geodes found in coal vein also flint balls or nodules

all_atv · May 26, 2009

Hi New to the boards but have been reading here for about a month now after finding my first arrowhead. I have been looking for rocks ever since! On a recent kayak/rock hunting trip I found a 3 ft thick coal vein in the creek bank. There were roundish rocks in a layer of clay like shale? This layer was about 8inches thick right on top of the coal. I picked the space saucer shaped rock out of the soft clay layer. There were many more but I only took this sample, most of the others were more round or oval shaped. A few feet downstream on a rock pile there were more of the same roundish rocks, some were broken open revealing a geode like inside with small clear and brown/amber crystals. I'm sure this is a common find in coal veins, but I'd like some info on these if anyone knows more about them. I would like to get it cut in half and polished for display. Theres a company that does that sort of thing in my town.

We also found some fools gold in some crumbly coal at that same site. One piece has a nice fosil actualy in the gold. My bro found that and havnt got a pic yet as he has it.

Next a mile or two downstream on a rock bar We found many almost perfect round balls of flint nodules. Which I didnt know flint would form this way. Some of the balls were larger then bowling balls. but most were broken up. I brought back one intact ball the size of a baseball, and a few rounded pieces from the surface of larger balls which are pictured.

My bro did find one indian bead on the trip! But I will post about that in the indian artifacts page ; )

Thanks for looking and any input or info!

Sorry didn't relize the low quality pics till i posted but I'll do beter next time. They are cell phone pics.

MEinWV · May 26, 2009

Neat! I would love to find some geodes!

Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana?

all_atv · May 26, 2009

Oh ya forgot to mention location... Southeast Iowa

Harry Pristis · May 28, 2009

Sounds like you've discovered "coal balls." You can find lots of info by doing an Internet search. Here's the Brittannica definition:

a lump of petrified plant matter, frequently spheroid, found in coal seams of the Upper Carboniferous Period (from 325,000,000 to 280,000,000 years ago). Coal balls are important sources of fossil information relating to the forests preceding the Coal Age. As a result of a variety of conditions, small pockets of plant debris in Carboniferous swamps, infiltrated by mineral salts, became petrified rather than changed into coal. These petrifactions, ranging from a few grams to several hundred kilograms, have been uncovered in the central United States, in England, in a broad area from Belgium to the Ukraine, and in Spain.