Gastroliths containing fossilized worm, snails, fish and or bugs

[john h dalton]

I have a few places I can go here in norther Wyoming where I find a lot of Gastroliths. The last couple of times I have gone out I find at least one or two that had been fossils before becoming a gizzard stone. I have heard of and found Gastroliths that was petrified wood . I haven't though seen any that were like these. 

[Kane]

Are you sure these are gastroliths and not just tumbled stones? I can definitely see what appears to be a crinoid cross section in the last photo.

[john h dalton]

 This is i the Morrison formation right among  and around very visible bone fossil evidence that is everywhere  there are no other stones like these anywhere remotely close.  These are by definition gastroliths.  I have also had the local BLM office confirm to me what i had.   

[caldigger]

Polished rocks from the "Tummy Tumbler".  

Neat that you are finding fossils in them. Kind of a fossil within a fossil.

[john h dalton]

yeah it kinda puts it into perspective of how old this planet is.

 

[Ludwigia]

I'd be interested to see photos of the ones with worms, snails, fish and bugs. I'm sure that @GeschWhat would too.

[john h dalton]

Not sure if this is a bug or some kind of plant in this one 

[john h dalton]

This is a fish tail ( looks like to me ) 

[bone2stone]

As many as I have found over the years I have yet to find one of this nature.

Most people I show, their first question is: How do I know what it is?

Congratulation on some fascinating finds.

I believe your "bug" and your "Fish tail" are both corals.

Thanks for showing these.

 

Jess B.

[john h dalton]

Hey thanks for your input.  crinoid cross section i guess is what a lot of what I'm seeing probably is. I never knew thats what they were until Kane pointed that out.  

[aplomado]

A fossil of a fossil!  That is seriously fantastic!

[GeschWhat]

Fascinating! Nothing better than fossils in fossils. Now if I could only find a coprolite containing gastroliths, containing fossils! If you ever find a little cache of these, you should be sure to take an in situ photos for provenance! 

On 3/5/2018 at 7:18 AM, caldigger said:

"Tummy Tumbler".  

Love it!

[john h dalton]

9 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

Fascinating! Nothing better than fossils in fossils. Now if I could only find a coprolite containing gastroliths, containing fossils! If you ever find a little cache of these, you should be sure to take an in situ photos for provenance! 

Love it!

My high school biology teacher used to take the class out and pick up fossils out here in the bad lands  that's when it wasn't a federal offence to do so. He showed us one place that had some gastroliths.  I thought at the time "Yeah right How the heck could someone possibly know that" lol I still have a hard time with the whole concept of the gizzard stone thing, but something different has  most definitely happened to these rocks! A few years ago me and a friend came across a area where there was a unbelievable amount of these things. So many of them!  Anyway for a living I finish concrete. The friend I was with when we found this large cache of them wanted me to pour a addition to his back yard patio. He wanted to have part of it exposed aggregate. I thought it would look really cool if we went back to this spot, picked up a bunch of these things and seed the top of the slab and then expose it showing these pretty stones.  Its in a vary remote  place and it  took a while (day and a half) to relocate it.  I have been there twice and have  brought back a total of two five gallon buckets of these things. That honestly, was just picking up the really nice ones. Well after getting them home, cleaned up and looked over, I had a really hard time sticking them into concrete. Then after seeing how much people were selling them for made it even harder. I have yet to put any in concrete or tried to sell any of them.  The last time i was out there i found these artifacts that were napped out of some. I thought that was way cool.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

Interesting story. 

And those gastroliths with fossils in are the most wonderful thing! 

[Missourian]

On 3/6/2018 at 5:39 AM, john h dalton said:

 

The fossils in this pebble resemble fusulinids, which would mean it originated in a Pennsylvanian or Permian limestone. But where was the original outcrop?....

 

I wonder if these stones could provide some insight into the migration of the dinosaur, or the former extent and exposure of the limestone unit?

 

[snolly50]

Here is a link to a nice Forum topic discussing gastroliths and the Dx features. As a bonus and appropriate to this topic is my post of a tiny fossil within a gastrolith.

 

 

[john h dalton]

27 minutes ago, Missourian said:

 

The fossils in this pebble resemble fusulinids, which would mean it originated in a Pennsylvanian or Permian limestone. But where was the original outcrop?....

 

I wonder if these stones could provide some insight into the migration of the dinosaur, or the former extent and exposure of the limestone unit?

 

 these came from the Pre Jurassic of the  Morrison.  I think that's how you say it.  I'm Making sure now. So if i'm wrong please don't give me to much grief lol

 

[Missourian]

2 hours ago, john h dalton said:

 these came from the Pre Jurassic of the  Morrison.  I think that's how you say it.  I'm Making sure now. So if i'm wrong please don't give me to much grief lol

 

 

Yes, those are pre-Jurassic, assuming they did weather out of the Morrison (not placed there by some other process). The fossils contained within all indicate Paleozoic.

 

By "original outcrop", I mean where they originated before the dinosaurs gobbled them up.

[bone2stone]

Wonderful, just absolutely wonderful.

That fossil in a fossil comment pinned it down.

The colors are outstanding as well!

 

Jess B.