Gastrolith
Encyclopedia
A gastrolith, also called a stomach
stone or gizzard
stones, is a rock
held inside a gastrointestinal tract
. Gastroliths are retained in the muscular gizzard
and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast. Particles ranging in size from sand
to cobbles
have been documented.
birds, seals
and sea lion
s. Domestic fowl
require access to grit.
Some extinct animals such as sauropod dinosaurs appear to have used stones to grind tough plant matter. Gastroliths have only rarely been found in association with fossils of theropod dinosaurs and a trituration
of their food with the stones is not plausible. Aquatic animals, such as plesiosaurs, may have used them as ballast, to help balance themselves or to decrease their buoyancy, as crocodiles do. While some fossil
gastroliths are rounded and polished, many stones in living birds are not polished at all. Gastroliths associated with dinosaur
fossils can weigh several kilograms. Stones swallowed by ostriches can exceed a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in).
Geologist
s usually require several pieces of evidence before they will accept that a rock was used by a dinosaur to aid its digestion
. First, the stone must be unlike the rock found in its geological vicinity. Secondly, it should be rounded and polished, because inside a dinosaur's gizzard any genuine gastrolith would have been acted upon by other stones and fibrous materials in a process similar to the action of a rock tumbler. Lastly, the stone must be found with the fossil
s of the dinosaur which ingested it. It is this last criterion that causes trouble in identification, as smooth stones found without context can (possibly erroneously in some cases) be dismissed as having been polished by water or wind. Christopher H. Whittle
(1988,9) pioneered scanning electron microscope
analysis of wear patterns on gastroliths. Wings (2003) found that ostrich
gastroliths would be deposited outside the skeleton if the carcass was deposited in an aquatic environment for as little as a few days following death. He concludes that this is likely to hold true for all birds (with the possible exception of moa
) due to their air-filled bones which would cause a carcass deposited in water to float for the time it needs to rot sufficiently to allow gastroliths to escape.
Gastroliths can be distinguished from stream- or beach-rounded rocks by several criteria: gastroliths are highly polished on the higher surfaces, with little or no polish in depressions or crevices, often strongly resembling the surface of worn animal teeth. Stream- or beach-worn rocks, particularly in a high-impact environment, show less polishing on higher surfaces, often with many small pits or cracks on these higher surfaces. Finally, highly polished gastroliths often show long microscopic hairline scratches, presumably caused by contact with a sharp corner of a freshly swallowed stone. Since most gastroliths were scattered when the animal died and many entered a stream or beach environment, some gastroliths show a mixture of these wear features. Others were undoubtedly swallowed by other dinosaurs and highly polished gastroliths may have been swallowed repeatedly.
None of the gastroliths examined in a 2001 study of Cedarosaurus
gastroliths had the "soapy" texture popularly used to distinguish gastroliths from other types of clast. The researchers dismissed using a soapy texture to identify gastroliths as "unreliable." Gastroliths tended to be universally dull, although the colors represented were varied including black, dark brown, purplish red and grey-blue. Reflectance values greater than 50% are very diagnostic for identifying gastroliths. Clasts from beaches and streams tended to have reflectance values of less than 35%. Less than ten percent of beach clasts have reflectance values lying between 50 and 80%.
The American Museum of Natural History
Photograph # 311488 demonstrates an articulated skeleton of a Psittacosaurus mongoliensis, from the Ondai Sair Formation, Lower Cretaceous
Period of Mongolia
, showing a collection of about 40 gastroliths inside the rib cage
, about midway between shoulder and pelvis.
(named after the town of Morrison
, west of Denver, Colorado
), a late Jurassic
formation roughly 150 million years old. Some gastroliths are made of petrified wood
. Most known instances of preserved sauropod gastroliths are from Jurassic
animals.
Cedar Mountain Formation
of Central Utah
is full of highly polished red and black chert
s, which may partly represent gastroliths. Interestingly, the cherts may themselves contain fossils of ancient animals, such as corals. These stones do not appear to be associated with stream deposits and are rarely more than fist-sized, which is consistent with the idea that they are gastroliths.
animals.
, Kim Manley, and Kenneth Carpenter
published a study on 115 clasts discovered in association with a Cedarosaurus
specimen. These clasts were the first discovery of in situ gastroliths from the Cedar Mountain Formation
. The clasts were "partially matrix supported" and there were many contacts between clasts and bones and between the clasts themselves. The clasts were identified as gastroliths on the basis of their tight spatial distribution, partial matrix support and an edge-on orientation indicative of their being deposited while the carcass still had soft tissue. Their high surface reflectance values are consistent with other known dinosaur gastroliths. The clasts were generally of dull coloration, suggesting that color was not a major factor for the sauropod's decision making. All but three of the Cedarosaurus gastroliths were found within a .06 m volume of space. This space was located within the gut area. No other clasts were found within the quarry, which at the time had a volume of about 11 m cubed. The set of gastroliths is believed complete due to their being discovered in a single pocket deep in the quarry. The skeletal position suggests that the skeleton came to rest on its belly.
