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While I am out in the badlands of the San Juan Basin, I keep an eye out for the trace fossil known as Asthenopodichnium...lozenge shaped overlapping pouches or cavities found in petrified wood. My first encounter with it was a number of years ago in an outcrop of Upper Cretaceous Menefee Formation. I threw a chunk of wood, with this very interesting texture, in my bag and took it home. Perplexed by what it might be, I showed it to Spencer Lucas at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. He was happy to see this specimen and we discussed the theories of what it might represent, as it is not fully understood. We wrote up a small abstract with a few other co-authors for a Geologic Society meeting and since then, I have looked for other specimens while wandering. In 2015, some specimens found in the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation of the San Juan Basin were published in the NMMNHS' Bulletin 67 and are the first published record of these trace fossils in the Kirtland. The following is a link to that paper. The trace fossil Asthenopodichnium from the Upper Cretaceous of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico On a recent adventure, with @Opuntia, in the Kirtland Formation of the San Juan Basin I stumbled upon these... ...and was delighted. I couldn't wait, and texted the photos to Spencer. His response was "collect it!" In later conversations he asked where the specimens were and we discussed their location, a potential small paper and started planning a return trip to document them. Excited, I sat pondering the fossils and referred back to the paper. As I looked at the field photo in the paper I noticed a rock in the frame...I had seen that rock. I compared my field photos to the publication's and realized that I was looking at the same locality. Publication field photo: PFOOLEY's field photo: This left me feeling a bit deflated as there would be no need for collection nor a small paper. I began to think back to the time, all those years ago, when I first encountered this trace fossil in the Menefee...I'm going back there and can hopefully relocate that site...might just have a small paper in store after all. I post this here to see if any of you have seen this trace or maybe just some thoughts on this fascinating fossil. Got Asthenopodichnium?

Hey folks, Here is a bone I found today. The photo shows it in situ as it was slowly sliding down a slight grade. The area where it was found does not permit collection by citizens so it remains where it was found. The area where it was found is along the ancient shoreline of the Western Interior Seaway on the west bank where the shoreline ebbed and flowed to engulf the immediate area, only to later be dry land at essentially the same level of strata. In the same immediate area where this was found, also today, I located fossilized stromatalite (a water bacteria), and fossilized wood. Within just a dozen miles of the area where I found the bone there have been collections of bone specimens ranging from mosasaurs to plateosaurid-type dinosaurs. Hopefully someone has an idea about this bone to enlighten someone who really doesn't know anything about it, namely, me. Location where it was found is in the San Juan Basin of San Juan County, New Mexico, Kirtland Formation, Upper Cretaceous period.

Friends, I seem to collect lots of petrified wood in my nearly-every-weekend outings into the oil patch in the county where I live. Much of what is found are small little bits and pieces and a whole lot of it is really pretty. Some I will try to identify and those may earn their own topic entry, however, others are just nice little pieces that I cut up on my saw and will post the photographs here for y'all to look at. They are just too pretty to not share, you know? All those entered under this topic will be found near my home unless otherwise notated. Some of the petrified wood will have been found by a buddy of mine whose rock I cut up for him from time to time, and those will also be notated here. If no one minds, I probably won't put a scale on the specimens since all of them will be no longer than 4 1/2" on their longest side since that is as wide as my little rock saw can handle. As usual, feel free to comment. Some of this stuff might really challenge your ability to readily recognize what is or what isn't petrified wood.

For your review, here is a specimen of Palmoxylon, sp. (a fossilized extinct palm tree) found in March 2020 in the San Juan Basin of San Juan County, NM. The area is within the Kirtland Formation, Upper Cretaceous Period. This specimen has been cut to show several views of a transition zone in the root ball where adventitious roots or Rhizopalmoxylon, sp. emerge. The first photograph has been diagrammed to show several features in the transition zone. I have also submitted photos of this specimen in the March 2020 "Find of the Month" contest, and a more complete description of the specimen has been made in that entry.

Some petrified wood found in northwestern New Mexico, San Juan Basin, Upper Cretaceous, Kirtland Formation a couple of weeks ago. The cut slabs are from a log about 6-inches in diameter and my best guess is conifer only because most everything else in that area turns out to be conifer, specifically, Cupressinoxylon sp. Any other opinion about species would be welcome. There are several nice agate bands running through the length of the log and are clearly visible here. The first slab is dry and the second is wet.

A couple of photos showing an unknown fossilized conifer tree located this past November (2019) in northwestern New Mexico, Kirtland Formation, Upper Cretaceous. Sorry for no scale but the specimen is about 13 inches (33 centimeters) long. Also included is a photo of my dig where I removed this specimen as a piece of something larger. You will see this specimen limb is quite compressed, something common for petrified wood found in that area of New Mexico. I have tentatively identified the specimen as a conifer using a DinoLite (see photo). I am seeking help with additional information or identification beyond it being simply "conifer".