Is there a rock docter in the house???? - Geologist needed.
Submitted: Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 12:56
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Member - Mick O (VIC)
Just hoping there might be a current or retired geologist on the site who can offer me some info about this interesting paper weight.
I found it while wandering about the Paterson Ranges in the
Great Sandy desert this year. I presumed it was a geological phenomena but am I looking at something from the fossil record? A prehistoric cricket ball perhaps? The ball area is about 110mm in width.
I’ve googled fruitlessly for some answers so if anyone is familiar with the provenance of neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the northwest Paterson Orogen (Actually I found these big words on Google), hopefully you may be able to steer me in the right direction.
Cheers. Mick
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Reply By: Willem - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 13:06
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 13:06
Mick
Its a Mud Bubble
Cheers
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339490
Follow Up By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:10
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:10
G'day Willem,
so it's a a mud bubble. I presume that it has gotten trapped in sediment or mud at some time in the dim dark past and solidified into rock as part of the geological processes. Are they common? Certainly an interesting souvenir from the last trip.
Cheers Mick
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Follow Up By: Willem - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:22
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:22
Yep
I found something similar over in western NSW in August.
If we were able to lie around for a long time we might go rock hard too....lol
Chrs
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Reply By: troopyman - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 13:16
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 13:16
Its a lump of hard dry mud .
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Follow Up By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:14
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 14:14
It's real Hard Troopy, it's turned to stone! The bubble has actually turned to stone over time (LOTS of time I'd say).
Thanks for the response.
Mick
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Reply By: darrell.QLD - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:02
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:02
Elephant testical..!!!Heaps of people eat elephants aparently..
Thats the left over bit.....
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Reply By: Member - Brad S (SA) - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:09
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:09
Dinosaur poo!
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Reply By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:31
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 15:31
Hi Mick, yes mud bubble from the molten lava by the looks of it. Looks like it must have been covered pretty quickly with dust and left to solidify for a "couple" of years, like my arteries !
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Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 16:31
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 16:31
By the way, your blog only goes as far down as
Well 38 so far. What happened then ? :))
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Follow Up By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 21:55
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 21:55
Sorry footy, too much work and not enough time to get some
blogs done. It was a story of tragedy and triumph (better build up the anticipation) that I promise I'll get done this week.
Meanwhile, if you want a laugh, have another look at the one about using butane gas to reseat a tyre. I've finally gotten round to putting the 3rd clip in it -
What NOT to do!
Cheers Mick
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Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 23:01
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 23:01
I can see why the 3rd video was necessary! How was the arm , just a tad singed?
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Follow Up By: mintabiegeoff - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 06:27
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 06:27
Reminds me of opal miners. In
Mintabie they used detonating cord to unseat the bead on scraper tyres. It worked
well most of the time unless you used too much and blew the locking ring to pieces. One bloke thought this might be a good way to get the piston out of a jammed bulldozer ram. It worked. The piston flew 200m across the
creek and through a neighbours workshop roof, smashing everything on his bench and narrowly missing him.
Geoff
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Follow Up By: troopyman - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:04
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:04
If it was volcanic origin then it would be a black color wouldnt it ?
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Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:11
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:11
Troopyman, that's a good point. I would of expected a dark colour, but the oxides would probably stain it over a few hundred million years ?
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Follow Up By: troopyman - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:20
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:20
Could it be a tidal object . If something was rolling around a tide it would gather mud and form a ball . This could have happened tens of millions of years ago . Whats inside if you crack it open ?
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Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:32
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 09:32
Mud volcanos often emit such bubbles. Given where they were found, it seems more likely to actually be a good example of one of these. Inside they often contain sulphur crystals and gypsum, although you'd need a lab analysis to find any traces now I suspect.
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Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 10:10
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 10:10
Mick,
Wondered what these were too.
Found this one east of Diamantina River, in a place that may incriminate me if I told you. No doubt the darker colour is due to sunburn, it gets hot around here!!
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Hooroo,
Bob.
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Follow Up By: Member - Mick O (VIC) - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 10:16
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 10:16
Hey Bob,
I think your has been through the fires of hell by the looks of it. It's much better defined. Wonder what's inside it?
Mick
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 16:59
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 16:59
Mick and Bob
With the post below, I would be out with the grinder and be cutting the thing in haft.
Just be carefull of the curse.. LOL
Richard
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Reply By: Louie the fly (SA) - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:12
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 11:12
Late reply, but could it be a Thunder Egg encased in sediment?
Thunder Egg
Louie
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Reply By: mintabiegeoff - Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 12:37
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008 at 12:37
We used to find large "balls" like this in
sandstone at
Mintabie and
Lambina's Seven Waterholes opal fields. At
Mintabie they were head size and before we knew any better we called them nigger heads. Now that we know what is politically correct we call them niggerheads. They were always a good
sign of opal nearby. They were definitely (I think) sedimentary in origin because when we left them in the sun they would eventually break up into slices. They find similar (hollow) "nuts" at
Yowah with opal inside some of them.
Geoff
AnswerID:
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