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Possible crinoid stems?


Parthicus

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While on vacation at a (rented) beach house last week, I noticed that the (marble?) kitchen countertop had some interesting shapes contained within the stone.  Many of the shapes have the appearance of cross-sections of crinoid stems.  I know that marble is a metamorphic rock, so if the original rock had contained fossils, could there still be recognizable remnants of the fossils?  Please let me know if I'm thinking along the right lines, and whether these look like crinoid stems to you.  The reference coin has a diameter of 21 mm; I have no idea where the countertop rock was quarried.

 

Countertop crinoids 2.jpg

Countertop crinoids 1.jpg

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11 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Yes, I think they are orthoclase feldspar phenocrysts. :)

Well, if You want to get technical about it.:D:P

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

 

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Granite countertop. 

Some Marbles do contain fossils though.

 

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Geologically, marble is metamorphosed calcite, dolomite or other carbonates where they have been recrystallized so that all the original structures are lost or altered. 

Fossils are very rare and always distorted. 

A lot of what builders call 'marble' isn't, it's just polished rock, like the OPs granite and probably what @Fossildude19 has posted above too. 

Tim, is that piece yours? It's very beautiful, but I think polished black crinoidal limestone. Devonian? 

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If I compare the folowing two pictures, there might be a resemblance of crinoid holdfast. :)

 

5b70d0de7f74e_Countertopcrinoids1.jpg.80e96d020ea4b6415aee473271ea4870.jpg.1e185aabcd7a5cbecf0435962db6831b.jpgF15.large.thumb.jpg.02975386b39cb31a31a28a0aee339455.jpg

 

 

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1 minute ago, abyssunder said:

If I compare the folowing two pictures, there might be a resemblance of crinoid holdfast.

Purely superficial and coincidental.

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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1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Yes, I think they are orthoclase feldspar phenocrysts. :)

To get really technical about it, the pink feldspars in granite also include microcline. It may be microcline.

 

Adam is right, marble rarely contains fossils especially as nice as the one with the crinoid stems. 

 

The terms, marble and granite as used by home builders and countertop makers, are not very scientifically accurate and include many more types of stone. For kicks, geology students like to go into stone dealers and point out their rock naming errors.

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1 minute ago, DPS Ammonite said:

For kicks, geology students like to go into stone dealers and point out their rock naming errors.

Sounds like a good way to waste a week. They rarely use proper geologic names for the rock they sell.

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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metamorphic and igneous rocks seldom contain fossil remains due to their means of formation.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen

No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go.

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Perhaps a little off topic but I like to go on popular auction sites with other people, search “Fossils” and point out fake after fake after fake to emphasize how many there are, how hard they are to tell apart, and how far a little knowledge can go.

“...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

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1 hour ago, WhodamanHD said:

Perhaps a little off topic but I like to go on popular auction sites with other people, search “Fossils” and point out fake after fake after fake to emphasize how many there are, how hard they are to tell apart, and how far a little knowledge can go.

You can do that at the Senate building as well. ;)

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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Thanks for the help everybody, guess I need to brush up on my mineral recognition skills.  At least I learned something new, so it wasn't a waste.

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