Yaya Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I live in Kitty Hawk, NC, and have the glorious Atlantic Ocean down the street. On a recent beach walk, I found what appears to be a fossilized bone from a large marine creature. I have looked through photos online and have not been able to identify it... and I am hoping someone might have a moment to satisfy my curiosity. It is approximately 9” wide and 6” tall... see photos below. I would be happy to take other shots if needed. Thanks very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Looks like it might be a VERY worn piece of broken cetacean vertebrae. I'm not sure its identifiable much beyond that due to its condition. 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...
abyssunder Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Welcome to the Forum ! May be a whale cervical vertebra centrum. " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Agree looks like a cetacean vertebra and agree may be a cervical since its not very thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 21 minutes ago, abyssunder said: Welcome to the Forum ! May be a whale cervical vertebra centrum. I agree. “...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...
Yaya Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 Thank you for the welcome and for the replies! Would you mind another question from a total unintentional ignoramus... what makes the bone turn black? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 I think the caveman left it on the grill too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Yaya said: Thank you for the welcome and for the replies! Would you mind another question from a total unintentional ignoramus... what makes the bone turn black? Welcome to TFF! Minerals fill the voids in the bone (microscopic) or replace the minerals of the bone. The color is dictated by the minerals present. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 8 hours ago, ynot said: Welcome to TFF! Minerals fill the voids in the bone (microscopic) or replace the minerals of the bone. The color is dictated by the minerals present. Is there any kind of chart that says what color is what mineral? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaya Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 caveman left on the grill... Too funny!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 The black comes from bones and other things (clasts) sitting in a lag deposit. They become phosphatized. I did some googling and found that the process isn't explained very well. I should mention that I didn't look very hard. This strikes me as odd because many of the fossils we find are from phosphatic lag deposits (Big Brook, GMR, ad infinitum). Am aware of a good explanation in Earl Manning's Tulane thesis but not sure it's available on line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 10 minutes ago, Plax said: The black comes from bones and other things (clasts) sitting in a lag deposit. They become phosphatized. I did some googling and found that the process isn't explained very well. I should mention that I didn't look very hard. This strikes me as odd because many of the fossils we find are from phosphatic lag deposits (Big Brook, GMR, ad infinitum). Am aware of a good explanation in Earl Manning's Tulane thesis but not sure it's available on line. Thank you! I appreciate your efforts! Very kind! I looked too. couldn't find anything, but it seems like some either have better access or better research skills than me. Plus much more experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 well, here's something though you have to read it through to get to the applicable part http://ijolite.geology.uiuc.edu/08SprgClass/geo415-515/Sedimentary Phosphorites.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Plax said: well, here's something though you have to read it through to get to the applicable part http://ijolite.geology.uiuc.edu/08SprgClass/geo415-515/Sedimentary Phosphorites.pdf That's awesome thank you! It will take me awhile because I have to look up definitions my vocabulary has improved immensely since I started studying fossils. Many of the words are not words that would used in any other field of study. I really appreciate the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cck Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 The larger question is how did that end up in Kitty Hawk? Longshore currents from up Va beach way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaya Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 Last summer our area (from Kitty Hawk to many miles south) performed a beach renourishment project where offshore (not sure how far or deep) sand was pumped onto the beach... certainly that stirred things up? Also, it was once explained to me that depending on winds and current, we can experience influx from the colder Chesapeake Bay waters north of us, as well as warm & beautiful green Gulfstream waters from the south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 Beach renourishment is where most fossils come from there and at most east coast beaches. Clasts (sand gravel, shells, fossils) are sorted by weight in beach environments and untouched beaches will be mostly just sand. Heavier clasts are down slope. Gravity works the same way in water as it does in air; just slower. You'll notice after a few years that beaches revert to mostly sand. None of this applies to eroding cliffs of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 I LOVE the OBX. Spent a decade or so there. I wish I had the coin to retire there. The winters were the best--few tourists. BTW, if you take Route 264 (?) west through Whalebone Junction and Roanoke Island to the mainland. Look for recent excavations along the highway. Fossiliferous Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits are very close to the surface. I've found small teeth and some fine shells when the DOT was excavating a drainage canal there. 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaya Posted April 2, 2018 Author Share Posted April 2, 2018 Thanks for that heads-up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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