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Post by NellyDee on Sept 11, 2018 9:24:29 GMT
On old WAB site there used to be a forum for IDs etc on which I posted a rock that had on one side had a hollow looking for all the world like a big fat worm. Rockman was more interested in the rock, which turned out to be fossilised sea sponge found by a river and no where near the sea. Too long a story but the rock eventually went off to geological research. So! We had a very large pond dug, in what we call the lower ground, it is where once there had been a river through a ravine and spreads out like a delta at the bottom, we call it the lower ground. To our surprise there was only at most two foot of ground which we thought was bog land, full of sedge and water plants, then the diggers hit completely dry hard rock. I think it some sort of fossilised sea bed. What is interesting is that you can see at least three layers of Millennials and the top layer to me looks like it might be some sort of lug worm. So wish I could contact rock man. This is the top and the actual colour:- Rock fossil 2 by Helen Skelton, on Flickr For some reason my camera then refused to pick up true colour when photographing the sides:- Rock fossill by Helen Skelton, on Flickr Rock fossil 1 by Helen Skelton, on Flickr
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 12, 2018 15:59:22 GMT
Helen, I have a friend down at the Observatory that is a bit of a whiz with fossils and is an amateur geologist and has studied for a degree in it, I will show her your thread next time I see her
Duncan
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Post by rowanberry on Sept 12, 2018 19:27:42 GMT
We could have a rock and fossil section- it would be useful for whenever anyone comes across anything interesting like your find, Helen.
What do you think, under the General Wildlife forum?
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Post by Tringa on Sept 13, 2018 6:43:55 GMT
Good idea. I'm interested in both but especially rocks. Unfortunately there are only a few I can identify.
Dave
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Post by NellyDee on Sept 13, 2018 10:44:33 GMT
Duncan thank you, hope your friend can say what it is and rowanberry, agree with Dave a rock and fossil section would be good
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 13, 2018 15:28:08 GMT
I think rocks and fossils is a good idea, there is a lovely small fossil on the windowsill at the Observatory, its been there for months it's one that my friend found on Sandwich Bay shingle Beach, I will take a photo of it and post it under the General Wildlife forum for the time being, I will have to get her to come on WABI, Duncan
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 14, 2018 15:07:34 GMT
OK! Helen,
I showed your rocks to another friend at the Observatory, with my phone on WABI, his name is Ken, he is chairman of the Observatory, and he has studied Natural History and is well clued up on the questions you have been asking, the 1st photo he thinks is calcite crystals, he asked if the rock was upside down, he thought that there may have been a cavity in the rock and the crystals had formed in the cavity, it is a possibility as I have seen the same kind of thing down the coal mine I worked in in the Midlands, is the way you have displayed them the same way that they came out of the ground, or could the flat surface that is on the table be the bed rock? if they are calcite crystals then the rock that they are in is probably limestone much of which is formed from the shells of dead marine organisms, A simple test will determine whether it is limestone which consists almost entirely of calcite, make a little hole or find a little depression and pour a little vinegar into it, after a minute or so it should start to fizz a little bit, vinegar, being an acid dissolves bits of material called calcium carbonate in the limestone. Hope this is of some help, and is the start of another forum for discussion on rocks and fossils. Duncan
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 14, 2018 15:33:56 GMT
Here is the Fossil that was on the windowsill at the Observatory, pic 1 shows the scale, pic 2 in close up, pic 3 shows an upside down Sea Urchin alongside the fossil, see it's teeth in the centre and the broken spines stuck to it, pic 4 is of another sea urchin with the centre missing and more broken spines, just imagine sediment filling that hole and over thousands of years the shell disintegrates, leaving the impression of the inside of the sea urchin, this is how this fossil was formed, Picture 5 has the fossil upside down, showing what happened to the fossil, It is from the class Echinoidea there are around 950 species of Echinoids living on the sea bed, a sea urchin is an Echinoid the word comes from the Greek Echinodermata which means Spiny Skin, they have been around since before the Cretaceous period, Hope you enjoyed this Duncan An Echinoid by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr DSC05762 by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr Sea Urchins are Echinoides by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr DSC05767 by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr DSC05768 by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr
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Post by rowanberry on Sept 14, 2018 19:56:19 GMT
That's interesting about the sea urchin fossil, Duncan- I never would have know that's what it was. We found several empty shells when snorkeling in Crete some years ago, and it's always a bit of a thrill to find a good unbroken one. Amazing creatures- although rather scary to come upon clumps of bristling black spines hidden amongst the rocks! I've never accidentally touched one, but I know their stings are very painful.
I'll get a new section for Rocks and Fossils added tomorrow.
