Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 (edited) This was found while fossil hunting in Florida in recently dredged sand. The sand came from just offshore in an area that was land several thousand years ago in the gulf of mexico. I thought this was a fossil at first but noticed a bit of rust and the item is magnetic but not as magnetic as normal iron. Measures 1 3/4 inches long and has a weight of over 36 grams. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o6Z_N9EdYZs14Fs5E3NLWEYnltvEnAfL/view?usp=drivesdk Edited December 20, 2018 by Captainj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 (edited) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bP6abZ67ZC9mMmq43GNV7MWNh2HiIauB/view?usp=drivesdk. https://drive.google.com/file/d/159glP6kGkqQbRcjhL4rgNLDsG1SUjKKA/view?usp=drivesdk Edited December 20, 2018 by Captainj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I think it's a piece of slag. Meteorites don't have vesicles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 I looked up vesicles and they say 1 in 1000 meatorites have them. If it is slag not sure how it would have been burried under 10 or 20 feet of sand at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. We found fossils millions of years old that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 It looks just like tramp metal to me. Any metal that sits in salt water rapidly turns to shale. That shale is non magnetic and will make the specimen "less magnetic than regular iron". It does not have any characteristics of a meteorite at all from my point of view. But then if an iron meteorite fell into the ocean it would look a lot like that as it rusted away. So would any other piece of iron. I am not sure anyone could tell the difference by a photo once it is severely corroded like that. If you are convinced it is a meteorite then you need to file a window, do a nickel test and get an expert to evaluate it. Otherwise I would call it a piece of rusted metal from the bottom of the ocean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardtimehermit Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 What kind of fossil did you think it could be? Why do you think it's a meteorite, slag or a meteorite could be found under 20 of sand. 7 minutes ago, Captainj said: I looked up vesicles and they say 1 in 1000 meatorites have them. If it is slag not sure how it would have been burried under 10 or 20 feet of sand at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. We found fossils millions of years old that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Just looks like it was melted at one time and it does look like more than one kind of metal as some parts are not rusted. Who knows it could be anything. Guess I just had a feeling. Never know what you will find in dredge material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 15 minutes ago, Captainj said: Just looks like it was melted at one time and it does look like more than one kind of metal as some parts are not rusted. Who knows it could be anything. Guess I just had a feeling. Never know what you will find in dredge material. IMHO it is probably weld metal or slag. Lots of that on a ship and lots of it going over the sides. The ocean bottom is covered with the products of ship building/repairing and there must be thousands of tons of rusted metal laying on the sea floor just off the coasts. If it looks like it was melted that is a pretty good indication it is not a meteorite. Meteorites don't melt nor do they look melted. Only a welder or a torch melts metal and allows gas bubbles to form. So there is very good evidence this is man made and little to no meteoritic characteristics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainj Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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