MacKenzie Smith

We know it’s not the root of a problem because it’s on the cusp of greatness 🤣

Spectacular!

I’m not 100% sure but I’m leaning more to Cordaites since it would have bark. I would need to compare it with known/ID’ed Cordaites wood with external preservation.

Hi Penny. Looking at some geological maps of the region you are likely in rock from the Carboniferous Period (259-299 Ma). The striations make me think it’s plant. Some candidates may include Calamites (though this would be one of my last picks since I do not see any nodes), Psaronius (a tree fern) or Cordaites (an ancient conifer). If you upload a picture of that broken side on the left for a cross section I might be able to tell. Cross sections can sometimes have cellular detail which is more informative than the outside of a stem. However, it is possible that it didn’t preserve.

@max-dereme No problem! Also, I meant to say three skulls a year (not three total). A lot of the material was discovered by Ralph Emlong in the 1980’s and is housed at UCMP and the Smithsonian.

Yes!

@max-dereme Although not incredibly common there are probably at least 3 dolphin skulls that come from the OR Coast. They are relatively common for vert material. UO knows is aware.

@lisa-schenk You can keep it! Idk how much time Steve has left on the machine here and I also need to crank out more Clarno leaf descriptions. If you want to you can show this to Jim Goedert at the Burke. Friday Harbor now has a CT scan so it’d just be a matter of finding someone who has funding and time on the machine that would be interested. Also, as a side note, you can see the dehiscent suture on the left!

@lisa-schenk Peels are shorthand for celulose acetate peels. It’s a technique in paleobotany that allows us to lift thin layers of cells off a plant allowing us to see the cell structure. CT would be done first because peels partly destroy the specimen.

Sure looks like a cone! Peels and/or CT would show what type.

@gloria-carr You tagged me! 😀 An email notification get’s sent when you @ someone but we are working at trying to get it to be obvious in the app. Juglans bergomensis (the butternut that Steve and I described from the Astoria) has a ribbed shell so it’s not that. It’s hard to interpret if this is a 5 loculole fruit or a weird fracture causing us to see a combination of locuoles and lacunae. There is a smooth butternut from Oligocene rocks near SEATAC called Juglans lacunosa though we are now uncertain of it’s actual relationship within the walnuts due to a possible secondary septum revealed by CT scans. If this is J. lacunosa this would be it’s first occurance in the Miocene and in Oregon.

Hi Andrei it looks like it could be coral or bryozoa. Can you tell us about the creek (what country or province/state it’s in)?

Research Gate link https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284916111_A_Late_Campanian_Flora_from_the_Kaiparowits_Formation_southern_Utah_and_a_brief_overview_of_the_widely_sampled_but_little-known_Campanian_vegetation_of_the_Western_Interior_of_North_America

Definitely Pinus. There’s a scale towards the base where there is a clear apophysis and umbo. It looks like the seeds are still inside too. Pinus berglundii Miller is the only cone described so far but I bet there are more. Larry showed me one like this that was more elongated.

Looks like a Calicantherus carlsoni.

I think I’ve seen something about punctate structure in some of Art Boucot’s notes and I agree with Jen.