Two discoveries in fossils

[jnicholes]

So, I was hanging fossils on my wall. I’ll post a picture of that later. I happened to grab a piece of petrified wood, when I noticed something I didn’t notice before. There were tunnels inside the petrified wood. One tunnel goes clear to the other side of the wood. You can see through it. That is the first discovery.

 

Not sure if that’s caused by a prehistoric tree parasite or something else.

 

Second discovery, on September 11, 2020, I discovered a large piece of Coprolite in Kemmerer Wyoming. Not sure if I spelled that correctly. Many people here and at the quarry said it was turtle Coprolite. However, today, I discovered what looks like bones inside it. It didn’t break, a small piece chipped away, revealing this. 

 

This may actually be crocodilian Coprolite. I’m not sure, though.
 

Pictures are attached. You can see the tunnel in the petrified wood and the black spots in the Coprolite that are suspected bones.

 

Anyway, I thought this would catch everyone’s interest. I wanted to share it.

 

Jared

[Coco]

@GeschWhat

 

Coco

[jnicholes]

1 minute ago, Coco said:

@GeschWhat

 

Coco

If I may ask, why do you quote somebody and not say anything? I’m just curious.

[jnicholes]

I just realized I mispelled thread title. Oops.

[Fossildude19]

1 minute ago, jnicholes said:

If I may ask, why do you quote somebody and not say anything? I’m just curious.

It is to tag them, to let someone know to have a look.  

GeshcWhat is one of our resident Coprolite experts.  

[jnicholes]

Just now, Fossildude19 said:

It is to tag them, to let someone know to have a look.  

GeshcWhat is one of our resident Coprolite experts.  

Thanks, just curious.

[Coco]

Because GeschWhat is THE specialist about coproliths on this forum. I call her to come and answer you. Personnaly I can't help you.

 

Coco

 

 

Edit : Tim’s faster than me !

 

[Fossildude19]

Can you point out the "bones" to us?

It wouldn't rule out Turtle, as turtles eat/ate fishes = bones in poo. 

If someone at the quarry ID'd it, I would trust them with that ID.

[jnicholes]

Just now, Fossildude19 said:

Can you point out the "bones" to us?

It wouldn't rule out Turtle, as turtles eat/ate fishes. 

 

Sure, give me a second. Got to get more photos.

[jnicholes]

See those black spots? I think those are bones. They’re in several places on the Coprolite.

[jnicholes]

5 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Can you point out the "bones" to us?

It wouldn't rule out Turtle, as turtles eat/ate fishes = bones in poo. 

If someone at the quarry ID'd it, I would trust them with that ID.

There was actually a big debate at the quarry whether it was crocodilian or turtle. They weren’t sure either.

[Fossildude19]

Could be bones, could be scales and bones.

So it could be either turtle or crocodilian. 

[jnicholes]

1 minute ago, Fossildude19 said:

Could be bones, could be scales and bones.

So it could be either turtle or crocodilian. 

Looks like the debate at the quarry spread to here! Little joke.

[jnicholes]

As for the petrified wood, what do you guys think? Those holes are obviously something.

[fossilnut]

I have both pieces of fossil wood where the wood cells rotted before being replaced by silica, leaving these squarish types of holes. i also have a piece of fossilized wood with round bore holes from some critter. That's my take. But wait for more knowledgeable folks to respond. The coprolite is a super find no matter who did the dropping.

[Thomas.Dodson]

10 minutes ago, fossilnut said:

I have both pieces of fossil wood where the wood cells rotted before being replaced by silica, leaving these squarish types of holes. i also have a piece of fossilized wood with round bore holes from some critter. That's my take. But wait for more knowledgeable folks to respond. The coprolite is a super find no matter who did the dropping.

I'll second this. Whatever the exact reason different parts of the wood undergo rotting and permineralization at different rates so I see these cavities often. I've also seen the reverse where the entire wood has dissolved leaving a hollow cavity in concretions or matrix save small structures that survived. They don't look like bore holes to me.

[jnicholes]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. That leaves the Coprolite.

[GeschWhat]

On 1/15/2021 at 10:58 AM, jnicholes said:

Second discovery, on September 11, 2020, I discovered a large piece of Coprolite in Kemmerer Wyoming. Not sure if I spelled that correctly. Many people here and at the quarry said it was turtle Coprolite. However, today, I discovered what looks like bones inside it. It didn’t break, a small piece chipped away, revealing this. 

 

This may actually be crocodilian Coprolite. I’m not sure, though.

Sorry I'm late to reply. Thanks for the tag @Coco! I think you can rule out crocodilian. The only things that survive the digestive juices of crocs are things like hair/fur and feathers. I agree with Tim that the inclusions look fishy (guessing scale or skull fragments). It is always hard to tell who the coprolite producers. The real value with regard to coprolites is that they serve as tiny little field jackets, giving insight to what was eaten - hence the environment at the time. Many times the fossil inclusions are so delicate that they might not otherwise be preserved. In my experience, the majority of Green River coprolites do not have inclusions, especially the larger ones like the one you have. Display your poop with pride - you have a nice shapely example with inclusions to boot!

 

[jnicholes]

Thanks for getting back. I really appreciate it.

 

I’m going to put it in a frame, and display it with pride, like you said. Thanks for teaching me all that stuff!

 

Thanks!

 

Jared

[GeschWhat]

You are welcome. I can't tell from the photo, but the top one might be a bit of a dendrite (manganese) and not an inclusion. You can usually tell because they aren't as shiny under magnification, and appear kind of bumpy and slightly metallic. They form in thin gaps between layers. I see them sometimes on coprolites from this and other formations.