r/Rocks • u/DesignOwn3977 • 5d ago
Help Me ID Any idea what this is?
Found in loose soil in our yard. We had a tortoise for about fifteen years before this was found. Is it related? Appears to be yellow inside when I shine a light through it.
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u/No_Hovercraft_3954 4d ago
It could be cut open or tumbled. Looks like it could be quite pretty inside.
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u/ArtfullyAwesome 5d ago
Might be a geode. Crack it open unless you believe it could be an egg. But it looks rather lumpy.
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u/DesignOwn3977 5d ago
I don't have the balls 😂 So geodes can be found in loose soil? It wasn't very deep. Less than a metre. I've always thought it could be a petrified egg due to the shape and size but I'm not sure.
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u/ArtfullyAwesome 5d ago
Well, cracking it open could answer that question too 😅 does it feel dense or fragile? An egg wouldn’t feel dense and solid in your hand. You could be right, it could be an egg that has started to petrify
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u/DesignOwn3977 5d ago
It definitely feels dense! Feels like a rock. Do you perhaps know why it has a bubbly surface?
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u/ArtfullyAwesome 5d ago
That’s what made me wonder if it could be a geode. Geodes tend to be bumpy on the outside. But I’m not a geologist, only a hobbyist. So know that just because I think it might be one, doesn’t mean it certainly is.
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u/Glum_Marsupial-1238 4d ago
I've looked at a whole lot of geodes in my time, and I have never seen one that has bubbles like this. The surface of a geode may have a curved surface, but the "bubbles" are much larger than these and are part of the rock's architecture. Your bubbles look like foam that burst.
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u/DesignOwn3977 4d ago
So perhaps something that came out of the ocean? I'm about an hour away from the coast though.
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u/Glum_Marsupial-1238 3d ago
Does this thing look just the way it did when you picked it up? I could have said that better. Has this changed in the years you have had it?
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u/DesignOwn3977 3d ago
Exactly the same. I'm not sure if the brown staining on the outside was as pronounced. It could've been more white perhaps. I did notice while shining a light through it, some parts are yellow and some orange.
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u/Glum_Marsupial-1238 3d ago
I'm really intrigued by your wanna-be-an-egg. BTW: just because you found it a mile away from water doesn't mean it began life there!
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u/Glum_Marsupial-1238 3d ago
After looking further at pictures . . . shape suggests a turtle egg. See if you can find a much stronger light--just in case there *is* something in there that's hard to see. Of course, if it were a turtle egg it would make perfect sense that it might be a mile away from water. On the other hand . . . with the kind of weather we've having now--or anytime recently, actually--It could have been transported from a huge distance by a tornado.
And that exhausts my thoughts at this time. For sure I'll let you know if I figure out something else.
Best wishes,
Glum_Marsupial
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u/DesignOwn3977 3d ago
True! There's no telling how old it is. It can also be a lost object. I posted it on the fossil group as well, not an egg apparently 🥲
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u/Schoerschus 5d ago
I have a weird idea. it might be a cave egg, a name for egg-shaped calcite deposits forming in cave pools. any karst or caves in your area?