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I'll Take The Blue Bone Special!


Tracer Jr.

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recently tracer and i went on an exploring adventure. it was the usual bar walking, and i came across a bone that obviously wasn't fossilized. my immediate urge was to fling it at the captain, but i realized it was a bit odd. the bone is probably from a COW (not bison), and it has a blue oxidized coating weirdness under the top layer. kinda cool, but what the heck causes it?

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tracer says it's probably worth millions, but i'm still not convinced.

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it looks like it's been painted and the paint is peeling off, it doesnt look natural

" We're all puppets, I'm just a puppet who can see the strings. "

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it is definitely natural, although i see why you say that. up close the blue is sparkly and very mineral looking. it's like an oxidation or something and i have no idea what. should've gotten better photos.

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Looks like it is in the process of fossiling. It may be older than you think. Have you tried the match test?

-----"Your Texas Connection!"------

Fossils: Windows to the past

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The blue is probably Vivianite, a phosphate mineral that often forms on bones. It could be within that last few 100 years or older, try the match test and see what happens. Does it have weight like it was fossilized or light enough to "fling it at the Captain"? :)

-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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The blue is probably Vivianite, a phosphate mineral that often forms on bones. It could be within that last few 100 years or older, try the match test and see what happens. Does it have weight like it was fossilized or light enough to "fling it at the Captain"? :)

I agreee with the vivianite, which is a blue iron-based mineral that forms in an anoxic (without oxygen) environment. I most often see it at coldwater creek, a pleistocene deposit, where wood shells and bone can all be found blue.

Brent Ashcraft

ashcraft, brent allen

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thanks for the info guys. and it did not feel mineralized at all, it was as light as a modern bone would be.

Match test results?

-----"Your Texas Connection!"------

Fossils: Windows to the past

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I seem to remember that Vivianite looses it's blue color very quickly when exposed to sunlight. Very quickly. Looking at the pictures, I'm suprised it's still blue. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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mike, i'm not going to say what tj did with the scapula, but it's not in our possession, and never will be.

hydrated iron phosphate does seem pretty ok in the context for that piece. it was really cool looking in real life. very pretty blue.

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mike, i'm not going to say what tj did with the scapula, but it's not in our possession, and never will be.

hydrated iron phosphate does seem pretty ok in the context for that piece. it was really cool looking in real life. very pretty blue.

Got ya! No specimen, no test.

-----"Your Texas Connection!"------

Fossils: Windows to the past

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