Distal MT3 of a Hadrosaur

[hadrosauridae]

Finished my latest prep. Now, I realize that in the worlds of both commercial and academic paleo, this is a  useless, junk fossil. Its an unassociated, partial in poor condition, and any final monetary value doesnt meet the time invested in the prep. However, its special for me in that its my first "wild" find.  I hiked, explored, tracked the float, found the end of this in the face of a wall, then excavated it. I was hoping for a much more complete fossil, but this was it.
It is highly fractured and deeply root rotted. But I carefully disassembled all its parts, cleaned them, consolidated them, reassembled into proper positions and finally repaired the gaps to strengthen it.  Now, I've dug and prepped lots of fossils over the last 12 years, but all have come from sites someone else found. They did the leg work and established the quarry, I just dug in it.
Nobody knew this was there until I found it. Im still hopeful theres more of the animal scattered behind it. An Ed. vert centrum washed out from a few feet away. Hopefully I'll get the chance to check the site again.  Just a side comment... I hate prepping this type of fossil.  I glued and consolidated this as I uncovered it, which also glues all the matrix in place.  That helps prevent the fossil from collapsing into gravel en route home, but then I have to dissolve the glue and completely disassemble all the broken chunks, then pray I can put everything back where it belongs.

 

 

 anatomy and taphonomy.
Every fossil tells a story and the following is my attempt at reading that tale.
I found a great PDF article https://archives.palarch.nl/inde.../jvp/article/view/447/439 specifically about the pes of hadrosaurines.

 

 

It would appear my fossil is the distal end of Metatarsal III, likely left side. The erosional break was at the point where MT-II and MT-IV were located, and the bone was pointing distally into the matrix, so no other metatarsal bones would have been remaining if deposited in articulation. Phalanges III was not found on excavation, although it is possible to still be in situ and just more separated than the distance I examined. However, the likely reality is that this indicates a disarticulated and isolated element. The measurement on the width is 160mm which would make it an adult, although not at the largest size.
The fossil has a high degree of fracturing which is likely due to a combination of freeze/thaw cycles and plant root invasion. Beyond this, the fossil still has a mostly intact surface which says that it did not suffer long term surface weathering or osteophageous beetle predation. The in-situ damage was confined to the highest points, which shows it possibly suffered peri-depositional damage. The matrix was a loosely consolidated mudstone without associated gravels or stone inclusions, indicating a low energy environment such as a delta, marsh, or low flow river. Walter  Stein believes the layer to be a continuation of a densely fossiliferous, multi-taxic bone bed discovered about 1/4 mile away.

 

The fossil as I started prepping.

 

After clearing off the matrix.

 

distal end

 

proximal end

 

 

prepped and repaired

 

[jpc]

Nice work.  

[fossilhunter21]

Nice job on the prep/repair! 

Edited August 17, 2021 by fossilhunter21