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SE Texas - Femur head to what?


johnnyvaldez7.jv

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This here is what I believe to be a completely mineralized head to a femur. It's rock solid. Beneath it, the bone has some sort of blue crystallization to it... not sure what that's called. But I am not sure, based on the size, if its bison, juvenile mammoth or something else. Think it's too big for Equus and not big enough for mammoth. I have a large femur and it is bigger than that one. 

Found it yesterday, Saturday, on a SE Texas gravel bank. It has a nice blue color to the bottom of it due to the crystallization.  And it's interesting that the crystals are only on the bottom part of it. 

And I have to ask... is that groove on it in the 1st picture natural? Or was that perhaps a tooth bite or weapon blow?

 

Size across the ball: 2.3 in or 57 mm

 

*sorry I say "crystallization/crystals"... I'm sure there's a word for it  

 

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Edited by johnnyvaldez7.jv
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Blue teeth, blue bones, how neat.  :egypt:

 

You might want to check out:

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Minerals/Blues

 

I would think that some of the more likely mineralization for this area that may be up for consideration would include:  Apatite, barite, quartz, calcite with ions of Cu, Mg, PO4 being some of the more likely ions contributing to the coloration.  But others with knowledge in this area may offer different thoughts.  Let's see what they have to say.

 

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I compared this femur head to a bison femur that I have that is 15 inches in length.  I did compare my bison femur to that of an online 3d website to ensure that it is a bison femur. I've attached a photo of the femur heads side by side and my subject femur head is bigger than at least of that particular bison femur bone. But the bison femur head has a small fovea...that's the small round indention on the top vs the long one on my subject that doesn't appear natural. And it doesn't seem like river wear... but who knows? It could be. Either way... this is completely mineralized. Also, tried to look at the 3d images of a mammoth femur and I couldn't see it well enough. It had an intention just not scanned well for me to see it. 

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Edited by johnnyvaldez7.jv
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What is this called when this happens? Is it vivianite?  I was using the word crystallization... but I don't think that's what it is.

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Edited by johnnyvaldez7.jv
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Crystalization, or I would say mineralization, are both appropriate.  Vivianite is a specific mineral of hydrated iron phosphate [Fe(2+)3 (PO4)2 8H2O].  It is found on bones (which contain phosphate) when they mineralize in the presence of water and iron ions.  I don't think what you have here is vivianite, but I wouldn't be able to rule that out.  Others with more knowledge may be able to amplify on this.

 

In the meantime, see:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vivianite-blue-human-remains

Edited by grandpa
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@grandpa I thought so too because it doesn't look like the bone itself, but whatever filled the pores (right word?)

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Is it possible the river made this groove thru wear? It would seem odd that if so, that it only did so there, and not the rest of the head there in that location. I'm still comparing it to a bison femur... the online 3d images of a mammoth aren't clear enough for me to see that. I was wondering if that groove (fovea?) would be normal for something else.

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Hello,

the crystalline infill (my wording) is not vivianite. Vivianite is colorless when fresh but turns a deep greenish blue and sadly often black when exposed to light and air. Its also relatively soft and brittle, so I would not expect it to endure in an exposed spot of a worn fossil like yours.

Best Regards,

J

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Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

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  • 1 month later...

Wanted to follow up and see if anyone can tell me if this femur ball fovea (groove on the femur head) is a natural groove and belongs to a certain mammal or type... or it's been worn down to that? I see wear on some of it... but in this photo I can't help but notice this small rise as if the groove is natural because it doesn't have that on the one next to it. 

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Edited by johnnyvaldez7.jv
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  • 4 weeks later...

Thought I'd share this information about this femur head I couldn't identify.  

 

 

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Edited by johnnyvaldez7.jv
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