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Help ID Petrified Wood with Large Print!


TexasHunter

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Hello, My son found this large piece of petrified wood on a ranch here in South Texas. It is a large piece and weighs about 70 LBS. The bark is a nice blue color. We noticed an unusual print on the wood and are hoping we can get help identifying it. The imprint is deep in the wood and appears to be a set of three. The wood was found laying flat just below dirt level with the print side up. I will include photos. Thank you for your feedback!!

woodprint1.jpg

woodprint3.jpg

woodprint2.jpg

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Just to rule something out. Was there ever a mine, or other reason that there could have been very heavy equipment in the area ?

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I don't think it is a "print" of any kind. 

I think they are erosional features. 

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
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25 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

erosional features

Particles tooling around in a moving fluid ?

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6 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Particles tooling around in a moving fluid ?

That was my thinking. 

Unless tool marks can be found to show them to have been created mechanically, that is all I have.  :shrug:

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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I cant see these as being either erosional tool marks. Can't see them as footprints either. They might be just a fortuitous surface weathering pattern. Very interesting.

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Some birds (sapsuckers) bore shallow holes in trees. I think it may be the insects that are trapped in the sap that they are after as much or more than the sap, but the holes are sort of this shape I think.

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Erosion was my first thought but the location was on a flat plateau with no streams, rivers or moving water of any kind. And the impressions were too consistent in depth and width, in fact the center impression has a raised middle. And no, there were not any heavy machinery in the area. It has been a cattle ranch for several hundred years. Thank you for your reply.

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The erosion could have happened when it was fresh wood, before it became fossilized.  I think that's what we are looking at.  But to quote the Violent Femmes, that is only a guess.  

 

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I agree with jpc. Wood is often rotted, bored, eroded by streams and the ocean before it is buried and fossilized.

 

Did the wood come from a marine rock formation? @TexasHunter, use this map to tell us what formation it came from.

 

https://txpub.usgs.gov/txgeology/

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My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

See my Arizona Paleontology Guide    link  The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere.       

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Rock Unit: Edwards Limestone, Rock Unit: Ked, Sheet: San Antonio, Period: Cretaceous, Series: Comanchean, #9757.

We have also found large Ammonites in the area. Thanks.

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