What is this please? Petrified wood maybe? manmade or ???

[Daven]

It looks like some kind of sedimemtary layered rock or manmade? But cannot identify it. It has like a sandy clay inbetween some of the layers, a few smaller bits snapped off like plaster others are hard as, well, rock. Extremely heavy, was dusty prior to washing, no fibres though. Stinky. No idea what the black layer is. Bit wet from washing in the photos and since then noticed little white specks on the rock. I am not convinced that this is Petrified wood. Most of it is solid and hard, sort of chalky if I scratch it but can smudge back over scratch to hide it. This rock was got in Spain no idea where it was found though.
Thank you.

 

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[Tpmetal]

looks like an old piece of a boat with the tar calking still in-between the boards. But thats a wild shot in the dark

 

[Tpmetal]

heat up a needle and poke that black stuff and see what happens and what it smells like

 

[Daven]

Update: thanks for the guess I can see what you mean. But "apparently" it is something called Thousand Layer Stone: is characterized by the layers of detail formed after thousands of years of weathering and erosion. It's colors range from a dark grey to Mars red tone. And the black thing is some kind of slate or mineral that got sandwiched inbetween the other layers.

looks like an old piece of a boat with the tar calking still in-between the boards. But thats a wild shot in the dark

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Does appear to be that. The darker layer may be chert/flint that occurred to fill a void or was a larger layer when it formed. For whatever reason there was more lime or silica at that time and the result was flint once it transformed to rock.

 

[Daven]

Thank you, yes the black part I had trouble describing does have a kind of chert or flint quality to it, the texture and feel of that sort of rock anyway. I plan on putting it in an aquarium.

Does appear to be that. The darker layer may be chert/flint that occurred to fill a void or was a larger layer when it formed. For whatever reason there was more lime or silica at that time and the result was flint once it transformed to rock.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just saw this thread. Yes, what you have is a chunk of what is colloquially called “Thousand Year Stone”… one of many ‘lucky stones’ favoured in the orient (especially China) for use in ornamental gardens and also as a backdrop for things like ‘bonsai’ trees. Some people call it “Garden Quartz”. It’s now being sold for use in aquariums, so I presume the ‘stink’ you noted is not toxic to fish.

It’s basically dirty quartz with multiple inclusions (usually in the chlorite group) and stratified with various sedimentary impurities. Unofficially, the crystalline portion is known as “Lodolite Quartz” (various spellings and misspellings), derived from the Spanish “lodo”, meaning “sludge/mud”. I don’t know if it occurs in Spain. Mostly it comes from China, and also from Brazil.

PS: welcome to Tnet

 

[ToddsPoint]

Before you put it in your aquarium, boil it. This will kill any bad stuff on the rock that might effect your fish. I learned this the hard way. Gary

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Before you put it in your aquarium, boil it. This will kill any bad stuff on the rock that might effect your fish. I learned this the hard way. Gary

Great piece of advice here Todd.

Welcome to Tnet from Toronto Daven.

 

[Tpmetal]

cool stuff!