Turtle

[SDhunter]

A friend of mine dug this out of a gravel pit nearby. It is about 10 inches long. I wonder how many millions of years this one is.




Thanks for looking. Gary

[painshill]

Hi Gary
That's a concretion of a type generally known as a septarian nodule (also colloquially known as "turtle stones" because of the resemblance to turtles):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septari...an_concretions
If you google the term you will see lots of similar examples (the Wiki page only shows one that has been split open). It's a natural geological form, but not a fossil.
Here's one from the UK Natural History Museum blog:

[2ndoldman]

Still an interesting find though SDhunter.

[SDhunter]

painshill wrote:

Hi Gary
That's a concretion of a type generally known as a septarian nodule (also colloquially known as "turtle stones" because of the resemblance to turtles):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septari...an_concretions
If you google the term you will see lots of similar examples (the Wiki page only shows one that has been split open). It's a natural geological form, but not a fossil.
Here's one from the UK Natural History Museum blog:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n219894[/ATTACH]

Wow, thanks Roger. Had me fooled. He had some other concretions there, and I told him so, but didn't think this one was. I don't have the heart to tell him he found
a concretion. Maybe someday. Thanks again.
Gary