits in a way you didn't want it to, you can always glue the pieces back together and look into prepping it the high-tech way.

I thought that too bit only seemed to be the outer layer of rock. Just crumbled off and then left with the rest of it!

[andytaylor756]

16 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

In that case, take your time and move in carefully. You could also try the hot/cold treatment. Put it in a hot oven in some kind of heat-resistant container (it might pop at some point) until it's heated up, then directly into a cold water bath and then directly into the freezer for a few hours, but again in some kind of protective container. Repeat a few times. This method should enduce the concretion to crack open along natural fractures and at points between any shell substance and the matrix. Of course you could just whack away at it with a heavy club hammer, but then it's the luck of the draw. Anyway, whatever method you use, don't be disappointed if not much shows up, although that little ammonite should spur you on.

Will that method affect the ammonite that I've already found? Would it possibly pop out of the matrix?

 

[andytaylor756]

I have managed to uncover something else which I presume to be another small ammonite... although unable to uncover it further.

Couple of quick queries. Firstly I keep coming across striation within the rock... is this something interesting or just a different layer of the rock?

Secondly is this anything or just a bit of slightly different coloured rock?

I wish I knew more about all this!!

[andytaylor756]

[jpc]

There are concretions there that the locals call "flatties", short for flatstones.  Looks like you have found one.  They are known to contain the little (and big) calcified ammonites.  I think your best bet is to go and talk to one of the professional collectors there in Lyme or Charmouth.   

[Ludwigia]

I agree with JP. Show your concretion to an expert. The "striations" appear to be shell substance, so he could probably tell you what to expect. That's a lot better than distant diagnostics like ours.

[andytaylor756]

Unfortunately I live in Norfolk so makes this a little more difficult! Does anyone know of anyone who will clean up fossils if i send them via post?

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, andytaylor756 said:

Unfortunately I live in Norfolk so makes this a little more difficult! Does anyone know of anyone who will clean up fossils if i send them via post?

I just sent you a PM.

[RJB]

Very interesting rock now!  Would love to see it when done.

 

RB

[andytaylor756]

5 hours ago, RJB said:

Very interesting rock now!  Would love to see it when done.

 

RB

Hopefully something more interesting inside!