Unexpected Fossils

Fossil leaves/needles, Owyhee country

Sometimes, when I am in serious rock-collecting mode, I am picking things up on a whim - a flash of color or pattern might catch my eye. But I generally don't spend a lot of time inspecting each one. Often they just go into the bag for future study. Maybe this is why my car rides so slow when I come home from a trip!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I was recently collecting in one of my favorite areas, the Owyhee mountains on eastern Oregon. I have been sorting through the specimens I collated, tossing out some, and polishing those that are worth the effort, especially picture jaspers. (see earlier blog post)

But this one was a surprise, different from anything else I saw, and with a pale purple that caught my eye. I tossed it in the bag and only took a closer look today. Breaking off a piece revealed an inner layer  crammed with leaf fossils. I haven't identified them, but they look like conifer needles, twigs etc. strewn throughout a single layer in what I am guessing is rhyolite tuff. A nice surprise!

Ancient Mystery : Fossil Whale Bone?

I found this fist-sized rock along the shoreline yesterday, and immediately noticed some unusual things about it.  It is very heavy, and filled with linear vesicles - and reminded me of bone, especially whale bone. I don't know if that's what it is - fossil whale bone - but it certainly seems possible. I am going to do some tests, and maybe have someone look at it who might know more than me (which is almost everyone).  Stay tuned.

Follow-up  4/10/12 :  I took the sample to the Paleo team at the Burke Museum today to see if they had any reaction to it. They did, and it pretty much coincided with mine, e.g. "it might be bone....or it might not."  Hardly the conclusive verdict I was hoping for. But yes, it is pretty weathered, pretty small, and does not have any obvious structures that would help identify it.

MAY 2013 UPDATE: I finally got around to cutting  this puppy open and you know what?  It was nothing - some sort of mudstone devoid of any interesting pattern or structure...