Diana's Mystery

Our friend, Diana, and her husband , Roy, came upon this very heavy stone on a ridge top on their farm many years ago. Diana brought it in to see if I would know what it may be. Is it a meteorite or some other critter?

The stone is approximately 10 ounces and has this nice brown patina. I contacted our friend, Deb, who teaches at Fairmont State University. Professor Deb Hemler is an excellent geologist.

After consulting with Deb, she concluded that this is an iron concretion. Deb said "these concretions are iron deposition from groundwater circulating through sediments. For some reason a "seed" like a crystal or small scat will form the center as concentric rings of iron precipitate out of solution... we find a lot of these here in the Morgantown area and huge ones in the Green Bank area.. they call them Turtlebacks down there."

A week later Diana brought to the house some neat fossils that she and her hubby found during the low water winter stage at the Summersville Dam. These fossils were also produced by deposition of iron on the surface of these bivalves.

If you all have an idea of the genus of this clam or approximate age, please leave a message. Diana and I would appreciate it. Thanks.