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Soft tissue blood vessels and cells from a Tyrannosaurus rex bone were discovered by Dr. Mary Schweitzer in 2004. Ever since, scientists have wondered how such soft tissues preserve into the fossil record. Finally, we have an answer, based on organic chemistry theory. Below is a link to a recent news article that explains these ideas in layman’s terms. The article itself describes a recently published, peer-reviewed research paper: https://phys.org/news/2023-05-dinosaur-tissues-deep.amp
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Unique wood from Round Mountain Silt, anyone seen anything like this?
H. Drax posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Been going through an old collection I haven't looked at in many years and in it are 15 or 20 pieces of wood, collected at the Ernst quarry back in the 90s. I haven't seen any similar examples from Sharktooth Hill or elsewhere. The pieces are somewhat fragile and often partially hollow with small (druzy?) purplish crystals on the interior. The rest is mostly composed of the same purplish-black material but man also show a tougher translucent outer crust. Some of the interiors of these pieces also contain powdery, lightweight chunks of brown matter. Based on appearance and the local geology as well as the preservation of flora from another miocene site in the region (see Reynolds p.114) I'm guessing the dark purplish stuff is pyrolusite or a similar manganese mineral. I assume the tougher clear stuff is microcrystalline quartz. The powdery brown stuff I cannot explain except as mummified wood, but I haven't found any pre-pliocene examples in the fossil record. I'm not a wood guy in general though so maybe there's more out there. What do you think? Something of research value? A small piece (~2.5 cm square) with the two primary minerals. Typical piece. Largest is about 15 cm. The mysterious Brown Matter. Very hard to get a good photo since it's mostly deep in the "geode."-
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What is the oldest identifiable organic material original to the organism?
joshuavise posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Just a silly curious question, but I thought I'd throw it out there. What is the oldest identifiable organic material that could be found? In case this is not phrased correctly, what I mean is "What is the oldest bone we could expect to find that would actually be bone, and not a mineral replacement?" I am aware that Mary Schweitzer may have found blood vessels and osteocytes in a T-rex limb. Are there any other things that may have been preserved in their original state as long, or longer than, this one?- 5 replies
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If this topic was posted in the wrong place feel free to pull out the whips and chains. These are being found at deposit of petrified wood in south Alabama. Silicification strata sure looks favorable in situ-clay, then 1 foot of wet sand and rounded quartzite, then the wood. No limb nots, most of it has straight parallel bands like a vascular plant. Occasionally some samples with annual rings. Complete logs are rare, most are segments from 5 to 50 pounds. It seems related to Tallahatta silicified sand(stone). And it seems to have silicified grey sand in it. Thanks in advance.
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While watching Eyewitness Virtual Reality Dinosaur Hunter, I learned that the T. rex specimen found by Kathy Wankel in Montana in 1988 had its neck stretched out in rigor mortis when it died. However, does anyone know of any other known dinosaur specimens that are known to have had their necks stretched out in rigor mortis after death?
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From BBC News : https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220324-how-to-maximise-your-chances-of-being-fossilised
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The Scientist Studying How Organisms Become Fossils - Dr. Kay Behrensmeyer
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
the Scientist Studying How Organisms Become Fossils Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Blog, May 28th, 2020 Yours, Paul H.- 2 replies
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Fossilized fish could indicate rich deposits of valuable rare-earth metals by University of Tokyo PhysOrg, June 18. 2020 https://phys.org/news/2020-06-fossilized-fish-rich-deposits-valuable.html Fish fossils become buried treasure. Fossilized fish could indicate rich deposits of valuable rare-earth metals by University of Tokyo, June 18. 2020 https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/uot-ffb061720.php The paper is: Junichiro Ohta, Kazutaka Yasukawa, Tatsuo Nozaki, Yutaro Takaya, Kazuhide Mimura, Koichiro Fujinaga, Kentaro Nakamura, Yoichi Usui, Jun-Ichi Kimura, Qing Chang, and Yasuhiro Kato. Fish proliferation and rare-earth deposition by topographically induced upwelling at the late Eocene cooling event. Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66835-8 Yours, Paul H.
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Surprise! Fossils in a flash What the study of death, decay and ‘instant’ fossils is telling science about how life has evolved. Douglas Fox, Science News for Students, May 16, 2020 https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/surprise-fossils-flash Yorus, Paul H.
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Mustoe, G.E., 2020. Uranium Mineralization of Fossil Wood. Geosciences (Switzerland) 10(4):1-25 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340609903_Uranium_Mineralization_of_Fossil_Wood https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/4/133 Yours, Paul H.
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Nannodiamond plant microfossils created by extraterrestrial impact (open access paper)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Shumilova, T.G., Ulyashev, V.V., Kazakov, V.A., Isaenko, S.I., Svetov,S.A., Chazhengina, S.Y., Kovalchuk, N.S., Karite – diamond fossil: a new type of natural diamond,Geoscience Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2019.09.011. (open access) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987119301768 Yours, Paul H.- 1 reply
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A field guide to finding fossils on Mars. (open access paper)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
McMahon, S., Bosak, T., Grotzinger, J.P., Milliken, R.E., Summons, R.E., Daye, M., Newman, S.A., Fraeman, A., Williford, K.H. and Briggs, D.E.G., 2018. A field guide to finding fossils on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.vol. 123, no. 5, pp. 1020-1040 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2017JE005478 McMahon, S., The chemistry of fossilization on Earth and Mars. http://www.portlandpresspublishing.com/sites/default/files/biochemist/Biochemist Space issue Dec 2018/BioDEC18_chemistry of fossilization pg 28.pdf Yours, Paul H.-
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Are any of those mammoth "fossils" around actually fossils? Wouldn't they still be natural bone? I know that the remains found in colder northern area, the remains are still original dead tissue, because they're regularly found with soft tissue and hair, but they're found other places too, along with all other animals from the more recent periods, where freezing isn't a factor, but Is there even enough time for fossilization to occur for those animals? Is there a general point in, or period of time, after which it's just not old enough for fossilization to occur? I know any such point, or period, would vary depending on the regions environmental conditions, but I would imagine there are places where there is such a point before which geologically, remains are fossilized, and after which remains are still actual bone.
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Someone on a facebook thread brought up something I'm not familiar with. Yeah...add it to the list. LOL If I understood it right they said some Cretaceous Period bone and wood has been found that has not undergone any physical change. The material was on the North Slope in Alaska so I wondered if it had anything to do with deposition in permafrost. They said it is not that uncommon but I don't recall coming across this in any textbooks or descriptions of preservation methods. Does anyone know of any other places where this has occurred or how it would be possible for anything organic to last that long without any alteration? This is someone who has published papers on paleontology so I would like to assume it's right. If so I need to include it in my fossil talks for kids because preservation methods is a big part of the talks and I like to get it right. Is this so common there aren't any descriptions or discussion of it?
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