Mystery object on petrified wood

[Lone Hunter]

While y'all are on the subject, wanted to get some opinions on this. I collect a lot of petrified wood, wouldn't even have picked this up if weren't for the odd thing on it. Could it be bark? It's strange how rounded off it is, and there are tiny white dots in it's trail on the slice it's on. Appears to have a pattern on it, maybe someone will recognize it as a specific type of tree.

[Rockwood]

'in for a woof. Looks like it could be bark to me. 

[Lone Hunter]

You got me howling. Never seen it preserved in such a way, like a blob. Your opinions and sense of humor are always right on the money!  Thanks!

[Rockwood]

Maybe @paleoflor is around. You know what the metaphor for him would be in this situation, don't you ? 

[paleoflor]

Difficult to say... I might be "barking up the wrong tree" here, but based on the photograph below, I get the impression that the piece consists of a series of planar structures. The actual borders between the 'planes' I believe to see are more wobbly, due to the 3D shape of the piece, but the white lines roughly indicate their orientation. When you look at these 'planes' edge-on from the specimen's ends, do they show any signs of curvature? I'm trying to rule out sedimentary layering here. Cannot shake the feeling this might be a piece of sedimentary rock, though you are undoubtedly better able to judge whether this is petrified wood or not (always difficult from photographs). In any case, preservation of bark is relatively rare in petrified woods, especially in those from older strata. Confident identification would probably require observation of the wood anatomy (e.g. presence of sieve tubes). The more rounded appearance of the "blob" could be the result of differential weathering, where the less durable material gets rounded off more.

 

[Lone Hunter]

Wow you are definitely the right person!  Your questions might be a little over my head but I'll try to answer and give more description, I'm including pictures of the ends to hopefully answer the curvature question, I think they do. Under magnification the border under the plane it's sitting on looks like bone best way to describe it. It's possible the 'stick' is sedimentary but I really don't think so, and the blob has little grains, the white dots look like quartz grains and actually poke out on the bigger end like little teeth bending down. Hope that makes sense.

[Lone Hunter]

More angles.

[GeschWhat]

Any chance you could just zoom in on these two areas?

[Lone Hunter]

No zooming with this phone unfortunately,  tried to capture images with different angles and lighting not sure it's any better. Did get fuzzy image of the 'teeth', and coming out from under that is black crumbles.

[Lone Hunter]

These might not help but thought I'd give it a try.

[DPS Ammonite]

Are you able to hold the lens up against the phone camera lens? I take great photos with a hand lens/ loupe. Hold the phone and lens against the camera lens; use other hand to hit the shutter button.

[Lone Hunter]

Very cool! Much easier too, first practice shot. I'll mess with it later and see what I come up with.  Thank you for the tip! 

[paleoflor]

Intriguing piece! New photographs show interesting textures. Not sure that the "blob" could be, though.

[Lone Hunter]

The plane the blob is sitting on is very different from the rest of the wood, it even looks polished. Wondering if it's part of bark or does the blob have anything to do with it. 

[Lone Hunter]

So glad I can get these close ups now!

[Rockwood]

The odd texture appears to be pyrite crystals. It doesn't necessarily kill the bark idea, but I'm afraid the overall look may mean it is mortally wounded.

[Lone Hunter]

Are you referring to the blob itself? 

[Rockwood]

I'm a little at a loss for the fossil idea in this last set. You should wait for more though, for sure.

[paleoflor]

Thanks for the new photographs. They show quite a bit more detail. I'm still leaning towards a geological origin for this specimen. Blob aside, the lighter colored, "main body" appears grainy and doesn't immediately strike me as a wood texture. You wrote in your opening post that you regularly collect petrified wood in the area; how does this specimen compare to the others you collected?

[Lone Hunter]

I have several similar peices, minus the blob and shiny surface it's on. 

[Rockwood]

Can you show us one that best argues the case for it being wood ? 

[LabRatKing]

I see no indication of anything beyond a geologic oddity.

 

Also, what was the location of discovery? Location is very important to determining positive identification of rocks, minerals, and fossils.

[Lone Hunter]

North Texas, and not sure I understand Rockwood question, are you talking about the whole peice or the blob?  Are you questioning whether it's a peice of wood to begin with?

[Rockwood]

29 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said:

Are you questioning whether it's a peice of wood to begin with?

Affirmative 

[GeschWhat]

I can't really tell anything from the photos. They aren't clear enough. I wouldn't rule out petrified wood. I'm just wondering if there is some sort of ichnofossil there - perhaps the remnants of an insect gallery that has been weathered. Are any of the white spots hexagonal when you look at them under magnification? If you are using your cell phone to take pictures, you can sometimes get a clearer photo if you use your flash.