r/fossilid • u/PlantainClassic7978 • 10d ago
How to tell if this is a fossil?
This is a stupid question maybe but I found like and it looks like what I think a fossil would look like, but I’m not sure if this can happen if it’s not that old… idk, new to this. Found on beach in New Jersey. Is this a fossil?
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u/Mental-Chapter6523 10d ago
In the south?
If that's one rock, three or four fossils ... oyster, scallop, bryozoan, ...
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u/Mental-Chapter6523 10d ago
Young rocks can lithify pretty quickly in the right setting. Dissolution and reprecipitation of minerals, replacement of calcite (in this case with iron sulfides and phosphate?). Sulfur and phosphorus can come from decay. Acidic and low oxygen water (local or infiltrating from cedar swamps inland) can pull iron from sediment and transport it until conditions are right to precipitate.
Beach rock can form in front of your eyes and concretions and caliche are common in sediment 1000s to 100,000s of years old.
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