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Word for the day: Coprolite

I have to admit that I am curious about this. How the heck would poop ever become fossilized in the first place? For that matter lots of fossils look like they are of plant and animal material that wouldn't exist longer than about 2 days (if even that) without being eaten by scavengers or dissolved by bacteria. :shrug01:
 
WebSlave said:
I have to admit that I am curious about this. How the heck would poop ever become fossilized in the first place? For that matter lots of fossils look like they are of plant and animal material that wouldn't exist longer than about 2 days (if even that) without being eaten by scavengers or dissolved by bacteria. :shrug01:
Click to expand...

Answer is here:
http://whyfiles.org/shorties/078coprolite/

....
 
Pasodama said:
Answer is here:
http://whyfiles.org/shorties/078coprolite/

....
Click to expand...

Well, I read the article, but I must have missed where it says HOW fossilization actually does take place. It did mention that only a small percentage get fossilized, but no mention on how, exactly, it DOES happen.

I'll tell you we find scats of wild animals all over our property almost daily. Heck, every once in a while the neighbor's cattle will escape and leave sizeable "presents" all over our yard. I challenge anyone to find even one of those samples even partially fossilized. Heck, I would expect cattle ranches would be a veritable treasure trove of such fossils just based on volume of the samples deposited. Even if the odds were one in a million, any sizeable cattle ranch should have LOTS of coprolites in the making.

So, here's a cow plop. *plop* Tell me how to make it into a fossil.
 
At least i get to tell people i purchased dino poop, don't know to many that can make that claim. Ill post a picture tomorrow of the ones i have.
 
Well, if it came from China, it's probably counterfeit. Now, there's a job for you.... Making fake petrified dinosaur poop. Probably looks good on your resume. :rofl:
 
It came from Madagascar the guy had just gotten the shipment the day before.
 

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I could be wrong, but for things that decay rapidly to fossilize. They have to be encased in some thing at just the right time. Mud, clay, sand, ash, or some thing that encapsulizes them. Then it takes a long time for them to mineralize or become fossils, them it takes a long time for them to be found.
 
In order to become a fossil, feces goes through Permineralization.

To paraphrase, Permineralization takes place when mineral filled water seeps into/through the microscopic pores and cavities in bone, wood, shell, plant material, etc. With the water depositing minerals in those spaces.
The minerals create stony fossils that still contain a fair deal of their original solid material. Any "dissolved" material, of the feces, will have been replaced by minerals.

Although the following (link) is more focused on petrified wood, etc., it explains Permineralization (the process that feces undergoes) fairly well.
http://petrifiedwoodmuseum.org/Permineralization.htm

The article uses the word "solution", somewhat frequently, but "solution" is, typically, mineral rich water.

Also keep in mind that feces, although coming out the "other end", still contains items, &/or traces of items, that have been ingested. Be it plant material, seeds, bone, etc., etc.
 
OK, so I've got a bucket of cow manure and want to set it up to become fossilized. How do I do that? And it would have to be in a manner such that an animal could do that naturally, not some artificially designed lab process.
 
Take the freshly pooped out manure and bury it under mineral rich fine sediment/mud.
Make sure it is a location where water can reach it (probably seeping through ground).
Prior to burial, test any moisture/water to ensure that it is not very acidic.
Then check back, in about 15 lifetimes, to see if it has turned to fossil.
 
Pasodama said:
Take the freshly pooped out manure and bury it under mineral rich fine sediment/mud.
Prior to that, test any moisture/water to ensure that it is not very acidic.
Then check back, in about 15 lifetimes, to see if it has turned to fossil.
Click to expand...

And a dinosaur was able to do that how exactly?
 
The dinosaur's excrement, that turned to fossil, probably got dropped at just the right place, by happenstance, and was soon covered up by natural means (mother nature).
Not all excrement becomes fossilized. It takes the right place with the necessary conditions.
 
Pasodama said:
The dinosaur's excrement, that turned to fossil, probably got dropped at just the right place, by happenstance, and was soon covered up by natural means (mother nature).
Not all excrement becomes fossilized. It takes the right place with the necessary conditions.
Click to expand...

And that is my question. What sort of "natural means" can do that?

If i wanted to start some fossils today that will be ready in 150 lifetimes, what would I need to do?

Seriously? It only takes 11,000 years for fossils to form?
 
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