blue crocodile bones 2020

[jpc]

Way back in 2012 I found some blue crocodile bones in southwestern Wyoming and showed you folks some of them.  I started prepping them back then and put them down for other projects.  This spring as Covid19 kept me at home for a few weeks, I continued prepping this stuff.  I wish I could tell you guys how many hours I have on this, but I am afraid to add them up.  

 

The first photo shows what this looked like at the end of 2012, until earlier this year.

 

and as of today, it is done.   I can ID most of these bones, except the long wide one on the top left of the block.  I love the blue colors on these.  In the nextfew days I will try to provide you guys with a key yo these bones, but if y'all want to try to ID them... the challenge has been set.  (Note, some are turtle bones). 

 

 

This one is my favorite... cool bone, exceptional coloring... a cervical rib.

 

 

[PaleoNoel]

Wow that's an amazing piece! That blue coloration is fascinating, how common is it to see in the formation you found it in?

[Pemphix]

I am curious: what caused the blue colour ? Iron- or copperminerals ?

 

 

[caterpillar]

I can imagine a blue croc skull!!

[LordTrilobite]

I remember when you posted this before. Such a cool specimen. Nice to see you finally found the time to prep it.

Good stuff.

[RuMert]

Looks very strange and classy

[minnbuckeye]

Amazing!!! Is it going into the Tate Museum Display?   Wyoming, known for Blue Petrified Wood and now Blue crocodiles!!! 

 

Mike

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very unusual and rather pretty.  

[ThePhysicist]

Very "cool" colors! I've found some bone fragments from the Cloverly fm. with similar hues.

10 hours ago, Pemphix said:

I am curious: what caused the blue colour ? Iron- or copperminerals ?

Good question, and I think you answered it: the blue is likely from copper salts, but can't be sure without proper testing. It doesn't take much of the metal to color a fossil. Here's an analysis on some bones where copper was determined to be the staining metal: http://w.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V64/v64n2-Robles.pdf (unfortunately doesn't have any color photos of the fossils in question.)

Again, could be something else, but judging by the color alone, it looks like copper. This also raises questions about the environment in which it was mineralized. 

[FranzBernhard]

1 hour ago, ThePhysicist said:

Again, could be something else, but judging by the color alone, it looks like copper.

The iron phosphate vivianite is also a possibility.

I am trying to translate from an old mineral book:
"Vivianite is often a component of fossil bones and teeth. In 1877, a fossilized bird saurian was found near Stuttgart. All cavities of the bones and the bones itself were transformed into vivianite."

Franz Bernhard

[jpc]

6 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Amazing!!! Is it going into the Tate Museum Display?   Wyoming, known for Blue Petrified Wood and now Blue crocodiles!!! 

 

Mike

not yet... it is in my personal collection for now.  But I will be dying someday.

[jpc]

11 hours ago, caterpillar said:

I can imagine a blue croc skull!!

I have been hoping to find it, but the three dimensional bones here are crushed, so I am afraid a skull would be very crushed.  Still I would love to find it, but the bones seem to have run out.  At least in this pocket.  

[jpc]

12 hours ago, Pemphix said:

I am curious: what caused the blue colour ? Iron- or copperminerals ?

 

 

I wish I knew... but now I have friends who have magic machines that can tell elemental composition.. (I think), so maybe there will be an answer in the future.  

[Zapsalis]

What an amazing find! 
 

I wonder if more will be found in the future! That piece must be one of a kind! 
 

 

[minnbuckeye]

If there is any color correlation to the blue petrified wood, I would suspect tin as a source of the blue color: 

 

         As the algae dried it shrank away from the wood, leaving a space that was later filled with minerals. It is thought that the element Tin, if present in the groundwater, caused specimens of Blue Forest petrified wood to exhibit blue crystalline quartz or microcrystalline chalcedony. 

 

From Jade State News

[jpc]

20 hours ago, PaleoNoel said:

Wow that's an amazing piece! That blue coloration is fascinating, how common is it to see in the formation you found it in?

It is actually not common, but I have quite a few pieces of blue bones form here.  These are the best. 

[-Andy-]

That's a very impressive find and prepwork. I have never seen blue crocodile fossils before

[Ludwigia]

Very unique! Thanks for showing us the end result. I too can recall the original post.

[caterpillar]

I have already found turtle remains with this blue coloring. But over time the color faded and they turned white

[RJB]

Very cool indeed.  Ya sure dont see too  many blue bones.  Very nice find JP.    oh, and that wide bone on the top left of the block, thats obviously Crocodilus widus. 

 

RB

[dinosaur man]

On 8/27/2020 at 11:58 PM, jpc said:

Way back in 2012 I found some blue crocodile bones in southwestern Wyoming and showed you folks some of them.  I started prepping them back then and put them down for other projects.  This spring as Covid19 kept me at home for a few weeks, I continued prepping this stuff.  I wish I could tell you guys how many hours I have on this, but I am afraid to add them up.  

 

The first photo shows what this looked like at the end of 2012, until earlier this year.

 

and as of today, it is done.   I can ID most of these bones, except the long wide one on the top left of the block.  I love the blue colors on these.  In the nextfew days I will try to provide you guys with a key yo these bones, but if y'all want to try to ID them... the challenge has been set.  (Note, some are turtle bones). 

 

 

This one is my favorite... cool bone, exceptional coloring... a cervical rib.

 

 

Wow!  They look so cool!