Beach find / kids asking what it is!

[Mrsh123]

Hi,thanks for adding me.

The kids found this on the beach in the northwest of the uk after an awful storm and are asking what it is. Can anyone help as one minute it looks volcanic on the picture then I see another and wonder if it’s from the sky.

Any help and I’d be really pleased.

 

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[islamoradamark]

Welcome from Florida

 

[Mrsh123]

Welcome from Florida

Hi - wish I was there right now!

 

[EQ8]

Hi and welcome.
Does a magnet stick to it?

 

[Mrsh123]

Hi and welcome.
Does a magnet stick to it?

Hi - thanks for replying - no not magnetic!

 

[Red-Coat]

Welcome.

You will get volcanic rocks on the NW coast, washed down from the Scottish Isles and also across from Ireland, but I don't think that's what it is.

It's glassy enough to be obsidian (volcanic glass), but obsidian never has vesicles (bubbles) like that. It's too glassy to be the kind of volcanic rock which can have vesicles, such as basalts and scorias.

I think, on balance, it's more likely to be slag glass (an industrial waste product) that was dumped at sea. It often has many vesicles and black is the most common colour.

 

[angelito1]

welcome to tnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[A2coins]

Thats a cool find be cool to hold onto

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Interesting find, I do not believe that the object came from space.

 

[Mrsh123]

These replies are really appreciated, thanks very much. The first thing my seven year old asked when he ran out of school was, ‘does anyone know what it is yet’. He really is like a beach womble ��

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Welcome to Tnet!
A friend, has a very similar looking piece, of slag glass.
Green and looks more like your top pic (not the bottom one with the holeys)
Idk any way to tell slag glass from obsidian....
Cool find & good luck in ya'll's future hunts!

Oh, I'll add... the only way I could think it could be from the sky,
is if it could be Moldavite. Which, may/may not be from sky, but
reaction from asteroid/space debris, hitting the earth with high heat.
Just a thought....

 

[Red-Coat]

The certain way to tell the difference between slag glass and obsidian is that obsidian never has large bubbles. If present at all, they’re infrequent, tiny and sometimes in short trails.. not copious, large, or randomly distributed.

Moldavite is a glassy tektite – effectively molten earthly silica arising from a meteorite impacting on earth and sending that molten material high up into the atmosphere before it descended again in droplets. Moldavite may be very dark in colour but, even at its darkest is discernibly green, like this (my collection) and an extremely unlikely find that far west of the impact site, which was Nordlingen in Germany.



Other tektites can be black and some of them may have got as far as orbital altitude to the extent that they could be loosely regarded as ‘from space’, but the UK is a long way from any known location where they could be found… even if transported by sea. This one (my collection) is from the Indo-Chinite strewnfield and was found in Thailand.



I can imagine your son's disappointment if all he has is slag glass. If you don't mind sending me your actual address by private message (obviously, don't post it here on the forum) I will put a tektite specimen in the post to you with my compliments and he can then make a comparison (as well as having something cool that he knows is 'outer-space related).

 

[CASPER-2]

looks like melted aluminum - if someone had a fire on the beach and beach was pebble covered - a melted can - pebbles could have made those dimples

 

[DigToChina]

I can imagine your son's disappointment if all he has is slag glass. If you don't mind sending me your actual address by private message (obviously, don't post it here on the forum) I will put a tektite specimen in the post to you with my compliments and he can then make a comparison (as well as having something cool that he knows is 'outer-space related).

This might not fit into the honourable mention category but this is beyond an honourable offer to this guy and his kid. You are a credit sir.

 

[Mrsh123]

Hi Red-coat,
What an amazingly generous offer! He will be delighted when I tell him tomorrow. Thanks so much. I’ll work out how to send the address shortly.
Also thanks for the detailed explanation and pictures. This forum is a minefield and everyone is so friendly.

He’s not too disappointed, he just likes thorough explanations of what he finds leading to me googling what I don’t know but this one stumped me!

Thanks again

 

[Mrsh123]

Welcome.

You will get volcanic rocks on the NW coast, washed down from the Scottish Isles and also across from Ireland, but I don't think that's what it is.

It's glassy enough to be obsidian (volcanic glass), but obsidian never has vesicles (bubbles) like that. It's too glassy to be the kind of volcanic rock which can have vesicles, such as basalts and scorias.

I think, on balance, it's more likely to be slag glass (an industrial waste product) that was dumped at sea. It often has many vesicles and black is the most common colour.

I can’t wait to get back out with them - wonder what else we’ll find. Thanks for replying

 

[Mrsh123]

welcome to tnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thanks - what a great forum

 

[Mrsh123]

Thats a cool find be cool to hold onto

Thanks - I think he appreciates it’s coolness

 

[arrow86]

Wonder if it could be fulgurite ( caused by lightning striking sand )

 

[Greastart]

These replies are really appreciated, thanks very much. The first thing my seven year old asked when he ran out of school was, ‘does anyone know what it is yet’. He really is like a beach womble ��

I don't know what a wombie is but I feel safe in saying your son would LOVE to have a metal detector to wombie around the beach with!