The total mass of the gastroliths was 7 kilograms (15.4 lb), total volume 2703 mL and the total surface area 4410 square centimetres (683.6 sq in). A majority, 67 of the 115 gastroliths, were less than 10 mL in volume. Individual clasts ranges from 0.04 to 270 ml (3.60003600036E-12 to 2.430024300243E-08 ) in volume. The least massive clast was 0.1 gram (0.0035273962105112 oz) and the most was 715 grams (25.2 oz). Most of the gastroliths tended to be small. The clasts tended to be close to spherical in shape, with the largest specimens being the most irregular. 43% were oblate spheroids, 34% spheroids, 16% prolate spheroid
s, and 7% ellipsoidal. The largest gastroliths contributed the most to the total surface area of the set. Since some of the most irregular gastroliths are also the largest, it is unlikely that they were ingested by accident. Cedarosaurus may have found irregular clasts to be attractive potential gastroliths or was not selective about shape. Some gastroliths were so large and irregularly shaped that they may have been difficult to swallow. The gastroliths includes chert
, sandstone
, siltstone
, and quartzite
clasts. Some of the chert clasts actually contained fossils. The sandstone clasts tended to be fragile and some broke in the process of collection. 62% were chert, 31 percent were sandstone and siltstone, 7% were quartzite.
The most reflective gastroliths were composed of chert. Some of the gastroliths couldn't be tested for reflectance due to a confounding metallic coating, which may have been hematite
. Expansion and contraction of the supporting mudstone around the inflexible clasts actually left series of parallel scratches in the coating. The metallic coating "probably originated from the iron
rich mudstone
" surround the fossils. The sandstone gastroliths may have been rendered fragile after deposition by loss of cement
caused by the external chemical environment. If the clasts had been that fragile while the animal was alive, they probably rolled and tumbled in the digestive tract. If they were more robust, they could have served as part of a ball-mill system. The high surface area to volume ratio of the largest clasts "also supports a grinding or crushing model."
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
stone or gizzard
Gizzard
The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including birds, reptiles, earthworms and some fish. This specialized stomach constructed of thick, muscular walls is used for grinding up food; often rocks are...
stones, is a rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
held inside a gastrointestinal tract
Gastrointestinal tract
The human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....
. Gastroliths are retained in the muscular gizzard
Gizzard
The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including birds, reptiles, earthworms and some fish. This specialized stomach constructed of thick, muscular walls is used for grinding up food; often rocks are...
and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast. Particles ranging in size from sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
to cobbles
Cobble (geology)
A cobble is a clast of rock with a particle size of to based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Cobbles are generally considered to be larger than pebbles and smaller than boulders . A rock made predominantly of cobbles is termed a conglomerate....
have been documented.
Etymology
Gastrolith comes from the Greek gastro meaning stomach and lithos meaning stone.Occurrence
Among living vertebrates, gastroliths are common among crocodiles, alligators, herbivorousHerbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
birds, seals
Earless seal
The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...
and sea lion
Sea Lion
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear-flaps, long fore-flippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short thick hair. Together with the fur seal, they comprise the family Otariidae, or eared seals. There are six extant and one extinct species in five genera...
s. Domestic fowl
Fowl
Fowl is a word for birds in general but usually refers to birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl and the waterfowl...
require access to grit.
Some extinct animals such as sauropod dinosaurs appear to have used stones to grind tough plant matter. Gastroliths have only rarely been found in association with fossils of theropod dinosaurs and a trituration
Trituration
Trituration is the name of several different methods of processing materials. Trituration is also the name of the process for reducing the particle size of a substance by grinding, as by grinding of powders in a mortar with a pestle. Trituration additionally refers to the production of a...
of their food with the stones is not plausible. Aquatic animals, such as plesiosaurs, may have used them as ballast, to help balance themselves or to decrease their buoyancy, as crocodiles do. While some fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
gastroliths are rounded and polished, many stones in living birds are not polished at all. Gastroliths associated with dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
fossils can weigh several kilograms. Stones swallowed by ostriches can exceed a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in).
Identification
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s usually require several pieces of evidence before they will accept that a rock was used by a dinosaur to aid its digestion
Digestion
Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....
