Difference between marine reptile and dinosaur bone?

[sjaak]

Hello,

 

I sometimes collect at sites that contain both marine and terrestial fossils. I wonder if you can tell the difference between isolated marine reptile bone fragments and land dinosaurs. For instance, on this website its said that "dinosaur bone seems to have a much coarser bone structure most probably to do with the influence of oxygen":

http://www.fossilsforsale.co.uk/marinereptilefossils.htm

 

What is your experience and do you have examples?

 

Regards,

 

 

Niels

 

 

[Ridgehiker]

Like many answers... 'it depends'.

 

I find the main difference is preservation and that is more of a regional variable than marine reptile vs dinosaur.  Our marine reptile and dino material isn't all that different.  I know more from the shape of vertebrae and phalanges.  A  dino vertebra from our Cretaceous is very different in preservation from a Late Jurassic vertebra from the western USA.  The same with a mosasaur vertebra...ours are not at all like those from Texas. Ours are light and porous...theirs are dense.

 

Then there is the issue of 'dinosaur'.  There is a difference in the texture and structure of bone between dinosaur groups.  We can tell if a chunk is theropod or not. And to add to this, there is a lot of variation within the same dinosaur between various bones.  Skull material is a lot different from ribs, etc.

 

Bottom line...its difficult to generalize.  There may universal distinct differences but this would be apparent doing thin sections under a microscope and not so obvious otherwise.

[Max-fossils]

What @Canadawest said  was new to me, but it doesn't surprise me though. Fossil structures can look very different from each other, whether they are closely or distantly related. For example, a Nassarius from the Zandmotor can look very different (fossilization-wise) from a Nassarius from Kaloot. Yet a fish vert and a mosasaur vert from the same location can have a very similar texture and structure. So it all depends on where the fossil is found, and as said before, no real "properties" can be made to distinguish them.

 

But one thing that is sure, is that whenever you find dinosaur, marine reptile or any other fossil, your heart leaps!

 

Best regards,

 

Max

[sjaak]

Thanks for your replies. I sometimes heard sea creatures have a more open bone structure, but also heard the opposite about dinosaurs. Too bad its difficult to generalize. It would make it a lot easier with those broken fragments.