Utah septarian surprise

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

In May of 2020, my boyfriend David and I drove up to Utah to go look for septarian nodules. I should preface this by saying that David has the most amazing "beginner's luck" of anyone I have ever known. Not only did we find a beautiful "normal" septarian nodule, David found a spot where apparently a large marine reptile of some sort died, and was later encased in septarian. We have since learned that this is basically the find of a lifetime! The beauty of these specimens never fails to amaze me. The large free form was cut and polished for us by Joe's Rock Shop. The matched pair was cut at Joe's, then polished by me. The largest piece is what it looks like in the rough. 

[DPS Ammonite]

Do you have photos and details about your friend’s fossil reptile find?

[RuMert]

The reptile is probably in the bottom one, though could be parts of bone in all of them. Need more close-ups for sure

[jort68]

Richard Fortey, who wrote "Trilobite," said it's a rule: partners always find the best specimens. 
 

Amazing finds!! Wanna make it back out to Utah soon.

[RJB]

  Very interesting indeed! 

 

RB

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

On 10/3/2020 at 2:38 PM, DPS Ammonite said:

Do you have photos and details about your friend’s fossil reptile find?

Yes, I will post more info and photos We have since been back to the same site, and found more. 

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

On 10/3/2020 at 3:15 PM, RuMert said:

The reptile is probably in the bottom one, though could be parts of bone in all of them. Need more close-ups for sure

I will post more close-ups Of course I don't expect anyone to be able to identify what creature the bone came from. During the process of becoming septarian, I assume the bones were broken and crushed. But I was told a plesiosaur came out of a quarry wall a few hundred yards away. 

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

9 hours ago, jort68 said:

Richard Fortey, who wrote "Trilobite," said it's a rule: partners always find the best specimens. 
 

Amazing finds!! Wanna make it back out to Utah soon.

Thank you! I seriously love southern Utah. The landscape is amazing! I get up there as often as I can

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

9 hours ago, RJB said:

  Very interesting indeed! 

 

RB

Thank you! As far as I understand it, all septarian nodules form around a fossil of some sort. We have found other nodules with shells in them, and one even had a small crab in it. But to find one with bone in it is extremely rare. We are very lucky and treasure our beautiful finds.

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

Here are more close-ups of the various nodules which contained bone. These 3 shots are from a gorgeous small nodule which contained stunning barite crystals all throughout. 

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

Some nodules were almost pure bone. Amazing calcite and barite crystals intermingled with the bone. Based on the sheer amount we found, all in one small excavation, the creature was decent in size! 

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

2nd photo below shows exterior appearance of a typical nodule- that one had no bone, just beautiful calcite crystals. 

[NatalieinFlagstaff]

We found two small pieces of bone which were not encased in septarian. These pieces are quite fragile. They seem to be the tip, or joint end of two bones.

[RuMert]

Very interesting, thank you Maybe a plesiosaur phalanx, have to think further