fossil26 Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Do any Texas members know what this is? It was found near Study Butte, Texas. It is about 4" X 3 7/8" very heavy and has a hide like appearance on one side. Hope these pics help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbowden Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I think that's my wallet. Gator skin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Never seen anything like that, it does remind me of gator skin but I am fairly certain it isn't. Soft shell turtle maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 It is part of a turtle shell, what kind of turtle I don't know. I would say from the bottom, underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 well, i really like it, but i'm not thinking fossil when i look at it. the study butte area is really interesting. lots of very unusual geology and minerals going on there. the fact that your find has those unusual patterns on both sides kind of rules out a lot of the fossils i'm familiar with. to me it almost looks like like an iron-based sedimentary thing with like dessication-crack patterns in it or something. it's very cool, whatever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I think that's my wallet. Gator skin? I didn't think you where that old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I was set to suggest "soft-shelled turtle" with a big question mark, but the edge view shows no structure whatsoever. I just don't know; it might be the best pseudo fossil ever found... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Dino skin impression!At least that's what I would sell it as on E-Bay It's a nice conversation piece. There is no cellular structure on the edge that you photographed. Did you pick that up around Wildhorse Mt?? I love it out there and your post is jogging my great memories of that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil26 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 I was set to suggest "soft-shelled turtle" with a big question mark, but the edge view shows no structure whatsoever.I just don't know; it might be the best pseudo fossil ever found... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Man Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Nice find! The texture definatly looks close to soft shelled turttle, but turttle would only have it on one side. Very interesting! Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbowden Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I didn't think you where that old Just my wallet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil26 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 Dino skin impression!At least that's what I would sell it as on E-Bay It's a nice conversation piece. There is no cellular structure on the edge that you photographed. Did you pick that up around Wildhorse Mt?? I love it out there and your post is jogging my great memories of that area. here are more photos of the sides. It was found behind the easter egg motel on the 170. One person thought it was from a glyptodont....one side does look like mud cracks, but it's the patten on the other side that makes me think it's some kind of fossil....I took it to LA county Museum and they didn't know what it was either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Okay I'll admit it--I thought this post was a hoax when I saw the town name Study Butte. Insert really bad joke here! I looked it up on Google Earth and there really is a Study Butte Texas!♠ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbowden Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Don't no what type of animal, but it is a skin impression. Go back and find the rest of it, you and Lance. LOL Good stuff though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 OK, what age(s) is exposed at Study Butte? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 it's on the west entrance to big bend park. cretaceous sedimentary to eocene igneous. old mercury mining area. lots of weirdnesses. big bend geology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Nice find! I agree it resembles some sort of skin. Looks like alligator skin to me (where the belly meets the side) perhaps some other sort of reptile. I just dont see any symetry to the scaling which I think is kind of odd. Also I would think an impression of skin would be reversed, with the cracks in the skin surface raised... ...mind you I am just the new guy here, for what its worth. Cole~ Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition. Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Nice find!I agree it resembles some sort of skin. Looks like alligator skin to me (where the belly meets the side) perhaps some other sort of reptile. I just dont see any symetry to the scaling which I think is kind of odd. Also I would think an impression of skin would be reversed, with the cracks in the skin surface raised... ...mind you I am just the new guy here, for what its worth. Cole~ Excellent points. I think you should always rule out a geological pseudo-fossil before jumping to any "skin" conclusions. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil_femme Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Okay I'll admit it--I thought this post was a hoax when I saw the town name Study Butte. Insert really bad joke here! I looked it up on Google Earth and there really is a Study Butte Texas!♠ If you think that's bad, check out Elephant Butte here in New Mexico. (there was a T. rex jawbone found there, which is now in the N.M. Museum of Natural History and Science: http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/trex/NMtyr...l#elephantbutte ) "don’t you lock up something that you wanted to see fly..." chris cornell / soundgarden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Excellent points.I think you should always rule out a geological pseudo-fossil before jumping to any "skin" conclusions. Study Butte (pronounced "stoo.dee beaut"), Brewster County, Texas, is located in a complex geological setting. Generally, the area basement is Lower Cretaceous with Tertiary volcanic features. Study Butte is located at the NW margin of Big Bend National Park. While the surface geology is characterized by breccias and conglomerates, there are substantial exposures of Cretaceous bedrock, notably of Lower Cretaceous Javelina Formation, an element of the Tornillo Group. Dinosaur bones and silicified wood are found in the Javelina Fm. Looking at the object from Study Butte, I think it is NOT turtle. If I had to guess, I'd say it represents dinosaur skin. If it has no discernible internal structure, the object may be an internal cast of skin (that is, a steinkern). But, that's just a guess. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 still say pseudofossil. in the first picture, the "creases" along a couple of the edges happen to parallel the edges. why is that? the "pattern" appears quite random. there is "pattern" on both the top, the bottom, and one or more of the edges. how exactly would skin impressions be done in such a manner as to capture just the skin with a pattern on both the top and bottom of it? first of all, why would skin have a bottom pattern? but secondly, how would the skin get off the animal and get buried so as to preserve both sides' impressions? i have been to study butte and looked at things there. it is desert that was once sea. there are numerous strange evaporitic things there. some of the sides of hills look in the sun like they're covered in broken glass from evaporitic crystals - maybe selenite. but then there are also columnar basaltic igneous rocks nearby. it is a really cool place with some really weird rocks, plants, animals, and people. if you go there, you might try eating at "la kiva". and nosing around in terlingua creek. or just go to the terlingua ghost town and have a beer on the porch with the local pickers at the terlingua store. in terlingua creek at study butte - note mix of sedimentary and igneous rock in bed of creek and sedimentary strata exposed along wall of creek. marine fossils present there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Study Butte (pronounced "stoo.dee beaut"), Brewster County, Texas, is located in a complex geological setting.... I'm glad Harry related the correct pronunciation. I pronounced it wrong ONCE, in town, back in the '80s. fossil26, you could tell you friends that some collectors said it might be dino skin. Then, tell them it's a pseudo-fossil and watch their face twist in confusion. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil_femme Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I'm glad Harry related the correct pronunciation. I pronounced it wrong ONCE, in town, back in the '80s. JohnJ, you can probably imagine trying to keep a straight face when you hear a tourist pronouncing Elephant Butte as "Elephant Butt". Let me just say, it's challenging. "don’t you lock up something that you wanted to see fly..." chris cornell / soundgarden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbowden Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 How about Mogollon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 I guess or it is a Mosasaurus (or some kind of big fish like Xiphactinus) skin or soft tissue part or a pseudofossil Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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