Help Identifying Something

It looks like a chunk of old cement mixed with aggregate to me.
This would explain the weight and the porousness.
Maybe from an old bridge ....

Peace...

reply to post by KRISKALI777


I don't think it's coral, I think it's rhyolite or volcanic tuff. Probably volcanic tuff. Yes, or concrete, although that would probably have a mix of minerals in it.

But, as I said, where there is forest there once was ocean.
knol.google.com...#

Before 1.1 billion years ago, most of southern Ontario did not exist. It was a big deep ocean, with a bottom of cold oceanic crust. At that time, the cold oceanic crust began to sink, and the ocean started to converge, creating many subduction zones. Much like modern-day Japan, these subduction zones created volcanic island arcs, but still the ocean converged, and continents were starting to collide, much like Indian and Asia.

.....

Eventually, the basement rock cooled so much that it went below sea level. Shallow seas made extensive deposits, as the basement deflated. The sediments made flat layers for the most part, except over the megathrusts, where they had some difficulty. The continued sedimentation solidified the rock, but the rock over the weak megathrusts continued to fracture and slide, forming faults.

At some point in the past, we Ontario residents were lucky that the deep Moho once again heated up, lifting Ontario into the position we now enjoy. This probably happened during the last mass convergence of the continents, just before the Atlantic separation.

[edit on 5/24/2009 by ravenshadow13]

We used to find very similar rocks - and larger - along the Southern California coast south of Santa Barbara and south into Ventura.

Ontario was under the sea at one time, was it not?


A small fwiw.

Hiking the hills above Ventura, at about the 800-'1000' level we found pure white sand pouring out of a small cut in the bank next to the trail - which was also a one lane dirt road.

Found a lot of seashells and other interesting stuff in the sand which was very similar in color and texture to the wind-blown dunes at the beach.


[edit on 24/5/2009 by Desert Dawg]

reply to post by ravenshadow13


WOW! that explains why when we lived farther south of here I found some fossils that were tiny shells in rocks.
I just don't know what to say here guys but thanks for trying.
I still say it looks like very hard, very heavy sponge toffee. You can't tell from the pic but it is the same color as well.
And um..Bob..if a bunch of bugs come crawling out of it..all of ATS no matter where ya'll live, will hear me scream.

reply to post by AccessDenied


I'm not sure where in Ontario you live. But if you live near a city or a large town, see if there is a store that sells fossils and minerals. I used to work at one, and people came in all the time to have their rocks identified. It's usually free. Some of the stores sell arrowheads and things, so maybe search for "Mineral" or "Rock" or "Crystal" "stores near (your town.)" You could give them a call and probably bring it by. It's easier to identify rocks and minerals in person and they would probably know the deposits in your area really well.

If there isn't one near you, you may be able to find a college or museum nearby with a geology teacher or expert who could identify it.

And if not, I'm sure you could mail it to an expert online, such as a professor, a museum, or a mineral store. But we had people bringing rocks in all the time where I used to work.

It almost looks like an uncracked Geode.

Hard to say without a bigger photo.

reply to post by amatrine


I totally thought that too, but the shape is a tad oblong and it's kind of angular. I don't know, though. It's better for someone to identify it in person.

Raven, and everyone else thanks for helping me out here. There is a university here, and I'll see if I can get some help there.

If you take it to an expert, lets hope this doesn't happen:

Take another picture with a ruler beside the rock and then send the picture to a geologist or astronomical research society . I believe it could be a piece of a ice comet. Not all things that fall to Earth are iron meteorites. This could very well be a stone meteorite. I found a Arrow head just north of town where I live in Bakersfield Ca. and i'll be darned if it did not turn out to be from that Archatic period, 5,000-to 8,000 years old............KMG

It could be Pumice stone.. Drop it in a bucket of water and see if it floats.

Like the above post says, test to see if it floats. If it does, it's pumice.

Scrape some off and taste it. a little bit on your tongue won't kill you. Tell us how it tastes.

Pour something acidic on it and see what it does. Tell us what it does.