. First, the stone must be unlike the rock found in its geological vicinity. Secondly, it should be rounded and polished, because inside a dinosaur's gizzard any genuine gastrolith would have been acted upon by other stones and fibrous materials in a process similar to the action of a rock tumbler. Lastly, the stone must be found with the fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s of the dinosaur which ingested it. It is this last criterion that causes trouble in identification, as smooth stones found without context can (possibly erroneously in some cases) be dismissed as having been polished by water or wind. Christopher H. Whittle
Christopher H. Whittle
Christopher H. Whittle, Ph.D. is an educator, paleontologist and has published on a wide variety of topics including the development of paranormal beliefs, learning from popular television, museum studies, and dinosaur paleontology . He graduated with a B.S. degree in Earth Sciences from the...
(1988,9) pioneered scanning electron microscope
Scanning electron microscope
A scanning electron microscope is a type of electron microscope that images a sample by scanning it with a high-energy beam of electrons in a raster scan pattern...
analysis of wear patterns on gastroliths. Wings (2003) found that ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
gastroliths would be deposited outside the skeleton if the carcass was deposited in an aquatic environment for as little as a few days following death. He concludes that this is likely to hold true for all birds (with the possible exception of moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
) due to their air-filled bones which would cause a carcass deposited in water to float for the time it needs to rot sufficiently to allow gastroliths to escape.
Gastroliths can be distinguished from stream- or beach-rounded rocks by several criteria: gastroliths are highly polished on the higher surfaces, with little or no polish in depressions or crevices, often strongly resembling the surface of worn animal teeth. Stream- or beach-worn rocks, particularly in a high-impact environment, show less polishing on higher surfaces, often with many small pits or cracks on these higher surfaces. Finally, highly polished gastroliths often show long microscopic hairline scratches, presumably caused by contact with a sharp corner of a freshly swallowed stone. Since most gastroliths were scattered when the animal died and many entered a stream or beach environment, some gastroliths show a mixture of these wear features. Others were undoubtedly swallowed by other dinosaurs and highly polished gastroliths may have been swallowed repeatedly.
None of the gastroliths examined in a 2001 study of Cedarosaurus
Cedarosaurus
Cedarosaurus was a nasal-crested macronarian dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous Period . It was a sauropod which lived in what is now Utah...
gastroliths had the "soapy" texture popularly used to distinguish gastroliths from other types of clast. The researchers dismissed using a soapy texture to identify gastroliths as "unreliable." Gastroliths tended to be universally dull, although the colors represented were varied including black, dark brown, purplish red and grey-blue. Reflectance values greater than 50% are very diagnostic for identifying gastroliths. Clasts from beaches and streams tended to have reflectance values of less than 35%. Less than ten percent of beach clasts have reflectance values lying between 50 and 80%.
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
Photograph # 311488 demonstrates an articulated skeleton of a Psittacosaurus mongoliensis, from the Ondai Sair Formation, Lower Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
Period of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, showing a collection of about 40 gastroliths inside the rib cage
Rib
In vertebrate anatomy, ribs are the long curved bones which form the rib cage. In most vertebrates, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the chest cavity. They serve to protect the lungs, heart, and other internal organs of the thorax...
, about midway between shoulder and pelvis.
Jurassic
Gastroliths have sometimes been called Morrison stones because they are often found in the Morrison FormationMorrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish...
(named after the town of Morrison
Morrison, Colorado
The historic Town of Morrison is a Home Rule Municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 430 at the 2000 census...
, west of Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
), a late Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
formation roughly 150 million years old. Some gastroliths are made of petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
. Most known instances of preserved sauropod gastroliths are from Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
animals.
Cretaceous
The Early CretaceousEarly Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
Cedar Mountain Formation
Cedar Mountain Formation
The Cedar Mountain Formation is the name given to distinctive sedimentary rocks in eastern Utah that occur between the underlying Morrison Formation and overlying Naturita Formation . It is composed of non-marine sediments, that is, sediments deposited in rivers, lakes and on flood plains...
of Central Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
is full of highly polished red and black chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
s, which may partly represent gastroliths. Interestingly, the cherts may themselves contain fossils of ancient animals, such as corals. These stones do not appear to be associated with stream deposits and are rarely more than fist-sized, which is consistent with the idea that they are gastroliths.
Sauropod gastroliths
Most known instances of preserved sauropod gastroliths are from JurassicJurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
animals.
Cedarosaurus weiskopfae
In 2001 Frank SandersFrank Sanders
Frank Vondel Sanders , is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft. A 6'1", 207-lb. wide receiver from Auburn University, Sanders played in nine NFL seasons from 1995 to 2003...
