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Petified bird egg or just a neat rock?


AllyCat

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Hi all! Im a newbie but have always enjoyed the outdoors and collecting anything naturistic from feathers to artifacts. I do not have much knowledge of geology unfortunately. This was collected about 2.5 miles from my house in the foot hills of the appalachians. It is so humid here, that I would be surprised if much relating to fossils would survive for very long  being exposed. None the less, I am curious as to what everyone's opinion of this neato looking rock is. It has this strange white coating on it...I took the best photos possible with the phone that I have.

 

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It looks to me to be a chert nodule.

Definitely not an egg. An egg would have a thin shell layer 1-2mm thick!

Pretty cool looking though! 

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I believe it is a gastropod or cystoid that has undergone a form of fossilization that creates a geode type of specimen.

Granted it does not resemble a gastropod or cystoid just obscured in this manner during the fossilization process.

Agate, often these are hollow such as a geode but then I have seen them solid as well. But always crystalline interior.

It is not an egg and not of much value, have it cut and polished. 

They make excellent conversation specimens.

 

Look around in the area there may be more, collectable yes but most would keep a singular specimen and pick a few for trading.

(There may be brachiopods in the area as well that may be a little easier to identify but still oblique or obscured to a point of distortion)

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I agree with nodule.

“...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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Welcome to the Forum. :)

 

Although egg shaped, it doesn't have a surface texture that fossil eggs have.

I have to agree that this is a chert/flint nodule. 

It may contain a fossil/fossils within, but, it isn't an egg. 

Cool enough that I would have picked it up, though.  ;) 

I like the idea of having it cut in half with a lapidary saw. 

Welcome again. 

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

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Here are two Oligocene bird eggs from Nebraska for comparison to your specimen.  Bird eggs have thin outer shells.  Also below are some bird eggshells.

 

59df637fdafbc_BirdEggMay2016mod.jpg.fc198f70cb3d20f048acb0d6d2b24bf6.jpg

 

59df637e9ada8_BirdEgg2May2017.thumb.jpg.0a16cd29f0e430ca20a8c8b5bb5513f7.jpg

 

59df64185bc85_EggshellSpecimensWashAreaRightFarMMRanch.thumb.JPG.793d8acde72b5c7a7c75b7572cb95982.JPG

 

59df641b0e0da_EggshellSpecimensWashAreaRightFence1MMRanch.thumb.JPG.d78b5b0da98bfec3bcafd1122610ac2b.JPG

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Forming an avian egg takes( at the most ) 22 hours.

Quite something when you take its complexity into account(pores,mamillary structure,bacteria repellent glycoproteins,etc).

AS i've implicated before: a marvelous compromise between structural toughness,gaseous/hydraulic conductance and the need to maintain a healthy embryo)

Pic: SXR* showing 36 degr. scattering angle,pointing to preferred orientation of layers,also at the nano-level

Synchrotron X-RAY

nnbifcraogofis.jpg

 

 

 

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Thank you for all the helpful feedback everyone, and thanks for the welcomes :) I have to be honest that I would really like to cut this rock open out of curiosity, but it's oval shape and odd texture is much enjoyable, lol. It will make a nice paper weight. I suppose I should stick to collecting arrowheads, made of chert!

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45 minutes ago, AllyCat said:

I suppose I should stick to collecting arrowheads

If You keep looking You will find many interesting rocks, and some may be fossils.

Don't give up just because of one mistaken identity. I have done it much more than once:blush:.

 

Tony

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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There's nothing discouraging about that find. I also am an eclectic collector, who seems to have knack for finding unique minerals and fossils. For me its not the thrill of the hunt but the thrill of the find. Always stop, stoop, & look!  If you like it as a paperweight then a mighty fine paperweight it is. Keep looking, and sharing your finds. We have an artifacts sub group here too!

“Beautiful is what we see. More beautiful is what we understand. Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend.” N. Steno

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