Meteorite or grapeshot? Imbedded in rock. What is it?

[chillymellow]

Found this in a field around Quihi, TX.  

The object imbedded in the stone is what we always called a meteorite.  Some of these 'meteorites' I have collected are grapeshot, most about this size.

I don't know what it is, but it is solidly imbedded into the stone from what may have been a hard impact as from a projectile or, falling from the sky.

Any ideas?  Is it cool?

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Maybe it's an ironstone concretion, or a mineral inclusion replaced with limonite? I think it's geological anyhow.

[Wrangellian]

I take it you have tested it with a magnet and it is metallic/iron composition? That would be the first step in determining what it is, I think.

[chillymellow]

Thanks for the suggestion, no no magnet yet.  Does it take a certain strength or type of magnet?    I have never had success testing, even on the golf ball size grapeshot I had verified by the UTSA Dept. of Archaeology.  

We see meteorites often out here; glowing green and shooting over the highway. Doesn't mean what we have been taught traditionally to call meteorites really are.  They are heavy, weirdly shaped chunks of what looks like iron slag.

[ynot]

I think it is a concretion. A meteorite would not be stuck into a rock like that.

The magnetic test is not 100% reliable because not all meteorites are magnetic and some terrestrial rocks are magnetic.

 

5 minutes ago, chillymellow said:

 I have never had success testing, even on the golf ball size grapeshot I had verified by the UTSA Dept. of Archaeology.  

What did they say about them?

[chillymellow]

3 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Maybe it's an ironstone concretion, or a mineral inclusion replaced with limonite? I think it's geological anyhow.

Could be petrified poop!  In this picture I have a few varieties of similar looking specimens, none if which stick to this magnetic shop dish.

[ynot]

All look like iron concretions. They are very seldom magnetic.

They do not look like coprolite to Me, but @GeschWhat or @Carl may feel different about that.

[Herb]

it looks geologic to me also

[ynot]

1 hour ago, chillymellow said:

golf ball size grapeshot I had verified by the UTSA Dept. of Archaeology.  

Again-- What did they say about these?

 

@chillymellow

[chillymellow]

Thanks, y'all!  I appreciate your input.  My imagination is often overridden by science.  

Here's a pic of a small actual fossil I found in my yard.. 

: )

[caldigger]

Are you talking grapeshot as in shot out of a weapon?  

[Miocene_Mason]

1 hour ago, chillymellow said:

Could be petrified poop!  In this picture I have a few varieties of similar looking specimens, none if which stick to this magnetic shop dish.

I thought coprolite as well at first, but it doesn't have any signs you would expect from one.

29 minutes ago, chillymellow said:

Thanks, y'all!  I appreciate your input.  My imagination is often overridden by science.  

Here's a pic of a small actual fossil I found in my yard.. 

: )

That's a nice one, a colonial coral I presume?

[chillymellow]

2 hours ago, ynot said:

Again-- What did they say about these?

 

@chillymellow

I did not show these to the folks at UTSA, only the grapeshot.  I hadn't really thought they would be interested. Would like to show them to someone in the geology department (Sul Ross in Alpine has a good one)

 

I found the grapeshot in the DeZavala creekbed on the North side of San Antonio. The woman I spoke with said they had many skirmishes near there around the time the Battle of The Alamo.  And that, yes, what I had was real.

 

 

[chillymellow]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Are you talking grapeshot as in shot out of a weapon?  

Yes, like a musketball, but most likely used in a small cannon.  

If I can locate it, I will post a picture.  My husband thinks he saw writing on it under magnification, but I am skeptical.

[chillymellow]

As for what (perhaps only in folklore) is commonly called a

'meteorite" around here, whatever it is is in fair abundance to hunt in the back roads of the county and in the woods and pastures.  I've been finding them for over 50 years.

Some of them are rounded then have a tubular like end that looks cut off.  Most have the little bulbous bumps

[Ludwigia]

Well, one thing is for certain: Those are not meteorites.

[caldigger]

What you just pictured is definitely geologic iron concretion.  Not something from the sky and most certainly not shot from a cannon.

You state some the pieces of " grapeshot" you are finding have writing on them. I really don't believe they would have bothered to put manufacturers marks on weapon grapeshot at the time that was in common use.  They sound more like modern Pachinko balls or ball bearings in that case.

 

 

[abyssunder]

They are iron-oxide nodules/concretions (except the coral). Take a look here .

 

[chillymellow]

Bingo!

 

 

Now, the grapeshot I am speaking of does not resemble these nodules in the least.  I am going to try to locate it; I haven't seen it in a few years.  It is almost the size of a golf ball, very round, and looks remarkably like this picture below.  As for writing on it, my husband sees "14K" on almost every piece of metal he picks up, so like I said, I don't think so myself.

[Wrangellian]

I wish I had '14K' on any piece of metal I might pick up, especially if it's kind of yellowish.... or better yet, 24K.

[erose]

The fossil is a rudist. A type of bivalve that often is confused with corals.

[chillymellow]

20 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I wish I had '14K' on any piece of metal I might pick up, especially if it's kind of yellowish.... or better yet, 24K.

Yes!  When I lived downtown in San Antonio my husband would wander the parking lots at night with a flashlight looking for lost treasures.  He brought home a lot of jnk, and a few actual pieces if gold.  A lot if nice CZ he knew were diamonds...  Good luck with your wish!

[chillymellow]

11 hours ago, erose said:

The fossil is a rudist. A type of bivalve that often is confused with corals.

Thanks!  Lots of small fossils in my yard, tons of flint.  I tried a little flintknapping, but I'm not that good, and a lot of my flint has crystal formations and would break.

[fifbrindacier]

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 2:00 PM, abyssunder said:

They are iron-oxide nodules/concretions (except the coral). Take a look here .

 

Here we call that kind of concretion a "garluche", that means bad stone.

[Wrangellian]

21 minutes ago, fifbrindacier said:

Here we call that kind of concretion a "garluche", that means bad stone.

What's bad about them? No fossils?