MarcoSr Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 If you aren’t used to seeing marine coprolites, it is very easy to miss them as you search marine matrix. That is one of the reasons for this post. Also I posted these for @GeschWhat. Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish coprolites from small concretions or other geologic specimens. If in doubt pull them out and let a coprolite researcher make the determination. The below coprolites came from matrix (about 1 gallon) from the Egem Quarry in Belgium: The matrix contained a large number of shark and ray teeth. Sharks and rays produce spiral and scroll coprolites. I didn’t find any scroll coprolites. However, scroll coprolites tend to be fairly large and may be in the fauna but were too large for the matrix size that I was searching. I did find a few spiral coprolites. See the below 15 mm specimen: However the vast majority of coprolites looked to be from bony fish, with no evidence of spiraling and lots of fish bone inclusions. See the two pieces (15 mm and 5 mm) of coprolites below with very visible inclusions: Other examples (9 mm, 9 mm, and 15 mm) of bony fish coprolites (note the middle coprolite may have worn spiraling but I can't tell for sure) : Finding mostly bony fish coprolites was not surprising considering the number of bony fish teeth, jaws, vertebrae and especially otoliths also contained in the matrix. The below picture shows only the nicest otoliths (in total I found at least 3 times this number) from the matrix: Continued in the next reply 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...
MarcoSr Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 The below coprolites came from matrix (about 1 gallon) from the quarries in the Khouribga area of Morocco: These coprolites were mostly broken (probably as a result of the mining operations). The coprolites also tended to show a good bit of pitting and weren’t all as smooth as the ones that I see from Virginia or the ones above from Belgium. There were a number of the coprolites that showed spiraling. See the two specimens (14 mm and 10 mm) below: I didn’t see evidence of inclusions in the specimens from Morocco. There were a good number that didn’t show evidence of spiraling. See the two specimens (15 mm and 5 mm) below: Marco Sr. 5 "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...
Phevo Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Wow that really is a lot of ****... I like it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Nice Marco. The matrix I had from Egem several years ago was very rich. However, I did not look for coproites. Kind of wish I had. Especially since the matrix from there is almost impossible to get ahold of now. Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Wonderful collection of little poops! 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...
MarcoSr Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 56 minutes ago, Phevo said: Wow that really is a lot of ****... I like it If coprolites fossilize in a marine environment, you can find lots of them in the matrix. Marco Sr. "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...
MarcoSr Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 50 minutes ago, sixgill pete said: Nice Marco. The matrix I had from Egem several years ago was very rich. However, I did not look for coproites. Kind of wish I had. Especially since the matrix from there is almost impossible to get ahold of now. Don These coprolites came from matrix that I acquired and first searched years ago. I kept a lot of searched matrix from worldwide sites because I felt that I wasn't recognizing all of the fossils in the matrix. Looking through the Egem matrix again recently, I realized that I had not picked out the coprolites or the fish otoliths. Although my wife doesn't agree, I'm now glad that I saved a lot of searched matrix. Marco Sr. 2 "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...
MarcoSr Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 58 minutes ago, ynot said: Wonderful collection of little poops! Tony The curator of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science where I donated many thousands of coprolites once told me in an e-mail " you may have collected more coprolites than any human who has ever lived! " Marco Sr. 1 "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...
ynot Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 5 minutes ago, MarcoSr said: Tony The curator of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science where I donated many thousands of coprolites once told me in an e-mail " you may have collected more coprolites than any human who has ever lived! " Marco Sr. Wonderful ephitate, are You going to have it placed on Your headstone? Not that You will need it anytime soon. 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...
Fruitbat Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 That IS a lot of poop! Fascinating stuff! -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 3 hours ago, ynot said: Wonderful ephitate, are You going to have it placed on Your headstone? Not that You will need it anytime soon. Tony No wake, no funeral, no headstone for me. Just cremation and ashes spread. Marco Sr. 1 "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...