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 15, 2018 13:07:22 GMT
I have had another look in a book called "Where to find fossils in Southern England" published by British Fossils 1989 and found in it that it could be a Sea Urchin from the Upper Chalk - Echinocorys scutata, try googling it
Good news about the new site Rowanberry, look forward to it, I'm trying to get Ken interested in comming on the WABI site,
I was at my nephews wedding in Jamaica, there were 35 of us flew out with Virgin (mostly Family) and my nephew, my younger brother and 3 friends and I, done a scuba dive on the White House Reef about 3 mile off the shore from our hotel near Montego Bay, the dive master wafted a sea urchin up from the sea bed and signaled me to hold my hand out let it settle on my palm, done that, then passed it on to my brother by wafting it again, there were no adverse reactions nor stings, the Dive master would not have let us touch it if it wasn't safe, I think if you stood on one it would be a different story,
Duncan
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Post by Tringa on Sept 17, 2018 11:06:14 GMT
Great sots of the sea urchins, Duncan. This contorted piece (about 4 -5 cm on the longest side) was from Camus Mor (a small bay north of Poolewe, marked on the map). There is quite a bit of sandstone in the area due to the proximity to Torridon and I'm guessing the fine grain areas are sandstone. I don't know what the intrusion is, but Camus Mor is towards the north end of the Loch Maree Fault. Happy to be corrected on all points. Dave
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Post by NellyDee on Sept 18, 2018 9:45:31 GMT
OK! Helen, I showed your rocks to another friend at the Observatory, with my phone on WABI, his name is Ken, he is chairman of the Observatory, and he has studied Natural History and is well clued up on the questions you have been asking, the 1st photo he thinks is calcite crystals, he asked if the rock was upside down, he thought that there may have been a cavity in the rock and the crystals had formed in the cavity, it is a possibility as I have seen the same kind of thing down the coal mine I worked in in the Midlands, is the way you have displayed them the same way that they came out of the ground, or could the flat surface that is on the table be the bed rock? if they are calcite crystals then the rock that they are in is probably limestone much of which is formed from the shells of dead marine organisms, A simple test will determine whether it is limestone which consists almost entirely of calcite, make a little hole or find a little depression and pour a little vinegar into it, after a minute or so it should start to fizz a little bit, vinegar, being an acid dissolves bits of material called calcium carbonate in the limestone. Hope this is of some help, and is the start of another forum for discussion on rocks and fossils. Duncan Thanks Duncan. Unfortunately I don't know which side is up or down as it was the digger driver who bought it up to me, saying that it was impossible to go any deeper, with out a drill. The only cavity I could find can been seen on this view which I filled with vinegar and it did not fizz (as a bye the bye gold and silver can be found - people trashing the river banks and burns trying to do panning is becoming a problem for the wild life and farm animals). Here there are an quite a few very large rocks with lovely markings of various colours and different shapes, including a standing stone.By here I mean visible on the land. DSCF3283 by Helen Skelton, on Flickr
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Post by NellyDee on Sept 18, 2018 9:58:07 GMT
That's interesting about the sea urchin fossil, Duncan- I never would have know that's what it was. We found several empty shells when snorkeling in Crete some years ago, and it's always a bit of a thrill to find a good unbroken one. Amazing creatures- although rather scary to come upon clumps of bristling black spines hidden amongst the rocks! I've never accidentally touched one, but I know their stings are very painful.
I'll get a new section for Rocks and Fossils added tomorrow. When I was 10 my father and I were walking the shores of Loch Fyne and I found a large sea urchin shell, which i still have. When my Daughter we 40, we visited Loch Fyne and I told her of my find here, she said like this and held out her hand. Seemed to us like a omen at the time. It was whole but smaller than my find. We have since found three more at various sea lochs around the NW.
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Post by duncan74 on Oct 12, 2018 8:51:04 GMT
OK! Helen, I showed your rocks to another friend at the Observatory, with my phone on WABI, his name is Ken, he is chairman of the Observatory, and he has studied Natural History and is well clued up on the questions you have been asking, the 1st photo he thinks is calcite crystals, he asked if the rock was upside down, he thought that there may have been a cavity in the rock and the crystals had formed in the cavity, it is a possibility as I have seen the same kind of thing down the coal mine I worked in in the Midlands, is the way you have displayed them the same way that they came out of the ground, or could the flat surface that is on the table be the bed rock? if they are calcite crystals then the rock that they are in is probably limestone much of which is formed from the shells of dead marine organisms, A simple test will determine whether it is limestone which consists almost entirely of calcite, make a little hole or find a little depression and pour a little vinegar into it, after a minute or so it should start to fizz a little bit, vinegar, being an acid dissolves bits of material called calcium carbonate in the limestone. Hope this is of some help, and is the start of another forum for discussion on rocks and fossils. Duncan Thanks Duncan. Unfortunately I don't know which side is up or down as it was the digger driver who bought it up to me, saying that it was impossible to go any deeper, with out a drill. The only cavity I could find can been seen on this view which I filled with vinegar and it did not fizz (as a bye the bye gold and silver can be found - people trashing the river banks and burns trying to do panning is becoming a problem for the wild life and farm animals). Here there are an quite a few very large rocks with lovely markings of various colours and different shapes, including a standing stone.By here I mean visible on the land. DSCF3283 by Helen Skelton, on Flickr
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Post by duncan74 on Oct 12, 2018 8:51:58 GMT
Great sots of the sea urchins, Duncan. This contorted piece (about 4 -5 cm on the longest side) was from Camus Mor (a small bay north of Poolewe, marked on the map). There is quite a bit of sandstone in the area due to the proximity to Torridon and I'm guessing the fine grain areas are sandstone. I don't know what the intrusion is, but Camus Mor is towards the north end of the Loch Maree Fault. Happy to be corrected on all points. Dave
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