This is Throwback Thursday #70. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks!
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The following article appeared in the September 1976 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. Coprolites are popular items for sale at any rock show. They are actually fossilize feces, not always from dinosaurs. We even find coprolites in the Mazon Creek biota. Here is the definition from Wikipedia.
A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κόπρος (kopros, meaning "dung") and λίθος (lithos, meaning "stone"). They were first described by William Buckland in 1829. Prior to this they were known as "fossil fir cones" and "bezoar stones". They serve a valuable purpose in paleontology because they provide direct evidence of the predation and diet of extinct organisms.[1] Coprolites may range in size from a few millimetres to over 60 centimetres.
I looked of the "Ozark Earth Science News" and couldn't find anything specific to a newsletter. However, The "Spring River Gem & Mineral Club" still exists. They have a page on Facebook with somewhat recent posts. They're location is Cherokee Village, Arkansas. Oh and 50 tons is a huge amount of anything.... especially poop!
THEY'RE SELLING WHAT? By Olga Curtis
COPROLITE is a popular item in the rock stores where bits of Colorado s stone are sold to souvenir-hungry tourists. It is pretty when polished, a variegated stone that looks good in rings, bracelets and pendants. But tourists want it for another reason: Coprolite is petrified dinosaur dung.
To scientists, fossil excrement is a valuable source of information about the food habits of extinct animals. To tourists, it is a conversation item. When complimented on wearing a nice looking stone, the: can reply: "That's dinosaur manure!"
Colorado has a lot of dinosaur manure, especially on the Western Slope, and J. V. Kelly of Mark, Colo., seems to collect more of it than any one else. Kelly is a professional rock hunter, estimates he has shipped 50 tons of coprolite to stores throughout the United States and abroad. since polished dinosaur droppings became jewelry items about 15 yrs ago.
At first, storekeepers would whisper the true nature of coprolite into a buyer's ear. Now, it is fashionable to label it correctly. One of Kelly's customers, Marty Stroo of Georgetown, Colo., displays a "Dinosaur manure" sign in the window of his store, The Wildcats. "It intrigues visitors," Stroo says.
Kelly sells coprolite for $1.30 a pound, as is. (It looks like a rocky cow pat in specimen form). Cut and polished, a two inch slab of coprolite set into a brooch or pendant costs from $7.50 to $11.50 or more. The price goes up with polishing because no one can tell if it is of gem quality, meaning suitable for polishing, until it is cut.
It can be found in various sizes, from rocks weighing only half a pound to chunks of nearly 200 pounds. "The size of the dinosaur has a lot to do with it," Kelly notes. Usually, he adds, when you find coprolite you find a great deal of it, maybe as much as a ton.
Did dinosaurs always relieve themselves in the same place? Stroo admit. that is what he tells tourists, but a more scientific explanation is that prehistoric waters pushed waste materials into a mass. The tourists, Stroo adds, are always impressed by the fact that coprolite is 140- to 170- million years old. But they still ask if it smells.
- "from the Denver Post" via Spring River Gem & Mineral Club, Ozark Earth Science News, 6/76