MarcoSr Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Fruitbat said: That IS a lot of poop! Fascinating stuff! -Joe Joe I collected 20,000+ marine coprolites from a site in Virginia. When they fossilize in a fauna, you really can find lots of them. Marco Sr. "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...
Tidgy's Dad Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Interesting and nice photos. Lots of lovely coprolites! Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 39 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Interesting and nice photos. Lots of lovely coprolites! After I became familiar enough with marine coprolites to be able to recognize the small fish coprolites, I started seeing them in quantity in a number of marine faunas. Before that I only recognized and collected the really large Croc and shark coprolites. Marco Sr. 1 "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...
Plantguy Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 The more examples of these guys that I see I think about how many Ive discarded over the years...Cool stuff...thanks for the education. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Marco, I would be in HEAVEN! Thanks for sharing them. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 6 hours ago, Plantguy said: The more examples of these guys that I see I think about how many Ive discarded over the years...Cool stuff...thanks for the education. Regards, Chris Chris I discarded them for years from one site in Virginia. After I realized what they were and started keeping them, I amassed over 30,000 of them. Marco Sr. "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...
MarcoSr Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 1 hour ago, GeschWhat said: Marco, I would be in HEAVEN! Thanks for sharing them. Lori Most of the coprolites that I find are either marine coprolites from Eocene marine sites or are terrestrial Oligocene coprolites from Nebraska where my sons own a ranch. So I'm not seeing the variety of coprolites like you see. When I look at your TFF posts and/or coprolite papers I see all kinds of different coprolites that I just don't see through my own collecting. As an example, it is surprising to me how different marine coprolites from the Cretaceous look from the coprolites that I find in the Eocene. It may be that most of the Cretaceous coprolites that I see are very large and mostly found by surface collecting and the Eocene coprolites that I find are mostly small found by searching matrix. I really need to go back through a lot of the Cretaceous matrix that I previously searched but still kept to check for coprolites that I missed. Marco Sr. "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...
non-remanié Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 On 4/7/2018 at 6:49 PM, MarcoSr said: Lori Most of the coprolites that I find are either marine coprolites from Eocene marine sites or are terrestrial Oligocene coprolites from Nebraska where my sons own a ranch. So I'm not seeing the variety of coprolites like you see. When I look at your TFF posts and/or coprolite papers I see all kinds of different coprolites that I just don't see through my own collecting. As an example, it is surprising to me how different marine coprolites from the Cretaceous look from the coprolites that I find in the Eocene. It may be that most of the Cretaceous coprolites that I see are very large and mostly found by surface collecting and the Eocene coprolites that I find are mostly small found by searching matrix. I really need to go back through a lot of the Cretaceous matrix that I previously searched but still kept to check for coprolites that I missed. Marco Sr. I believe that the main difference you are seeing in Cretaceous vs. Eocene marine coprolites is a taphonomical artifact. In my experience, larger marine coprolites will be found in any basal transgressive lag at a significant (erosional) disconformity. ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 On 4/7/2018 at 5:49 PM, MarcoSr said: Lori Most of the coprolites that I find are either marine coprolites from Eocene marine sites or are terrestrial Oligocene coprolites from Nebraska where my sons own a ranch. So I'm not seeing the variety of coprolites like you see. When I look at your TFF posts and/or coprolite papers I see all kinds of different coprolites that I just don't see through my own collecting. As an example, it is surprising to me how different marine coprolites from the Cretaceous look from the coprolites that I find in the Eocene. It may be that most of the Cretaceous coprolites that I see are very large and mostly found by surface collecting and the Eocene coprolites that I find are mostly small found by searching matrix. I really need to go back through a lot of the Cretaceous matrix that I previously searched but still kept to check for coprolites that I missed. Marco Sr. You are lucky you have access to areas where you can self collect. I only get to go collecting (usually in the Hell Creek Formation) a couple times a year on public lands - so those go directly to museums/universities for further study. I clean them up in camp best I can photograph them. Sometimes if we are not sure if they are coprolites, I bring them home to look at them more closely and then send them back if I think they really are coprolites. With the exception of donations from TFF members and a few others, almost all of the coprolites in my collection I have had to to purchase. Not nearly as fun as finding them yourself. Luckily, I have good connections with good provenance for the bulk of those I actually study. Some of the Nebraska Oligocene coprolites are fascinating. My favorite is one with a toe bone peaking out. I had a CT scan done of it. However, it is hard to isolate the bone in these with the software I use (free) because the bone is harder than the surrounding material. I'm hoping eventually better software will be available at a reasonable price. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 13 hours ago, non-remanié said: I believe that the main difference you are seeing in Cretaceous vs. Eocene marine coprolites is a taphonomical artifact. In my experience, larger marine coprolites will be found in any basal transgressive lag at a significant (erosional) disconformity. Steve That could be the main reason for what I'm seeing. Although the basal transgressive lag layers concentrate the fossils, the high energy environments tended to rework everything and provenance of the specimens can be an issue so I don't collect these layers as much as I should. There are several basal transgresive lag layers in Virginia that do have high quality specimens that I collect but everything is very small size wise. I guess I'm collecting where all the small stuff wicked away to in the trangression. Marco Sr. 1 "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...
