Is this a fossil?

[Star nosed mole]

I found this while out for a hike, it was in the eroded runoff ditches on the trail. It has a symmetry that seems biological to me, but that could be wishful thinking. What do you think? 

 

Thanks 

[Star nosed mole]

Here are some more pictures 

[bone2stone]

At best it is a piece of weather/water-worn fossil wood.

 

Jess B

[Fossildude19]

This looks geological, to me.  

 

[Star nosed mole]

Ok thanks! 

[DPS Ammonite]

We need a well-lit detailed photo of the end of the piece. Scattered wood exists here and there in the Bay Area. Where did you find it so I can tell from what formation it might have come from.

[abyssunder]

Can we see it how it looks in the broken end ?

[Star nosed mole]

I found it in the Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek. Thanks again 

[ynot]

Looks like a chert nodule, not fossil.

[Vieira]

Looks geological to me too.

[Auspex]

It certainly is an eye-catching object, with a form, luster, and hint of structure that is suggestive of organic origin.
I'd have picked it up for sure, but I can't match its features with anything plant or animal. This suggests that it is geologic.

Hardness and streak tests might resolve its composition.

[FranzBernhard]

7 hours ago, Auspex said:

It certainly is an eye-catching object, with a form, luster, and hint of structure that is suggestive of organic origin.
I'd have picked it up for sure, but I can't match its features with anything plant or animal. This suggests that it is geologic.

Hardness and streak tests might resolve its composition.

Yes, please try to scratch it wih a steel knife, what happens?

Does it bubble with vinegar?

It has some transparency to it, it can not be excluded, that it is a highly mineralized organic something, but a definitive proof would be very difficult. So lets apply Occam´s razor - its geologic.

Franz Bernhard

[bone2stone]

Yeah geologic.

[Darko]

Looks geologic tho.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

90% sure it's geological. Neat rock!

[ynot]

On 4/10/2018 at 5:47 PM, Fossildude19 said:

This looks geological, to me.  

 

 

On 4/11/2018 at 1:58 AM, Vieira said:

Looks geological to me too.

 

On 4/11/2018 at 2:43 AM, Auspex said:

 This suggests that it is geologic.

 

 

21 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

So lets apply Occam´s razor - its geologic.

 

 

7 hours ago, bone2stone said:

Yeah geologic.

 

4 hours ago, Darko said:

Looks geologic tho.

 

24 minutes ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

90% sure it's geological. Neat rock!

 

 

Please do not take offence to this, but isn't a fossil a rock and therefor "geologic"?

I was taught that paleontology was a specialty within the study of geology and fossils were created through geological processes from biological remains or actions.

 

Kind regards,

Onyt

 

[Auspex]

23 minutes ago, ynot said:

Please do not take offence to this, but isn't a fossil a rock and therefor "geologic"?

I was taught that paleontology was a specialty within the study of geology and fossils were created through geological processes from biological remains or actions.

 

Kind regards,

Onyt

 

You are correct, of course: with the possible exception of the likes of mummies and bog-people, fossils are by definition the products of geologic processes.
My use of the term (better said "of geologic origin") is to differentiate it from "of biologic origin".