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Pleistocene unknown


Rockwood

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This piece was found in southeastern Maine. The last thing on my mind at the time was any sort of fossil. The area is granite ledges split by basalt dykes interspersed by cobble beaches of similar rock type. My turning point on the trip was the end of a cove that is pounded especially hard by the winters storms. The cobble is piled 20 feet high in a wall 60 feet wide at the base across the cove. As I got back slightly in the lee of some boulders I noticed the snail in what I recognized as the Pleistocene clay of the Presumpscot formation. I only noticed the other side after I got it home.

It's not mineral. Fails a tap test miserably.

The snail is on the under side in the other photos.

What the heck is this thing ? 

 

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Ynot got it. It's the congealed/dried and weathered contents of a can of discarded paint, with the metal can long since rusted away. Notice the green color is more saturated on one side -- the bottom of the can where the pigment had settled.

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40 minutes ago, sagacious said:

Ynot got it. It's the congealed/dried and weathered contents of a can of discarded paint, with the metal can long since rusted away. Notice the green color is more saturated on one side -- the bottom of the can where the pigment had settled.

I think it's paint. It burns, full yellow flame burns! I seem to have forgotten that I'm red green color blind.

Not counting it as a skunked fossil trip though :)

Thanks guys

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Secretly I was hoping that Maine had the most shockingly vibrant clay in the world :P

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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My kindergarten teacher used to wonder why I colored the tree brown and the trunk green. 

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Not so fast people.  I recognize Devonian Play-Doh when I se it.  Case closed.

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What?? 

Maine has a lot of green schist which can weather to a clayey material.

the green sands of New Jersey can also be kryptonite green.

not thinking this is a man made color.

the fact that there appears to be shell material that is not the color of the matrix also leads me to believe this is a natural occurrence.  Very interesting.

 

It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators.

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1 hour ago, squali said:

What?? 

Maine has a lot of green schist which can weather to a clayey material.

the green sands of New Jersey can also be kryptonite green.

not thinking this is a man made color.

the fact that there appears to be shell material that is not the color of the matrix also leads me to believe this is a natural occurrence.  Very interesting.

 

The item is flammable, and burns, as congealed paint would. Unless it's flammable glauconitic kryptonite clay, it's likely paint. ;)

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5 hours ago, squali said:

What?? 

Maine has a lot of green schist which can weather to a clayey material.

the green sands of New Jersey can also be kryptonite green.

not thinking this is a man made color.

the fact that there appears to be shell material that is not the color of the matrix also leads me to believe this is a natural occurrence.  Very interesting.

 

The shell material may indeed be Pleistocene. It likely is the basement material in many a fisherman's work yard. The matrix was still soft and strongly solvent smelling at the center though.

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Ah it is just contaminated soil that happens to be fossiliferous.  I'd go with solvent or fuel oil over paint though.

 

It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators.

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15 hours ago, old bones said:

Kryptonite

 

14 hours ago, Kane said:

Secretly I was hoping that Maine had the most shockingly vibrant clay in the world :P

 

12 hours ago, squali said:

What?? 

Maine has a lot of green schist which can weather to a clayey material.

the green sands of New Jersey can also be kryptonite green.

not thinking this is a man made color.

the fact that there appears to be shell material that is not the color of the matrix also leads me to believe this is a natural occurrence.  Very interesting.

 

Superman, get off those bodies.

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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On 4/18/2017 at 2:16 PM, GeschWhat said:

I giant rhinolith! Very rare in the fossil record. :envy:

 

Ewwww:rofl:

It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators.

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