I know what I want this to be. I really, really, really want it to be a fossilised dinosaur tooth.
It won’t be because I never find anything cool. Except for that one time in Cifton – but I had a lot of paleontologists pointing me in the right direction and then Scott Hocknell took it away and I never saw it again.
I found this when I was sorting a sample of our rocks from Roma. They are an assortment from a lot of different deposits that have been washed down a river and there are bits of petrified wood, some chert, quartzite, sandstone, something that feels ‘soapy’ that needs to be identified and lots of other bits and pieces as well.
They’re an excellent sample to have for showing erosion of different types of rocks. A lot of the pieces have been broken as well so you get a fresh face of the sample to compare with the weathered portion. Becuase they all come from the same deposit now they are a good example of how sediments are transported by water and how conglomerate rock can be formed of rocks from very different geological formations.
They would be great for primary school kids who just like to feel and examine different rocks as well as interesting samples for a stereomicroscope session. I think I’m really onto something there because when our friend Vivi pinned this pin to Pinterest last week and it grabbed attention really quickly from homeschoolers and teachers.
They also lend themselves to sorting and classifying experiments. Rock collections like these are a good introduction for biological classification lessons and good practice at identifying similar traits in different objects.
Keep an eye out here for activities using this sample. In the meantime you’ll be happy to know they have the Angus Seal of Approval.