FinderandKeeper Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 I was scanning my local beach after a storm one day and came across this laying on the edge of the shoreline, I was very surprised by the weight of this dense beauty! The location was Cape Henry in Virginia Beach (where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean). Any help as to what it may be would be greatly appreciated!!! I'm praying it's some sort of horn or bone from a prehistoric creature! Thanks, AAA 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinderandKeeper Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 Another pic here. Thanks again for any ideas you all may have! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinderandKeeper Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 It looks geologic to me, but let's wait for others to chime in. Neat looking piece, for sure. The colours are very nice. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 Welcome! Sorry, but its just a sedimentary rock. And I agree with Kane, it does look very cool! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 This is unfortunately not a fossil, it appears to be a worn sedimentary rock, indicated by the bands. The striking blue I would guess to be from a iron or copper compound. Others may know better than I. 1 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinderandKeeper Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 Thanks for the quick responses! I'm not going to lie, I'm sad to find out that it's just a rock oh well, it will be appreciated the same by me no matter what it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 6 minutes ago, FinderandKeeper said: Thanks for the quick responses! I'm not going to lie, I'm sad to find out that it's just a rock oh well, it will be appreciated the same by me no matter what it is! Nothing's ever just a rock, odds are that rock formed over many millions of years. The bands indicate it was created by different types of sediment layering on top of each other, possibly showing reversals of a river, or climate changes, or who knows what else! Plus it's really pretty, I tend to keep any rock I find appealing to the eye. 3 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeutsch Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 sometimes a "dense" rock is rich in minerals. For instance, if you find a piece of barite or pyrite it will feel exceptionally heavy. Virginia has had a long and interesting mining history. This link shows various active and inactive mining sites. https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/webmaps/DMM/ and the dmme site provides a good mineralogical description of the region- there's been a lot of iron collected in Virginia in the last 250 years. You might have iron in the outer layer of rock Depending how much you like the specimen, you might be able to dissolve some of it in a strong acid - Nitric is best, but it gets harder to come by as it can be used to make explosives. HCl can dissolve quite a few things-some iron compounds, and it will react aggressively with carbonates. Then you can precipitate the solution with dilute sodium hydroxide, ammonia etc- and based on the results of the reactions, you might get an idea of what mineral you have. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Sedimentary rock, probably with some siderite (iron carbonate) in it, hence the higher density, which is partially wheatered. The flaking in some spots is typical of siderit-cemented sediments (siderite is wheatering to "limonite", thereby thin layers of the rock are flaking of). My guess is, that the whole rock is a siderite-cemented sand- or siltstone, the outer layer somewhat wheatered and later partially broken of by wave action etc. Franz Bernhard 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bone2stone Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 So many people call picked materials "rocks", although true, there is yet another way to describe your find and many other's finds as well. "It was a rock when you found it on the ground." You picked it up and took it home. Thus by this action it became a "Specimen". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 blue could be vivianite 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 What a beautiful find! John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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