Lapidaryforum.net
Let's Rock => Identifications of Materials => Topic started by: bob_loblaw on March 10, 2018, 09:12:45 PM
-
Somebody please help me figure out what this is, how it was formed, or where it came from!! No one I know has any idea what it is. I found this what looks like glass, rock or coral. I have no idea either.
I’ll try and post pictures that do it justice.
Such a strange object.
Please help.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Looks like tuff. Was it found with ryolite?
-
Looks like tuff. Was it found with ryolite?
You know what? I’m almost embarrassed to say, but I have no idea what tuff or ryolite is. I CAN tell you that I found it on the rocky shore of an inland bay near Galveston, Texas called Clear Lake. The reason I noticed it was because it looked so out of place compared to all the other rocks on the shore.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Hard to tell from the pictures but it could be furgulite. Fused sand and dirt from a lighting strike. Is there any sand fused to the crust?
-
Possibly...there IS some other kind of material on a couple of spots that COULD BE fused sand I guess. I’ll post a better picture of those spots so you can try and see what you think. Also, I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures, but there are real thin layers of what looks like the same pinkish material that’s on the outside of the rock. It’s almost like glass it’s sharp all over on the ends where it’s porous. Like it would cut you if you picked up the wrong way. And one more thing guys I really appreciate y’all‘s help
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
I'm going to agree with Jhon P. It looks like something that was produced by intense heat - either a fulgurite from a lightning strike, extremely hot fire or similar. Most fulgurites have a branching outer shape with hollow tubes through the middle of the branches, but it could still be a chunk from a large branch.
-
I am going to move this topic down to the Identification area. You might get more input there. :icon_sunny:
-
Looks a lot like black pumice.. What the "h..l" it is doing in Texas I have no idea. :dontknow: The stuff can float. Probably not that far. Not a positive ID but out here where there is lots of obsidian and pumice, I see things like this.
Best of luck with it.
-
Could it be manmade, a product of Texas industry? The area sure would fit with something like slag.
-
I wonder if it could a product of the Texas City disaster. Over 2,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate went off in 1947, in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. I could see something like that coming from it.
-
That last thought is a really interesting guess...a current "rock" formed from an industrial disaster. That and the fulgurite changes my perspective on rocks in general, they are truly forming today as much as they are a million years ago.
I am leaning towards pumice, based purely on visual, but it definitely looks like it is silica. Is the rock quite light in overall weight?
-
Strangely.. to me it looks like aged coquina. I used to comb beaches, my rule was if it was black, it was hard as a rock and worth inspecting. Florida has a bunch of black coquina rock..