Almost everyone thinks I lost my mind! Morrison Formation Dinosaur Delivery

[Meganeura]

Just found this thread and WOW these are some awesome fossils! And so much heavier than I expected. I mean, I know it's solid rock, but still, I didn't imagine a single bone would weigh over 100kg!

[Flx]

15 hours ago, Meganeura said:

Just found this thread and WOW these are some awesome fossils! And so much heavier than I expected. I mean, I know it's solid rock, but still, I didn't imagine a single bone would weigh over 100kg!

 

Yes, the 100+kg was a surprise for me as well. 

 

I worked on sauropod bones before but those were from a individual which was only half the size. The weight of the bones was in the 10-20kg range which is easy to handle. The problem is that twice the length means 8 times the weight... and suddenly I was in the 100+kg range.

[Meganeura]

2 hours ago, Flx said:

 

Yes, the 100+kg was a surprise for me as well. 

 

I worked on sauropod bones before but those were from a individual which was only half the size. The weight of the bones was in the 10-20kg range which is easy to handle. The problem is that twice the length means 8 times the weight... and suddenly I was in the 100+kg range.

Besides the difficulty of moving them it still seems absolutely incredible to me though. Especially considering the bones are larger than your kid! 

[Flx]

It's been a while since my last update since I was busy with other things (job, family etc). 

 

I put some styrofoam onto the bone at multiple locations and then a wooden plate on top. This will distribute the weight of the bone during/after the flip (I was concerned that the partially stabilized bone would fracture into many parts otherwise*). I tightly strapped the bone with the jacket onto the plate to make sure it does not move relative to each other during the flipping. For even more delicate fossils I would have created a temporary plaster jacket or a support plate with polyurethane foam to distribute the weight of the fossil even better.

 

With the help of a friend I flipped the 100kg sandwich. Then I was able to savely remove the plaster jacket to expose the rest of the bone. 

 

 

[Flx]

One interesting observation when working on the newly exposed bone surface:

It seems that something has bitten into the bone prior to fossilization. There are two indents with roundish edges. One is about 15mm deep and the other one about 4mm deep. The spacing between the marks is about 30mm. Whatever has bitten into the leg must have been fairly large. 

 

 

[ParkerPaleo]

Interesting tooth marks!  The sauropods I worked on in college had dermestid beetle markings.  Here was the research that came out of that.

 

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.612.2341&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Keep a look out for them too

[Flx]

2 hours ago, ParkerPaleo said:

Interesting tooth marks!  The sauropods I worked on in college had dermestid beetle markings.  Here was the research that came out of that.

 

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.612.2341&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Keep a look out for them too

 

This is an interesting document, thank you.

I indeed do see structures that could be beetle markings on some of my bones (including the tibia). I thought this is due to erosion. I'll check it out in more detail.

[fossilhunter21]

Awesome leg bone! And from the pictures it looks like it is pretty complete? 

 

-Micah

[Flx]

9 hours ago, fossilhunter21 said:

Awesome leg bone! And from the pictures it looks like it is pretty complete? 

 

-Micah

 

There are some small bits missing on the proximal and distal end. But it is more than 95% complete. 

[RJB]

 No one can say your not careful.  Amazes me how much work you put into just turning this over! 

 

RB

[Flx]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

 No one can say your not careful.  Amazes me how much work you put into just turning this over! 

 

RB

 

Well, in the past I occasionally moved to fast and ended up with a 3d puzzle that then took a lot of time to solve. 

I think it is time/work that is well invested. 

 

 

[Flx]

On 7/27/2022 at 6:36 PM, ParkerPaleo said:

Interesting tooth marks!  The sauropods I worked on in college had dermestid beetle markings.  Here was the research that came out of that.

 

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.612.2341&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Keep a look out for them too

 

I continued working on the tibia today. I noticed that half of the bone is covered with beetle marks.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Flx

[ParkerPaleo]

On 8/15/2022 at 1:56 PM, Flx said:

 

I continued working on the tibia today. I noticed that half of the bone is covered with beetle marks.

Awesome!  Glad you found the research helpful.

[digit]

6 hours ago, Flx said:

I noticed that half of the bone is covered with beetle marks.

Not familiar with "beetle marks". Are we talking insect marks on the fresh bone before it mineralized or something more like Beekite rings?

