Mushroom Fossil

[Fossil_hunter1223]

I found a piece of green petrified wood in Eastern Oregon and underneath was a mushroom. The mushroom has taken on some of the green quarts from the petrified wood. Can anyone help me to identify what this is?

Edited June 25, 2022 by Fossil_hunter1223
Added pictures

[Misha]

It is quite often that we get asked if an object is a fossilized mushroom, unfortunately mushrooms do not fossilize, at least not like this. Your object is something else 

[doushantuo]

If any basidiomycete is to be fossilized,it's in amber.

Agree with the opinions voiced so far: not a toadstool

Edited June 25, 2022 by doushantuo

[Fossil_hunter1223]

The object was partially engulfed by a large piece of petrified wood that has a very high silica content. The wood of course has amber on and throughout it but it does not seem to be the color that it is taking on. Not sure means if that means anything or not.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Fossil_hunter1223

[opalbug]

It's probably a pseudomorph of some type of zeolite.  Also known as sagenite.

 

[Rockwood]

3 hours ago, Fossil_hunter1223 said:

The wood of course has amber on and throughout it

Could we see this ? It would be a first for me, if not a clue as to what is seen in the post.

[FranzBernhard]

3 hours ago, opalbug said:

It's probably a pseudomorph of some type of zeolite.  Also known as sagenite.

I don´t understand the zeolite-sagenite connection! Would you like to explain it?
Franz Bernhard

[Fossil_hunter1223]

This is the log material the unknown object appeared to be stuck to. I have a lot of larger pieces but they aren’t clean yet.

 

  

 

  

 

  

[Mahnmut]

Hello Fossil_hunter1223 and welcome to the forum.

Not sure from the pictures, but I think these are also silikate, not amber.

If they where, they should feel light and relatively warm like plastic, not heavy as stone.

Nice Mineral specimens anyway!

[Fossil_hunter1223]

The material seems to pretty heavy and is hard but somewhat brittle.

[Rockwood]

I'm not convinced this is amber, or wood, from this. Have you done any tests on it ?

[Fossil_hunter1223]

I am in the process of of finding someone who runs tests on material like this. I really don’t know for sure if it is or not yet. However, the material seems to be coming from what appears to be a large log perhaps even a tree submerged in the ground. I still am not sure though until tests are run.

[digit]

Not seeing anything that looks like amber. There are specific tests for amber and I suspect the material in question is instead highly silicified rock (similar to a chert). Here are some ideas that you might find useful to prove to yourself that this is just an amber mimic:

 

https://www.loveamberx.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-test-for-fake-baltic-amber-how-do-i-know-my-amber-jewellery-is-real

 

As for fossilized shrooms, it is a subject we see here with some regularity (though less commonly than concretions which superficially appear to be fossilized eggs). Mushrooms are 85-95% water and the small amount of solids (protein & carbohydrates) are not solid enough to be preserved as fossils (like bone or teeth). Many geologic processes create rocks with mushroom shapes or textures (crystalline rays mimicking the gill structures of mushrooms). There are no documented cases of mushrooms being preserved with petrified wood.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[doushantuo]

some of the methods to determine biomarkers in fossil resins:

 

Raman Spectroscopy (RS), Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C NMR), Fluorescence Spectroscopy (FS),
and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS)

Edited June 25, 2022 by doushantuo

[doushantuo]

Possibly hydrothermal chalcedony?

[daves64]

They look like a banded or layered colorful chert.

[Fossil_hunter1223]

The outside kind of resembles that of fossilized bark like that of the cast off I found years ago but in no way burned or black like the picture. I didn’t keep much of that “bark” but the pieces I did are interesting. It is not really relevant but within a few hundred yards of the unknown material I also found leaf impressions and possibly dinosaur poop. I am a novice and really don’t know enough about this to say much of anything. It was just a series of random discoveries in the immediate area that lead me to the large object.

[Fossil_hunter1223]

Usually I would agree with the high water content of mushrooms making it nearly impossible to fossilize. However, shelf or bracket mushrooms have roughly 20% water content making it very possible to fossilize. This is according to the Burke Museum who has taken an interest in the item.

[DPS Ammonite]

On 6/25/2022 at 1:24 AM, FranzBernhard said:

I don´t understand the zeolite-sagenite connection! Would you like to explain it?
Franz Bernhard

Some chalcedony with needle-like pseudomorphs and fibrous inclusions may be called sagenite (of Kunz). The original mineral may have been a needle-like zeolite. Also called sagenitic agate.

 

https://www.mindat.org/min-31452.html

 

https://www.mindat.org/locentry-744280.html

 

[digit]

3 hours ago, Fossil_hunter1223 said:

Usually I would agree with the high water content of mushrooms making it nearly impossible to fossilize. However, shelf or bracket mushrooms have roughly 20% water content making it very possible to fossilize. This is according to the Burke Museum who has taken an interest in the item.

 

Bracket mushrooms (like Turkey Tail) may indeed be lower in water content than the generally edible mushrooms. They are higher in fibrous materials and bracket fungi can easily be preserved in dry form. Various bracket fungi are used in Chinese foods and medicines.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricularia_cornea

 

Still, mushrooms (bracket or otherwise) being preserved in fossil form is a rare event. I think stating "making it very possible to fossilize" is very optimistic. If this was true we'd be quite familiar with mushroom fossils. There are exceptions but fossilized fungi are certainly very much less common that petrified wood.

 

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungifr.html

 

Here's a paper where the fossilized mushroom was described in the following way: "“The fact that this mushroom was preserved at all is just astonishing."

 

https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/513053

 

This paper stated: "Because of their delicate organic and decomposing nature, fossilised fungi are extremely rare."

 

https://theconversation.com/complex-life-may-only-exist-because-of-millions-of-years-of-groundwork-by-ancient-fungi-117526

 

 

So I still stand by my statement that mushrooms (with rare exceptions) do not fossilize and that your spherical item with striated texture is much more likely to be some sort of fibrous mineral and not a fossil (mushroom or otherwise). You mention that the Burke Museum has taken an interest in the item--I'd love to hear what they make of it.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken