sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Feb 22, 2012 10:41:35 GMT -5
One of my favorite petrified wood deposits anywhere in the world is Hubbard Basin, Nevada. The forest is comprised primarily of ancient spruce trees though other conifers have been found as well. The dominant colors in this forest are blue, gold and white but many other shades including reds and purples can also be found in the very highly agatized wood. While the pieces often look fragile and crumbly, they are anything but. It's some of the hardest, sharpest agate that you'll ever encounter and that outer rind is very much like a piece of coral. This particular piece remains one of the strangest things I've ever seen in petrified wood (and at this point, that's saying something). I have no idea what those fibers are in what I assume was a rot pocket in the center of the tree, but they create a rather magnificent display. I've considered everything from some kind of fungal growth to nesting material deposited in the cavity by an animal to an inorganic mineral of some kind forming in the void after petrificiation. I really don't know - but it is fascinating and presents a beautiful mystery. For scale, the slab is around 15" across:
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jason12x12
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2011
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Post by jason12x12 on Feb 22, 2012 10:52:09 GMT -5
You ever see a seedling in the v of a large tree branch... my thought is that it is the root system of that type of situation. Or it could be "just plain awesome"
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sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Feb 22, 2012 10:57:01 GMT -5
You ever see a seedling in the v of a large tree branch... my thought is that it is the root system of that type of situation. Or it could be "just plain awesome" If it were that I'd have to see varying thicknesses of the roots and I'd be able to see wood structure in them (I cut a lot of root wads) and more importantly, I'm missing the stem of the seedling. Maybe the roots of some grasses would do that though?? But it does happen. I've cut Sweet Home wood where shoots of a new plant were growing through the decaying remains of a larger log. Under magnification you can see that they are two distinct species even! Sweet Home wood isn't always the most colorful, but it definitely produces some of the coolest fossils!
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jason12x12
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2011
Posts: 798
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Post by jason12x12 on Feb 22, 2012 21:38:57 GMT -5
i would need to hold it and get a feel for it.. just send it to me for study.. lol
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Post by roy on Feb 22, 2012 22:00:03 GMT -5
thats some dam nice wood
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Post by helens on Feb 22, 2012 22:09:26 GMT -5
Ok... maybe it's me... but does that last photo not look like zombie parts from a movie somewhere? Don't mind me, I've got the flu and maybe have taken too much Nyquil.... but that last picture is SCARY looking!!
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
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Post by grayfingers on Feb 23, 2012 10:22:05 GMT -5
That has to be the most unique piece of wood I have seen! Around here most of the woods underwent fossilization without rotting.
Bill
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agatemaggot
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Member since August 2006
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Post by agatemaggot on Feb 23, 2012 18:20:22 GMT -5
Those fibers almost look like the needles from the tree itself, BUT, how in the heck did they get IN there ?
Harley
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 23, 2012 19:25:27 GMT -5
Super cool! I wonder if a fungal mycelium ever get's petrified. I've seen living fungal mats that look very similar to your specimen but I expect it would take a one in a million set of circumstances to get that sort of structure petrified. Probably more likely that those are crystal structures similar to the moss in thundereggs except the clear chalcedony has not filled in around the crystal structures. I've seen plume at Woodward where the plumes are three dimensional extensions into a nodule cavity with out the later filling with clear agate. Maybe that can happen with "moss" type structures too.....Mel
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Post by Woodyrock on Feb 23, 2012 19:52:16 GMT -5
I would take, or send a slap to OSU, and have them look at it. They have toys we can not afford to look at petrified material. Visually, it does look like mycelium. Woody
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Post by tandl on Feb 23, 2012 20:03:34 GMT -5
That is a awesome piece ! It does look llike mycelium . i would think fungus could be petrified .
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sticksinstones
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2012
Posts: 117
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Post by sticksinstones on Feb 23, 2012 23:37:37 GMT -5
I tend to agree that it's more likely mineral than organic. I've also dug thundereggs here in Oregon (Richardson's Ranch Moss Bed for example) that are hollow with those three dimensional wormy like filaments growing from top to bottom sans any agate to encase them. But I can't rule out an organic origin. There is some wood from Arizona that has these unusual looking structures appended to the sides of the log. They've been described to me as fungus, but I've not had that confirmed by anyone I consider an authority. I did see some on an uncut log however and they certainly appear to be fungi on the outside. They have a very pronounced, long, 3-D shape that looks like a fungus - but if a mineralogist told me it grew there after it was a rock I couldn't argue either. Here's an example of that one:
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 24, 2012 0:00:34 GMT -5
Yeah, the example you've pictured is what my pet wood books call petrified fungal pockets....Mel
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Minnesota Daniel
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Feb 24, 2012 0:42:22 GMT -5
Disclaimer: I have an MS in forest pathology, but I claim no expertise wood petrification. I think what we see is a pseudomorph. Those are the "tunnels", so to speak, created by fungal mycelium in the wood. They became mineralized before the wood did, or became better mineralized than the punky wood that surrounded the mycelium. What is left is where the mycelium were, but it's not fossilized fungus. Some of the rotten wood never did mineralize in the end, so all there is to see is where the mycelium were -- there is nothing at all anymore where the wood was.
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Post by NatureNut on Feb 24, 2012 10:18:40 GMT -5
Wow! So cool to look at and so cool to read this thread. Jo
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