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Found in the surf on the Outer Banks of North Carolina


jvorhees

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Hello - I'm hoping someone might have an idea what this is. We found it in the surf off the coast of North Carolina. Looks to me like it might be the socket of a ball and socket joint but other than that, I have no idea. It's hollow throughout. Any thoughts on what it might be?

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Welcome to the Forum. :) 

This looks like stone, rather than bone to me. 

Not seeing the usual bone structure. 

Wait for some other opinions, though. 

Regards,

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I have to agree with Tim on this. While fossils are found occasional along the outer banks ( I presume when you say outer banks you mean from Corolla to Hags Head to Hatteras) the area is not really a fossiliferous location.

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Call me crazy .. .but could the stone be a Fulgurite ?  Your's being water worn and smoothed by time .. but apparently they are a thing to collect on the outer banks given that they are common on an image search. North Carolina has plenty of lighting on the coast to cook them up I supposed.  But it could just also be a cool geological oddity.

47 minutes ago, jvorhees said:

Hello - I'm hoping someone might have an idea what this is. We found it in the surf off the coast of North Carolina. Looks to me like it might be the socket of a ball and socket joint but other than that, I have no idea. It's hollow throughout. Any thoughts on what it might be?

 

 

 

 

@ynot may be able to put my theory to bed.

"Fulgurites are natural tubes or masses of sintered soil, sand, and/or rock that form when lightning strikes the ground. "

 

Fulgurite_001.jpg.48665be08341457629fecb6f1a2aac5d.jpg

fulgurite-2.thumb.jpg.ef528c5a6f491b91db4eaf9f9c4cc1f8.jpg

fulgurite-3.jpg.41874409aac6f9448ee7a24984a6bf55.jpg

fulgurite-4.jpg.70543935634863a21f378d2f1cef2555.jpg

 

Cheers,

Brett

 

 

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Interesting. We have some fulgurite but this so much denser that I'm sure that's what it is either. This is as hard as any river stone. 

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I'd expect a filgurite to be grainier, to melt something that big that would be quite a spectacular strike! I say a another type of rock.

“...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,

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Sorry but I do not know fulgurites or the outer bank of North Carolina.

It could be a burrow, it does look similar to the pieces @Brett Breakin' Rocks showed, could also be a weathered concretion,  but I really have nothing on this rock.

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That is fulgurite.  It is sand , rock and sometimes shells that have been struck by lightning.  As I understand, The Outer Banks is one of the top 5 locations in the United States where lots of fulgurite can be found.  I have some very unusual shaped pieces that I have found over the years that I keep on display in my garden.  Quite a conversation piece.

 

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Where?Pimlico?Albemarle?

"Dark(black)" and "lightweight"

According to unrefereed sources:P

BUT: i was wrong________>------------------------>

 

I just read Van Tassel.Macroscopically speaking,the description fits

("tubes creux avec des protuberances")

On the "folded"(crenulated) parts:

"opinions sont partagées entre une origine primaire résultant des caractéristiques intrinsèques de la foudre (entre autres W. FISCHER, 1928;
C. FENNER, 1949) ou une orgine secondaire comme résultat de l' effondrement de la paroi d'un tube primitivement cylindrique, sous l'effet d'une
pression extérieure (entre autres A. O. LEWIS, 1936; J. J. PETTY, 1936;A. LACROIX, 1942) .

 

("opinions are divided between characters proprietary to lightning,or a secondary origin (wall collapse)")

bearciujmages.jpg

 

 

 

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I guess that's what it is. This particular one is much harder than any fulgurite I'm familiar with. You could literally hammer a nail with this one.

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I have seen many "fulgurites" from the Outer Banks, but all of them have actually been concretions. I have also seen dozens of actual fulgurites from various areas. Any true fulgurite from the Outer Banks would be composed of vitrified sand, not indurated clay. Most fulgurites are also fairly delicate and would not survive being pounded by waves along a beach for any length of time. Most of the concretions seem to be fossil burrows of marine animals. That type of concretion is fairly common in some of the rivers I dive in North Carolina.

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