A section of ..

Discussion

5 replies

Posted by David Taylor on February 25, 2010 at 9:42 AM

..stem of the genus Calamites a giant Coal Measures (Upper Carboniferous) horsetail about 300 million years old, give or take a few million years. I found it amongst a 5 ton load of stone I purchased off a local farmer who was clearing stones from one of his fields. It is about 2 inches in diameter and weighs 2 lb 1 oz. Makes a great paperweight.

Sigma SD14 dslr
Sigma 50mm Ex macro lens
Novoflex Mini Tripod
Novoflex MagicBall ballhead
F10
30 sec
ISO 50
M setting
For each of 3 images
1 x 3w LED light only
Stacked using Helicon Focus5.0X64
Framed in Xara Xtreme Pro 5

Posted by John Chapman on February 25, 2010 at 10:26 AM

Hi David, a great find and a very nice pictue.

Posted by Andy Astbury on February 25, 2010 at 10:57 AM

Ah, now you've started me off turning the house upside down David - I have a Belemnite somewhere, and can't find it, it's been replaced with iron pyrite in a fine black ground which I found years ago in a brook in Derbyshire - back in the days when you could whack rocks with a hammer and not get in trouble.

Cracking artifact to find - can you imagine what a swamp full of these monsters must have been like.

Posted by Ian Macdermott on February 25, 2010 at 11:47 AM

Hi David,

strange looking thing and nice job photographing it

Posted by Maggie Campbell on February 25, 2010 at 12:33 PM

A great find David. How long did it take searching 5 ton of stone to find it? Nicely shot and framed.

Andy A have you tried looking in "your" drawer

Posted by David Taylor on February 25, 2010 at 2:34 PM

Thanks for commenting folks. Hope you find it, Andy, I'll look forward to seeing it on here.

Maggie, No time at all as I didn't know it was there.

I was on the look out for a meteorite though. I did find a specimen that could be, see above, but the odds are very much against it, as UK specimens are extremely rare apparently.