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What the heck did I find?


PrairieRox

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Found this on the side slope of an old road cut near the Cheyenne River in western South Dakota this morning...my first thought was turtle but after looking at fossilized turtle pics on line I don't think so. Could it be a dinosaur egg? It is about 18" long by 12" wide. When I grasped it and pulled on it it started separating into chunks as you can see in the second photo, and what looks like it could be the outer shell started separating from the outer portion (some pieces can be seen in the dirt to the right of the fossil(?) in question. Any help with ID would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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It's a concretion, maybe a septarian nodule. Sorry, not a fossil.

“...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

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Hi PR-

This is a typical Pierre Shale concretion.  They are very common in that rock layer, but better yet, they are where you find ammonites in the Pierre Shale.  They are also often empty, devoid of fossils.

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Eggs will have a bumpy outer layer btw.

“...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

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13 minutes ago, PrairieRox said:

Thanks a bunch!

Your welcome a bushel:P

always happy to help, keep looking round there, could get an ammonite!

“...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

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That's a septarian type concretion/nodule. Nice one. :)

" 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

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