dinosaur rib

[M Harvey]

This has always bugged me.  This is a dinosaur rib (presumably triceratops)  from the Lance Creek formation of Wyoming.   The surface is encrusted with irregular nodules and crepe paper texture.  I'm wondering if it could be fossilized desiccated connective tissue.  Has anyone encountered something similar?   

[GeschWhat]

@jpc will know for sure, but to me it looks like it is covered in matrix, perhaps bagged when wet? You can see the actual bone underneath which is darker and has a different texture.

[hadrosauridae]

Did you recover this personally or did you get it from someone else?  I ask because my first impression is that its been covered in a glue/consolodate in the field to stabilize it, and thats what you are seeing on the surface.

[Troodon]

Also like to see both sides.  It's Lance Formation not Lance Creek Fm.

 

@jpc

[jpc]

I have seen similar preservation, and yeah, it is geological, not biological.   And it is a pain in the patootie to remove.  Yeah, Lance Fm, not Lance Creek Fm.  

[M Harvey]

1 hour ago, jpc said:

I have seen similar preservation, and yeah, it is geological, not biological.   And it is a pain in the patootie to remove.  Yeah, Lance Fm, not Lance Creek Fm.  

Any idea what kind of mineral or how it gets deposited?  You are right that it is now integral with the bone and would be hard to remove.