Reviews
This Specimen has been sold.
HERE ARE SOME OTHER SIMILAR FOSSILS FOR SALE
Bargain, 7.5" Polished Utah Septarian Heart - Broken Heart
This heart is bargain priced because it was broken in shipping to us and we repaired it. The repaired crack is barely visible on one side, but there is some missing fragements in the crack on the other. Had this heart not been broken and repaired it would retail for about $240
This is an absolutely stunning piece of septarian that has been polished into a heart shape. The septarian was mined West of Orderville, Utah and was deposited during the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago. It has a beautiful calcite crystal encrusted pocket. It comes with an acrylic display stand.
This is an absolutely stunning piece of septarian that has been polished into a heart shape. The septarian was mined West of Orderville, Utah and was deposited during the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago. It has a beautiful calcite crystal encrusted pocket. It comes with an acrylic display stand.
Septarian or septarian nodules are concretions containing angular cavities or cracks, called "septaria", filled with calcite and aragonite. A concretion is a hard, compact mass of rock that often forms around decaying organic matter. In the case of septarian nodules, the concretions formed around decaying sea-life in a marine environment.
The exact mechanism for how the cracks form in the concretions is a mystery. One possible mechanism is the dehydration of the clay-rich core of a concretion, causing it to shrink and crack. The cracks could also be caused by gas expansion produced by the decaying organic matter within a concretion. Earthquakes have also been suggested as yet another mechanism.
The cracks in the concretions are then filled in with minerals such as calcite (yellow), aragonite (brown), and sometimes pyrite, causing the very interesting patterns. They have often been described as looking like dragon's skin. They are frequently found as geodes with hollow, calcite crystal-filled cavities. More rarely, the fossils that originally started the formation of the concretion are still preserved in the septarian.
The exact mechanism for how the cracks form in the concretions is a mystery. One possible mechanism is the dehydration of the clay-rich core of a concretion, causing it to shrink and crack. The cracks could also be caused by gas expansion produced by the decaying organic matter within a concretion. Earthquakes have also been suggested as yet another mechanism.
The cracks in the concretions are then filled in with minerals such as calcite (yellow), aragonite (brown), and sometimes pyrite, causing the very interesting patterns. They have often been described as looking like dragon's skin. They are frequently found as geodes with hollow, calcite crystal-filled cavities. More rarely, the fossils that originally started the formation of the concretion are still preserved in the septarian.
SPECIES
Septarian
LOCATION
West of Orderville, Utah
FORMATION
Frontier Formation
SIZE
7.5 x 6.5", 1.7" thick
CATEGORY
ITEM
#170298
