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Mystery at the beach ....

Outdoorsfellar

Outdoorsfellar

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Newark / Hanover, Licking County
Ok you rock & mineral guys ..... my wife likes to comb the beach for shells & sharks teeth. Today, she found this rock & it was an odd find that she's never seen before. Looking closely, there's a shell or two imbedded inside. Looks like a lava rock to me, but I certainly doubt it. Any ideas ?

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Is it heavy or light ? ( as rocks that size go)

It sure looks like Coal to me. The highest formation of a coal seam is the Waynesburg coal seam from a little over 300 million years ago. Its only 40' to 60 foot down depending on the location found. Many out-cropping's around. The only other common formations are Shale, Sandstone, Siltstone or Limestone and it certainly doesn't look like any of them. Black carbonated shale is more "platy" and deeper down requiring much more time to form.
 
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When you say beach... Are we talking the Atlantic Ocean .. I'm going with coal also, but who knows...
 
CJD3 said:
Is it heavy or light ? ( as rocks that size go)

It sure looks like Coal to me. The highest formation of a coal seam is the Waynesburg coal seam from a little over 300 million years ago. Its only 40' to 60 foot down depending on the location found. Many out-cropping's around. The only other common formations are Shale, Sandstone, Siltstone or Limestone and it certainly doesn't look like any of them. Black carbonated shale is more "platy" and deeper down requiring much more time to form.
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It's kinda heavy. The way it's pitted & has a loose small shell or two inside had me wondering .... and myrtle beach region....
 
I
Outdoorsfellar said:
It's kinda heavy. The way it's pitted & has a loose small shell or two inside had me wondering .... and myrtle beach region....
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I was basing it on a more Ohio, PA type environment.

You know the Appellation mountain range was formed when the contentent of what we now call Africa slammed into our land mass,(east coast) pushing up the earth millions of years ago due to plate tectonics. As time went on Africa drifted back to its current location. On the west side of the Mts a shallow ocean was once covering areas like
Ohio, PA and W Va. When it dried up, it left a large reserve of salt which is still mined under Lake Erie near Cleveland even today.
 
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At its peak, the Appellation mountain range was bigger and more rugged than the Rocky Mountains are today but time and weather have worn em down as they are much older than the Rockies. This would have happened some time after the time we call Pangea when there was largely one large land mass, before they broke up into what we know today.
 
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I'm saying Vescular Basalt. Likely from the mid-Atlantic ridge or a volcanic dike or sill offshore. It hasn't been exposed and rolling around the beach or ocean floor very long. Could have been buried and then exposed due to dredging or storms. Does it float? It doesn't look porous enough to float like pumice.
 
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