DEPOE BAY A chunk of rock found in a cliff near Depoe Bay is not a fossil of a turtle, but it might have something interesting inside.

Scientists and fossil experts concluded the rock is a concretion a stack of sedimentary rock made up of a mineral cement deposited by groundwater that flows through pores between the grains of sediment.

The concretion might hold a fossil, but its too early to tell.

Its kind of like your first blind date, said state paleontologist Bill Orr. The closer they get, the worse they look.

Orr checked out the rock with Guy DiTorrice, a fossil expert, and Bill Hanshumaker, a marine education specialist with the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

The rock was discovered last month at the base of a Lincoln County resort in a location the scientists have asked not be revealed.

The rock at first looked as if it could be a turtle or tortoise. Cracks in the object resemble scutes, the bony external plates that make up turtle shells. However, as more rock was exposed, it became clear there were too many cracks.

A normal turtle has 40 or 50 different individual bones that make up the shell, Orr said. This thing has a couple hundred.

Weve gone from it could be a turtle to it could be a tortoise to its one huge rock thats still one of the biggest concretions weve ever seen on the Oregon Coast, DiTorrice said.

Concretions are often found wrapping buried fossils because the structure of the fossil creates gaps through which mineral-filled water flows. The rock may hide an ancient fossil.

Typically, the center of a concretion is something biotic, Hanshumaker said. If you crack it in the right direction, you can see the whole fossil inside of it.

Cracking the rock, however, may be too dangerous. Han-shumaker applied for a permit to remove the rock, but it was found to be anchoring an overhang. Pulling it out could cause the hillside, home to a hotel, to come tumbling down.

Were not sure what it is, but its a hazard, Hanshumaker said.

Hes considering ground-penetrating radar to see what the rock might be hiding. If the next big storm causes the rock to tumble, it could be removed and X-rayed.

Were waiting for Mother Nature to knock it off the wall, Hanshumaker said.