, Kim Manley, and Kenneth Carpenter
Kenneth Carpenter
Kenneth Carpenter is a paleontologist. He is the museum director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum and author or co-author of a number of books on dinosaurs and Mesozoic life...
published a study on 115 clasts discovered in association with a Cedarosaurus
Cedarosaurus
Cedarosaurus was a nasal-crested macronarian dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous Period . It was a sauropod which lived in what is now Utah...
specimen. These clasts were the first discovery of in situ gastroliths from the Cedar Mountain Formation
Cedar Mountain Formation
The Cedar Mountain Formation is the name given to distinctive sedimentary rocks in eastern Utah that occur between the underlying Morrison Formation and overlying Naturita Formation . It is composed of non-marine sediments, that is, sediments deposited in rivers, lakes and on flood plains...
. The clasts were "partially matrix supported" and there were many contacts between clasts and bones and between the clasts themselves. The clasts were identified as gastroliths on the basis of their tight spatial distribution, partial matrix support and an edge-on orientation indicative of their being deposited while the carcass still had soft tissue. Their high surface reflectance values are consistent with other known dinosaur gastroliths. The clasts were generally of dull coloration, suggesting that color was not a major factor for the sauropod's decision making. All but three of the Cedarosaurus gastroliths were found within a .06 m volume of space. This space was located within the gut area. No other clasts were found within the quarry, which at the time had a volume of about 11 m cubed. The set of gastroliths is believed complete due to their being discovered in a single pocket deep in the quarry. The skeletal position suggests that the skeleton came to rest on its belly.
The total mass of the gastroliths was 7 kilograms (15.4 lb), total volume 2703 mL and the total surface area 4410 square centimetres (683.6 sq in). A majority, 67 of the 115 gastroliths, were less than 10 mL in volume. Individual clasts ranges from 0.04 to 270 ml (3.60003600036E-12 to 2.430024300243E-08 ) in volume. The least massive clast was 0.1 gram (0.0035273962105112 oz) and the most was 715 grams (25.2 oz). Most of the gastroliths tended to be small. The clasts tended to be close to spherical in shape, with the largest specimens being the most irregular. 43% were oblate spheroids, 34% spheroids, 16% prolate spheroid
Prolate spheroid
A prolate spheroid is a spheroid in which the polar axis is greater than the equatorial diameter. Prolate spheroids stand in contrast to oblate spheroids...
s, and 7% ellipsoidal. The largest gastroliths contributed the most to the total surface area of the set. Since some of the most irregular gastroliths are also the largest, it is unlikely that they were ingested by accident. Cedarosaurus may have found irregular clasts to be attractive potential gastroliths or was not selective about shape. Some gastroliths were so large and irregularly shaped that they may have been difficult to swallow. The gastroliths includes chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, siltstone
Siltstone
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
, and quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
clasts. Some of the chert clasts actually contained fossils. The sandstone clasts tended to be fragile and some broke in the process of collection. 62% were chert, 31 percent were sandstone and siltstone, 7% were quartzite.
The most reflective gastroliths were composed of chert. Some of the gastroliths couldn't be tested for reflectance due to a confounding metallic coating, which may have been hematite
Hematite
Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...
. Expansion and contraction of the supporting mudstone around the inflexible clasts actually left series of parallel scratches in the coating. The metallic coating "probably originated from the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
rich mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
" surround the fossils. The sandstone gastroliths may have been rendered fragile after deposition by loss of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
caused by the external chemical environment. If the clasts had been that fragile while the animal was alive, they probably rolled and tumbled in the digestive tract. If they were more robust, they could have served as part of a ball-mill system. The high surface area to volume ratio of the largest clasts "also supports a grinding or crushing model."
Migration
Paleontologists are researching new methods of identifying gastroliths that have been found disassociated from animal remains, because of the important information they can provide. If the validity of such gastroliths can be verified, it may be possible to trace gastrolithic rocks back to their original sources. This may provide important information on how dinosaurs migrated. Because the number of suspected gastroliths is large, they could provide significant new insights into the lives and behaviour of dinosaurs.See also
- BezoarBezoarA bezoar is a mass found trapped in the gastrointestinal system , though it can occur in other locations. A pseudobezoar is an indigestible object introduced intentionally into the digestive system....
- Calculus (medicine)Calculus (medicine)A calculus is a stone that forms in an organ or duct of the body. Formation of calculi is known as lithiasis...
- CoproliteCoproliteA coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They...
- EnterolithEnterolithAn enterolith is a mineral concretion or calculus formed anywhere in the gastrointestinal system. Enteroliths are uncommon and usually incidental findings but, once found, they require at a minimum watchful waiting...
- RegurgitalithRegurgitalithRegurgitaliths are the fossilised remains of stomach contents that have been regurgitated by an animal. They are trace fossils and can be subdivided into ichnotaxa. Regurgitaliths might provide useful information on the diet of the animal, but are difficult to relate to any particular species....