This is a very rare and awesome find. This is a crab claw that has been opalised in the same way that petrified wood is. Very rare and very beautiful specimen.
WOW!!!!1
Science side of Tumblr please explain how this possible.
It forms when plant/animal material is buried by sediment and protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment replacing the original plant or animal material with silica, calcite, pyrite or another inorganic material such as opal.
The result is a fossil of the original material that often exhibits preserved details of the cellular structures.
Hope I have helped.
– Jelly
Can a human body turn to opal? Asking for a friend.
Anything which has biological organic material which can decompose can. So in theory yes. It’d be the most amazing macabre thing ever and something I’d be so fascinated by.
The Carving Witch 