VRFossils Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 I need help identifying this. It was in my childhood rock collection. It looks a LOT like some of the corpolite pictures I see online. Does it look like that to you all? It probably came from central North Dakota since that was where I lived, but even that I'm not sure about because we did go on family trips to Montana, and sometimes South Dakota. So it could possibly have come from those states as well. Anybody have any ideas what it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coled18 Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 I think it is possible, there is definitely some interesting mineral growth going on. One thing to look for to see if you may have a coprolite or not is to look for small fossils within the specimen. The fact that one side is flat is reassuring, and I think I see something here that you might want to upload a more close-up picture of. 1 CD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Could see it being one but something's off. I'll call in the poo-fesionals @GeschWhat and @Carl 1 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Hmm...I conferred with coprocat and, as you can see from the look on his face, we are on the fence with this one. It doesn't look like coprolites I've seen from any of those locations. I can't tell if the dark spot in the center of the second to the last photo is an inclusion or not. One thing nice about coprolites from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana is that 9 times out of 10 they will stick if you touch them to the tip of your tongue. If you are not brave enough for that test, you can touch it with wet fingers to see if it feels sticky. 4 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Sorry, I'm not seeing any convincing coprolite details, either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 17 hours ago, GeschWhat said: Hmm...I conferred with coprocat and, as you can see from the look on his face, we are on the fence with this one. It doesn't look like coprolites I've seen from any of those locations. I can't tell if the dark spot in the center of the second to the last photo is an inclusion or not. One thing nice about coprolites from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana is that 9 times out of 10 they will stick if you touch them to the tip of your tongue. If you are not brave enough for that test, you can touch it with wet fingers to see if it feels sticky. There she goes again....... trying to get more people to lick poop!!!! Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Looks like a silicate nodule to Me. Particularly on the broken edge in picture 3. (could be other mineral though.) 2 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyB Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Looks like chert/flint with a erosion cracked outside. 2 Tankman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 1 hour ago, SailingAlongToo said: There she goes again....... trying to get more people to lick poop!!!! Best part of my day! Although, some of the joy is lost when I can't see the look on their face when I suggest this. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Forget the "Cinnamon" challenge, we need videos of people taking the "Coprolite Taste Test"! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 1 hour ago, caldigger said: orget the "Cinnamon" challenge, we need videos of people taking the "Coprolite Taste Test"! I actually never thought of taking videos, but I do have a lot of stills from presentations and dig sites. Perhaps I will have to make that a condition when I send them to people. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 13 hours ago, GeschWhat said: I actually never thought of taking videos, but I do have a lot of stills from presentations and dig sites. Perhaps I will have to make that a condition when I send them to people. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop......er... I mean a coprolite...... 1 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Your specimen doesn't look like the terrestrial Eocene/Oligocene coprolites that I see in the badlands of Nebraska. The first picture below shows two representative coprolites and the second picture shows a group of coprolites from the area that I donated to the NMMNH&S. Note the very large specimens on two of the plates in the last picture turned out to be geologic and not coprolites. Marco Sr. 4 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 9 hours ago, SailingAlongToo said: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop......er... I mean a coprolite...... I certainly hope they don't have a soft chewy center!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 It's just my opinion. Your specimen might be a nice example of a pseudocoprolite, something similar to soft-sediment extrusion triggered by coseismic liquefaction or other theory, considering that is silica rich (silex - flint, chert, etc.). The external texture looks close to the specimens below, although they are ferruginous masses. excerpt from here 3 " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 +1 more for not being coprolite but geologic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VRFossils Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Hey thanks for all the answers! You all are really helpful! I was looking at it further under really bright light and I think the chert/flint guess is the most likely. Light will shine through the inside and light it up, similar to an agate. It's just the outside that has turned white. And I don't see any signs of any internal structures like bone pieces or anything. So I think coprolite is pretty well ruled out, unless there is some kind that totally turns to flint/chert/agate and beomes semi-transparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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