Oregon Coast Specimen- any help is appreciated!

[NWGeoFan]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

Try wetting the ends and get some better none blurry photos of those ends?

 

RB

Here are some close ups

Heres some close ups

[NWGeoFan]

[NWGeoFan]

13 minutes ago, Boesse said:

Hmm, not sure yet. In the earlier photos it definitely looks like bone. If it were a rib I'd expect it to be curved. One other possibility - especially if the bone is very, very thin and hollow - would be a Pelagornis humerus.

They are decently sized not thin bout as big around as a quarter

[Boesse]

Sorry, I still can't make anything out from these photographs. Either the bone is quite thickly walled and the bone is completely obscured by a mineral/sediment vein, or there's not actually any bone in the end. Could you get an oblique angle showing the broken bone itself? And, where bone is spalled off, how thick (in millimeters please) is the wall of the bone?

[NWGeoFan]

9 minutes ago, Boesse said:

Sorry, I still can't make anything out from these photographs. Either the bone is quite thickly walled and the bone is completely obscured by a mineral/sediment vein, or there's not actually any bone in the end. Could you get an oblique angle showing the broken bone itself? And, where bone is spalled off, how thick (in millimeters please) is the wall of the bone?

Oblique as in the whole object? And could you define what you mean by spalled? And it is broken into multiple segments.

[NWGeoFan]

It has an outer shell like layer that flaked off the other segments

[Boesse]

Thanks, that's precisely what I needed. You've found something extremely rare indeed: a partial humerus of a giant, bony-toothed bird. I've attached a figure from a paper of mine describing the youngest known Pelagornis from the Pacific basin (Purisima Fm., California).

 

Yours unfortunately is just the shaft, and missing the proximal and distal ends - unless you can get back to that spot and dig out the rest, which I highly, highly recommend you do!

[NWGeoFan]

11 minutes ago, Boesse said:

Thanks, that's precisely what I needed. You've found something extremely rare indeed: a partial humerus of a giant, bony-toothed bird. I've attached a figure from a paper of mine describing the youngest known Pelagornis from the Pacific basin (Purisima Fm., California).

 

Yours unfortunately is just the shaft, and missing the proximal and distal ends - unless you can get back to that spot and dig out the rest, which I highly, highly recommend you do!

Thank you for the ID! How sure are you? I found it among shells and marine fossils on a beach. But sounds like a very cool find

[NWGeoFan]

Im very excited since this was my first time digging, do you reccomend me delivering it to a nearby University? I do not have the proper equipment to further extract any without damaging it.

[Wrangellian]

Maybe there are other Forum members or other experienced and better-equipped people in the area who could be brought to the spot to help you dig out the rest?

[NWGeoFan]

2 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

Maybe there are other Forum members or other experienced and better-equipped people in the area who could be brought to the spot to help you dig out the rest?

Very true, I am headed to the same site this summer, it is decently far away from me so I cant make it any sooner then that hopefully the rest is still there. And valid point I will definitely look around for help or perhaps invest in better equipment myself.

[MudstoneMullusk]

I find very similar structures laid down in marine sediment where I live. They form long networks and end randomly or sometimes in a U shape. I believe them to be trace fossils of marine worm burrows. I couldn't find the paper for you that I read that truely convinced me of this. But go ahead and Google annelid trace fossils and you will come across a lot of similar images. I could be wrong but I've been tormented by the same thing. Below are some that I have found.

Edited November 18, 2022 by MudstoneMullusk

[Mahnmut]

Hi MudstoneMullusk,

more often than not a tentative bone turns out to be a burow cast, but looking at the last pic from the OP there seems to be thin corticalis, hinting at the rare case where it is the other way round, convincing Boesse who is an expert.

Do the burrow casts you found show any kind of coating or distinct surface layer?

Best Regards,

J

5 hours ago, MudstoneMullusk said:

I find very similar structures laid down in marine sediment where I live. They form long networks and end randomly or sometimes in a U shape. I believe them to be trace fossils of marine worm burrows. I couldn't find the paper for you that I read that truely convinced me of this. But go ahead and Google annelid trace fossils and you will come across a lot of similar images. I could be wrong but I've been tormented by the same thing. Below are some that I have found.

 

 

 

[MudstoneMullusk]

4 hours ago, Mahnmut said:

Hi MudstoneMullusk,

more often than not a tentative bone turns out to be a burow cast, but looking at the last pic from the OP there seems to be thin corticalis, hinting at the rare case where it is the other way round, convincing Boesse who is an expert.

Do the burrow casts you found show any kind of coating or distinct surface layer?

Best Regards,

No, not that I recall. They were more layered in the way a concretion is. I really hope his find is a bone that would be rad!