Heavy, bright red strange looking petrified wood slab

[JooJ]

Super heavy and deep red showing. Just cleaned from dirt, found as-is on 1400 meters above sea level in the anti mount lebanon range (mid to northern part). a local stone/sand producers operated a cut on a 90 meters hill to extract construction stones or sand,  exposed fossils among the left debris.  

I am just wondering if this can be amber baring?  especially on those outer part showing. I did not attempt or tried to know. But the outer layer can easily  be scratched 

Edited January 19, 2020 by JooJ

[Norki]

It looks like this wood has been silicified (petrified in other words), so it's not likely to have amber in it. Amber is typically only found in coalified wood, like lignite.

 

Still, that's a really nice piece in its own right, I bet it would look especially appealing with some light passing through it.

[Kato]

If it is easily scratched then it is probably not silicified.  Perhaps, try putting some vinegar on it to see if it is reactive. 

 

Although, it is very 'tree-like' in appearance it looks suspiciously like selenite deposits I find here in New Mexico, USA.

[Norki]

9 minutes ago, Kato said:

If it is easily scratched then it is probably not silicified.

 

Good point. Do you know if wood can be petrified as calcite? That would be my next guess (assuming it's fossil wood at all).

[Kato]

1 hour ago, Norki said:

 

Good point. Do you know if wood can be petrified as calcite? That would be my next guess (assuming it's fossil wood at all).

Hmmm....I do not know for sure. I do believe so, but I 'think' the specimens I've seen tend to be non-translucent and were sand colored in appearance.

 

I have found calcite crystals and some boxwork type structures in portions of permineralized material but have never found any material that was predominantly calcite. The specimens I find are typically silicified with high iron content.

 

Here's an example of the boxwork-like calcite

 

[JohnJ]

This appears to be a form of calcite.  Research cross sections of calcitic cave formations and you will see similar patterns.  Wood is typically replaced by silicate minerals, not calcite.  Selenite would be unaffected by vinegar, and this does not look like it.

[Rockwood]

Does this mean that inoceramids are essentially cave mimics ? 

[supertramp]

mmh..."super heavy and easily scratched": check for a baryte nodule hypothesis

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Baritina-formazione-raggiata-mm-80x70_fig4_272151800

[Kato]

20 hours ago, JohnJ said:

This appears to be a form of calcite.  Research cross sections of calcitic cave formations and you will see similar patterns.  Wood is typically replaced by silicate minerals, not calcite.  Selenite would be unaffected by vinegar, and this does not look like it.

I poorly worded my response and agree this is more likely a form of calcite, though it does present as forms of selenite crystallization with impurities found here . I will stick with my probably misguided belief that forms of selenite are reactive to vinegar in proportion to the calcareous impurities found in the specimen. Selenite dissolves in water and I have found the process accelerated by using vinegar in lieu of water when wanting to remove gypsum deposits from permineralized plant material.

 

Of course, calcite would be much more reactive than selenite/gypsum.

 

If the original poster would perform the vinegar test and determine a mild or wild reactivity it would help decide....not to mention the difference in hardness test with calcite being slightly harder. Scratch it with a fingernail it is probably gypsum and with a copper coin then calcite.