Pseudofossils(Fossils that really aren't!)Faces and Other Oddities
Rocks can assume the darndest shapes! The shape alone will not help you identify a rock. Chert (composed of quartz) is commonly found in limestone. It replaces the limestone in irregular shapes. Some of those random shapes will look like... Well, if you have even a poor imagination, you will see faces, animals and all sorts of natural and artificial things.
Chert "face" formed by erosion and weathering Not a mammoth foot print, a pothole formed by the river Meade County, Kentucky with sand and gravel. Falls of the Ohio (shoe, left for scale)
Another face? No, another chert concretion. Happy rock? Turn it upside-down. Chert concretion Floyd and Harrison County, Indiana
Bull's Eye! Broken chert nodule - Floyd County, Indiana Not a petrified brain, a geode in limestone. Meade County, Kentucky Beekite ring - associated with deeply Ironstone concretion, looks like the link in a chain weathered quartz. These ring-like, bull's-eye Jefferson County, Kentucky structures are often found on fossils replaced by quartz. Oldham Co., KY
Naturally dissolved limestone that looks like a large claw. A triangular piece of limestone with a zone of Meade County, Kentucky weathering. This is not man-made. Meade County, Kentucky
Cone-in-cone, a natural sedimentary rock feature. Eroded fossil-rich limestone and chert. Jefferson County, Kentucky Bullitt County, Kentucky
Chert nodule in limestone Zacatecas state, central Mexico (Courtesy P. Salinas) “Not-Quite Ready for Primetime Fossils”
Bone-Like Egg-Like Scale, Skin & Turtle-Patterns Wood-Like Fossils that are not what they appear Created February 22, 2010, Updated October 15, 2010
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