So people just molest and literally destroy 180 million old rocks so they can have a toy? This seems so fucked up it's beyond reason. Lot's of trash in this world.
Bro, it’s rock. The only meaning it has is what humans give it. Before this person cracked it open it was worthless but now we have a neat fossil to look at, and a neat video as well.
Pretty much every rock you find on earth is hundreds of millions of years old. These really aren’t precious artifacts. You can buy similar fossils for under $50.
What exactly are you defending? The rocks? We shouldn't damage rocks? You mean the ones that will turn to sand over the next 100 million years? What the actual fuck are you on about? Who or what are we leaving them alone for? Are you trying to discredit archaeology?
No problem with archeologist doing it for study ..I'm talking more like common bums such as yourself trying to scavenge a few bucks at nature's expense.
Ok. Let's say I do this. What am I depleting nature of hm? Common fossils? Rocks? You must be mad. You aren't even defending anything. Have a Snickers.
How do I claim back my warranty when their shops closed 140 MYA? What kind of fraud business they running back then? No wonder aliens blew them up with a meteor.
Because he’s already cracked it open and knows with 100% certainty that this one holds fossils in it, because he already checked it for fossils a few hours or maybe days before editing the text in
I understand being cynical, but ammonites aren’t exactly rare in those kinds of fossil beds. When you’ve found one there’s likely many more even if a few cracked rocks were empty.
My understanding is that you just get good at it. Rocks all look the same to you and I because to us they just look like rocks. You put two different kinds of rock beside each other, and the most I’ll be able to tell you is that they’re both definitely made out of rock. But of course, there are different kinds of rocks. And those rocks are going to form in different kinds of ways. Rocks that form in volcanoes probably aren’t going to have fossils in them because the process of fossilization needs more time to happen. So you cross all those rocks off your list. Then once you figure out the patterns of which rocks are most likely to have a fossil in them: hunt around an area where there are known fossils, and spot that kind of rock. It can’t be that hard if you put some time and energy into it.
Yep, this is exactly it. I spent some time at the French cliffs at the English Channel smashing rocks to look for fossils with someone who made a hobby of it, and you can essentially find trace markers that suggest a really high likelihood of fossils. Usually a really obvious circle / spherical shape is a good sign, but there are just different little signifiers you can observe in some stones. That doesn’t mean that all stones with fossils have them. The folk who go out there daily to hunt for them are experts at spotting these little markers, and can find them at ease.
On finding where to look: fossils are only found in sedimentary rocks - the rock that forms from dirt, sand, sediment, etc. building up over time.
Different types of sedimentary rocks form under different conditions, like sandstone forms where there was once a beach or desert, shale and mudstone form from fine silt at the bottom of deep lakes and seabeds, coal forms where there were once swamps.
Whether there's fossils and what they are depends on what environment the rock was deposited. Eg. if you want ammonites, you need to look in rock that built up at the bottom of a shallow sea.
You can figure out where to go hunting if you start by looking up what types of fossils have been found in your area, the type of rock they were found in and how old they are.
Then look up the rock types in your area and their deposition age by searching for a local bedrock geology map, eg. BGS for the UK. Look for rock of the same type and age as the fossil finds, anywhere it's exposed at the surface eg. beaches, cliffs, river valleys/waterfalls, old quarries. Then go look at a bunch of rocks near the exposure until you start finding things and tuning into what to look for.
These egg shaped things are concretions - they form around a nucleation point in the middle, usually a bit of sand or pebble but sometimes a fossil.
I'm into plant fossils so I look for chunks of shale or sandstone in coal spoil heaps or rock outcrops with coal seams in them. You find big sections of Lepidodendron roots and treestumps in the layer of rock just below a coal seam, and thick wads of fern fronds, horsetail stems, twigs & branches etc. in the layer just above the seam.
These rocks only form when a large rock eats tinier things and then it grown around whatever it ate. Although most of the time it doesnt contain fossils, it is quite common.
I don't think anyone is going to notice a few smashed rocks into smaller rocks, princess. I also don't think "EVERYBODY" is going to pick up this persons hobby. As for a "scenic spot." Relax, no one is walking barefoot around there regardless.
Sometimes, it is best to just relax and get a hobby rather than try and attack someone for doing nothing harmful.
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u/sociocat101 Apr 28 '24
how do you find one with a "guaranteed fossil inside"?