Miss Charlie Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Having read the new member posting cautions, do not want to waste anyone's time. We're just baffled. Besides splitting shale, once in awhile finding grass or fern ( since we were kids ), spend a fair amount of PA time crawling around Appalachians looking for Native American petroglyphs, etc. They're around, sometimes in odd spots. Fun, poking the camera somewhere promising, one time in a thousand you'll find something interesting ( besides a snake ). Only using ' Fossil ' ID because it looks like it was alive? Found this, last year. Went back several times after going through pics. It's beneath a flat-ish, large rock perched among a ton of others, promising niche, sometimes old carvings survive when protected. It doesn't seem to be one, not any we've come across Tough getting pics, pretty ' in there '. What on earth is it, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 I’ve seen a few things like this, any buildings, quarries, or rail roads nearby? Looks like the stone has had a hole dug into it for explosives. I found a similar rock on a property owned by my grandparents, I thought at first it was a trace fossil, until I learned it had been blasted. Railroads that cut through stone have these all over adjacent cliffs. “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 12 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said: I’ve seen a few things like this, any buildings, quarries, or rail roads nearby? Looks like the stone has had a hole dug into it for explosives. I found a similar rock on a property owned by my grandparents, I thought at first it was a trace fossil, until I learned it had been blasted. Railroads that cut through stone have these all over adjacent cliffs. Having worked in mines for over 15 years, the rock specimen in the photos does NOT look like it has been "drilled" in order to load blasting media. It looks like a geologic anomaly / feature to me. 4 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 28 minutes ago, SailingAlongToo said: Having worked in mines for over 15 years, the rock specimen in the photos does NOT look like it has been "drilled" in order to load blasting media. It looks like a geologic anomaly / feature to me. Well now I’m wondering what the long half tubes looking crevices are all over the sides of blasted railroads.... “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 9 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said: Well now I’m wondering what the long half tubes looking crevices are all over the sides of blasted railroads.... The ones you see along the RXR may in fact be drill marks. Drill marks in rock will be straight and along the same plane (flat) the entire length. They may have some striations at an oblique angle to the long axis of the drill line, made by the drill bit as it augured in / out. Wood that is drilled frequently has these. In the rock specimen in the photos, you can see the long axis of the mark in question, rises and falls (undulates) from one end to the other. If made by a drill bit it should be a flat, straight line. It is not, which leads me to believe this particular line was not cut by a drill bit. Of course, this is just my opinion, which is always free and frequently, unsolicited. 1 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 1 minute ago, SailingAlongToo said: In the rock specimen in the photos, you can see the long axis of the mark in question, rises and falls (undulates) from one end to the other. If made by a drill bit it should be a flat, straight line. It is not, which leads me to believe this particular line was not cut by a drill bit. I didn’t even see those! Thanks for the information! “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Looks plant to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Have seen shapes like these in Mauch Chunk exposures in PA. Am guessing it's some sort of trace fossil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I have no idea but your photography is great. Do show the methods you use. What will help immensely with identification is an accurate location to determine age and an internationally recognised scale in mm or cm if possible but if you’re looking through a crevice I guess you’ll have to estimate. John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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