MarcoSr Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 40 minutes ago, GeschWhat said: You are lucky you have access to areas where you can self collect. I only get to go collecting (usually in the Hell Creek Formation) a couple times a year on public lands - so those go directly to museums/universities for further study. I clean them up in camp best I can photograph them. Sometimes if we are not sure if they are coprolites, I bring them home to look at them more closely and then send them back if I think they really are coprolites. With the exception of donations from TFF members and a few others, almost all of the coprolites in my collection I have had to to purchase. Not nearly as fun as finding them yourself. Luckily, I have good connections with good provenance for the bulk of those I actually study. Some of the Nebraska Oligocene coprolites are fascinating. My favorite is one with a toe bone peaking out. I had a CT scan done of it. However, it is hard to isolate the bone in these with the software I use (free) because the bone is harder than the surrounding material. I'm hoping eventually better software will be available at a reasonable price. Lori That is unfortunate that you can't collect your own specimens too often. I actually get a lot of the matrix that I search from trades with other collectors. Although I also collect a lot of matrix from different sites in the US myself. The coprolites in this post came from matrix that I traded for. I wish I had access to some of the scanning and imaging equipment and software that medical facilities and universities use. Using that you could really fully see the inclusions in the coprolites. Also I wish I could thin section some coprolites and chemically analyse others. Hopefully eventually the coprolites that I've donated will be examined and tested using these methods. One problem that I have is I pretty much donate all of the coprolites that I find so I don't have reference specimens to compare other coprolites to. My memory is terrible on fine details so if I didn't take good pictures I don't have anything for reference. Marco Sr. "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...
doushantuo Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 TapanilphosphaEocenAfrica08.pdf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 !!(about 5 mB) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 10 minutes ago, MarcoSr said: Lori That is unfortunate that you can't collect your own specimens too often. I actually get a lot of the matrix that I search from trades with other collectors. Although I also collect a lot of matrix from different sites in the US myself. The coprolites in this post came from matrix that I traded for. I wish I had access to some of the scanning and imaging equipment and software that medical facilities and universities use. Using that you could really fully see the inclusions in the coprolites. Also I wish I could thin section some coprolites and chemically analyse others. Hopefully eventually the coprolites that I've donated will be examined and tested using these methods. One problem that I have is I pretty much donate all of the coprolites that I find so I don't have reference specimens to compare other coprolites to. My memory is terrible on fine details so if I didn't take good pictures I don't have anything for reference. Marco Sr. I have quite a bit of matrix to go through that I have bought/traded. Unfortunately, it is usually not very coprolite-rich. It does help me recognize/identify inclusions though - and it gets me through the winter months. I usually donate my scientifically significant specimens once I have gone as far as I can with them. In my next life, I'm going to be rich so I can buy some fossiliferous land and have access to all the high-tech equipment. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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