 

https://www.mindat.org/min-600.html

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[JBkansas]

23 minutes ago, digit said:

Not familiar with "beetle marks". Are we talking insect marks on the fresh bone before it mineralized or something more like Beekite rings?

 

Seems to be insect markings on the fresh bone.

From the linked article:

 

Here's another article (with even more impressive changes):

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248937864_A_Suite_of_Dermestid_Beetle_Traces_on_Dinosaur_Bone_from_the_Upper_Jurassic_Morrison_Formation_Wyoming_USA

Edited August 16, 2022 by JBkansas

[digit]

Ah, very interesting! The paper refers to dermestid beetles which are used these days to de-flesh bones for scientific purposes. Wonder if those bones would show this type of circular scarring if left with the beetles for too long.

 

I've seen rodent gnaw markings on bones but this type of beetle taphonomy is new to me. Thanks for the reference.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[RJB]

Beetle marks.  Very interessting for sure.

 

RB

[carch_23]

Wow! No experience in prepping here but am so glad I found this thread! Must say I am in awe of your findings and your display room is something I can only dream of! And to add that you prep these yourself is such a rewarding experience. Lucky kids! Looking forward to more updates and hopefully maybe a stego tooth might pop up! 

Edited August 24, 2022 by carch_23

[Praefectus]

Hey, just a heads up to future responders. Those who hate amateur paleontology have noticed this thread and are making the usual complaints.

Be advised. The fossil cops are watching. 

 

 

[Flx]

21 hours ago, Praefectus said:

Hey, just a heads up to future responders. Those who hate amateur paleontology have noticed this thread and are making the usual complaints.

Be advised. The fossil cops are watching. 

 

Luckily, in the region where I live the relationship between palentologists and amateuers is good. Pro palentologists even support me with the preparation, help with the ID, etc.. Also, if the authors of the comments knew me better they might change their mind a bit.  

Anyway, if someone thinks that I have a scientifically interesting object (prepared or unprepared) in my collection please PM me. I am open to make it available for research (temporary or permanently).

In the meantime, I suggest reading this recent paper (open access): 

https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2022/3517-amateur-paleontology 

 

[fossilhunter21]

On 8/15/2022 at 1:56 PM, Flx said:

 

I continued working on the tibia today. I noticed that half of the bone is covered with beetle marks.

 

 

Well that is pretty cool! I had no clue that you could even something like this. 

 

On 10/8/2022 at 6:25 PM, Praefectus said:

Hey, just a heads up to future responders. Those who hate amateur paleontology have noticed this thread and are making the usual complaints.

Be advised. The fossil cops are watching. 

 

 

 

 

I have no clue how this is considered fossil loss... There are so many fossils that without amateurs, we would lose THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of fossils. It is better for them to be collected, and prepped by amateurs than to lose them forever. 

 

-Micah

[Praefectus]

2 hours ago, Flx said:

Luckily, in the region where I live the relationship between palentologists and amateuers is good. Pro palentologists even support me with the preparation, help with the ID, etc.. Also, if the authors of the comments knew me better they might change their mind a bit.  

Anyway, if someone thinks that I have a scientifically interesting object (prepared or unprepared) in my collection please PM me. I am open to make it available for research (temporary or permanently).

In the meantime, I suggest reading this recent paper (open access): 

https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2022/3517-amateur-paleontology 

It is great to see that there are both professionals and amateurs who are willing to cooperate for the good of science. Hopefully, if someone really does think there may be something of scientific significance, they will reach out with an offer to cooperate. 

[SpeedThrash]

Looking forward to the next update!

[Flx]

I didn't have so much time for working on my bones lately. However, I am pretty much done with the tibia now.

 

Recently more bones were collected at the dino quarry including several sauropod foot bones. 

It seems that these bones all belong to the same foot. There reason for that claim is that the bones have been found closely associated and there are no other sauropod foot bones in that quarry that do not match.

Furthermore, these foot bones have been found just next to the tibia and fibula that I prepped which are also from a right leg. The size is a good match. Therefore, it seems to be a reasonable assumption that the bones belong to the same leg. Obviously, this is not certain but two sauropod experts I talked to found that this is a reasonable assumtion.

 

So, I decided to acquire the already prepped foot bones as well to re-unite them with the tibia/fibula after roughly 150 million years. One of the palentologist from the local university who is an expert in sauropods is helping me to assemble the bones correctly.

 

[Flx]

Remark: The size of the large claw is absolutely INSANE!