What The Heck Is This Thing???

An odd object my dad found while fossil hunting in Braidwood Illinois. We hit it with a hammer and realized it wasn't a normal fossil concretion. Where it was struck, it was shiny and metallic. It is also VERY heavy. It almost feels like it's made of metal. Any help with what this thing is would be very helpful. Thanks!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Strange
• Rock
• Metal
• Material

[danlnad]

I think it's a pyrite concretion. They are common in coal regions like Illinois. Hematite doesn't occur naturally in Illinois. I have found many pyrite nodules and pyrite dollars in southern Illinois.

[Fenderwolf95]

@danlnad Come to think of it, that does seem like a more probable answer. Thanks!

[Karmaceutical420]

Cool Rock, Lets hope it stays as a pet. Has it Hatched yet? Just Kidding :P But I have to ask, has it ever moved while your not looking? Like you leave it in one place and then find it somewhere else and no ones been around to move it? Have you seen the moving stones of the desert? This rock reminds me of them.

[Fenderwolf95]

@Karmaceutical420 From research I've done after this video was posted I'm almost certain it's a Hematite Concretion. Still a cool rock

[Sheilaaliens]

A DINGALING HOPPER!~ HURRAY FOR ROCK HUNTING AND STUFF AND wow that looks to have some tinfoil underneath its skin, perhaps molten material from an asteroid/comet. The rarest of alien comet debris DO NOT react to a metal detector soooooo.. hmm! i love it! P.S... Your dad? A bad ass dad. They should make more like him. My dad always had out his metal detector and we would go treasure hunting, jars and jars of foreign coins and jewelry... nothing better! <33

[Fenderwolf95]

@Sheilaaliens I think I may have figured it out. I think it's a hematite concretion :P

[luvovror02]

Possibilities 1) a meteorite-contact a major museum in your area and ask if they can test it for you.....2) "space waste"-incinerated capsule containing the astronauts waste...I heard a News cast with a NASA Repdescribing it. This was shortly after a meteorite fell in my area a couple years ago. NASA would like to examine these objects, if found.

[Newbonic]

I have a rock just like this. I collected it on a guided tour of the Jurassic coast of north Yorkshire, England at robin hoods bay.The geologist who led the tour said it was ironstone - an iron rich rock. I was v disappointed as I was hoping it was a dinosaur egg! The white veins in mine were caused by sand filling the cracks of some ancient dried mudbed (think of the cracking of dried mud) on some Jurassic shore. I found a fossil ammonite in the same bay also.

[ashlandbridge1]

Probably fools gold! I have found lots of this stuff!



[TheLacedaemonian300]

I found a couple of these at mazon creek too. Glad you asked the question, saved me some time!!

[Fenderwolf95]

@ArmageddonProphet I think I may have figured it out. I think it's a hematite concretion :P