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Possible STH coprolite


JBMugu

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I found this earlier this year, can't figure out what it is. The more I look at it the more I think coprolite. Let me know what you think.

IMG_20180512_081757.jpg

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Could be, could be. 

or it may just be limonite and ochre or something

Have you tried the tongue test yet?

@GeschWhat

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I concur...it could be. The shape is right. I couldn't tell from your photos whether the dark spots were mineral staining or inclusions. I'm not too familiar with Sharktooth Hill. Is your scale in inches or cm?

 

I have lightened up the photos a bit, but am still unsure. Does it feel smooth or gritty to the touch? Does it stick to your tongue?

 

I must put out a disclaimer here. I recently acquired some Jurassic fossils from Germany and Poland that were thought to be coprolites. The outer surface was very sticky when wet, but the interior of fractures areas, not so much. They had a very gritty feel. When I looked at them under the microscope, they appeared very granular and contained a lot of small shell fragments and some coprolite pellets. Because of this, and the shape of a few of them, I'm pretty sure they are burrows and not coprolites. I am curious if they were sticky on the surface because of the deposition of fecal matter in the burrows. Perhaps one day I will have them tested. :) 

 

 

Possible Coprolite Side.jpg

Possible Coprolite.jpg

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14 minutes ago, GeschWhat said:

I concur...it could be. The shape is right. I couldn't tell from your photos whether the dark spots were mineral staining or inclusions. I'm not too familiar with Sharktooth Hill. Is your scale in inches or cm?

 

I have lightened up the photos a bit, but am still unsure. Does it feel smooth or gritty to the touch? Does it stick to your tongue?

 

I must put out a disclaimer here. I recently acquired some Jurassic fossils from Germany and Poland that were thought to be coprolites. The outer surface was very sticky when wet, but the interior of fractures areas, not so much. They had a very gritty feel. When I looked at them under the microscope, they appeared very granular and contained a lot of small shell fragments and some coprolite pellets. Because of this, and the shape of a few of them, I'm pretty sure they are burrows and not coprolites. I am curious if they were sticky on the surface because of the deposition of fecal matter in the burrows. Perhaps one day I will have them tested. :) 

 

 

Possible Coprolite Side.jpg

Possible Coprolite.jpg

The dark spots are a manganese growth that's is common to see formed on fossils from STH. The layer this came from is a really fine sand so everything we find is gritty so it's tough to determine if the grit is part of the item or not. The scale is in inches. I have found thousands of rocks there but almost all are water worn and round, I have never seen a rock with this shape there. When licked it kind of sticks to the tongue but not very much.

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All I can give you is a maybe. I went back and looked at (and :P tested) some of the coprolites I have that have a higher iron content. They don't stick at all, but do have inclusions. If I found it in a fossiliferous area I would keep and label it as a possible coprolite. 

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Update: I took the specimen down to the Los Angeles museum of natural history and the curator of vertebrae  paleontology thought it was a coprolite and I donated it to their collection for further study

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10 minutes ago, JBMugu said:

Update: I took the specimen down to the Los Angeles museum of natural history and the curator of vertebrae  paleontology thought it was a coprolite and I donated it to their collection for further study

Cool!

Post it in the "partners in paleontology" sub forum and collect Your badge! 

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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.

 

 

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10 hours ago, JBMugu said:

Update: I took the specimen down to the Los Angeles museum of natural history and the curator of vertebrae  paleontology thought it was a coprolite and I donated it to their collection for further study

Excellent! Here is the Paleo Partners thread.

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That's the day of the coprolites !

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Can be this supposed resemblance just a trick of my mind ? :headscratch:

 

5af7499e710fc_PossibleCoprolite.jpg.2738ff6cfc335a47277b390d4e78f1d0.thumb.jpg.1d6c6924a151ed67169d965436b3a328.jpgMarine-Coprolite-Fish-Vertebra-Inclusion-Niobrara-Formation-20X-1a.jpg.6c764bbf7d329da23b3967149b68abc2.thumb.jpg.635be2a339a8e9f1456e6f54b3b087c1.jpg

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6 hours ago, abyssunder said:

Can be this supposed resemblance just a trick of my mind ? :headscratch:

 

5af7499e710fc_PossibleCoprolite.jpg.2738ff6cfc335a47277b390d4e78f1d0.thumb.jpg.1d6c6924a151ed67169d965436b3a328.jpgMarine-Coprolite-Fish-Vertebra-Inclusion-Niobrara-Formation-20X-1a.jpg.6c764bbf7d329da23b3967149b68abc2.thumb.jpg.635be2a339a8e9f1456e6f54b3b087c1.jpg

I see the pattern you think about and i also find a resemblance.

theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

photo-thumb-12286.jpg.878620deab804c0e4e53f3eab4625b4c.jpg

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