Is this a piece of bone?

[jeff smisek]

Hi, I'm new around here! I work in a railyard and we have small pieces of rocks (ballast) everywhere. I often find awesome rocks, but today I found this which, to me, looks like a piece of bone fused to some blue-grey quartz? Can anyone confirm? I am in Denver, Colorado. Thanks!

 

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Well first off, if it's quartz there won't be bone attached, the heat required to generate quartz would destroy any bone. I don't think it's quartz though, doesn't look right. Maybe calcite? The "bone" I think may be volcanic. Others may confirm or deny this suspicion.

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

There are quartzites that form in cool environments, and it is common to find agatized bone and other types of fossils.

This piece is a quartzite (can not tell what type.) and has some limonite (iron oxide) attached to it.

It is not bone, but it does have a semblance to bone.

[jeff smisek]

4 hours ago, ynot said:

Welcome to TFF!

There are quartzites that form in cool environments, and it is common to find agatized bone and other types of fossils.

This piece is a quartzite (can not tell what type.) and has some limonite (iron oxide) attached to it.

It is not bone, but it does have a semblance to bone.

Thanks a lot!