Found a weird layered rock in a creek near Boulder last month, my buddy says it's just shale but I think there's a fossil in it. What's your take?

4 comments

4 Comments

Oh man, get it wet and look close! Shale splits apart pretty easy, so you might see more detail if the rock is damp. Could you post a picture of the wet surface?

holly_thompson981mo ago

Wetting it could mess up the surface details though.

nancy_king2917d ago

My buddy found something almost exactly like that in a creek near Golden a couple years back. He swore it was just a weird rock but after he got it wet you could see this clear spiral shape, turned out to be an ancient ammonite imprint. So yeah, I'm with the folks saying try wetting it, just go slow and don't poke at it too hard. Shale can be super fragile once it's damp, so maybe use a spray bottle instead of dunking it. Worst case you just have a wet rock, best case you got yourself a cool fossil.

singh.elizabeth1mo ago

Tessaperry has a good point about wetting it. Shale does show more when it's damp, just be careful not to damage anything. Boulder creek finds can be tricky because the rock layers there get all mixed up. Could totally be a fossil imprint if it looks like a leaf or a shell shape. A close up picture would really help.

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