Petrified wood nugget

[Oli_fossil]

Hi, I’m new here, just posting a couple of recent finds from a recent trip to the surf coast in Victoria, Australia.

 

This one I believe to be a nugget of petrified wood, found embedded in a cliff shelf sedimentary layer above volcanic basalt (from an eruption previously dated to 26Mya). I can see clear wood grain (I think), so pretty confident this one is petrified wood, but would appreciate any comments/suggestions!

 

A lot of the fossils in the surrounding layers are echinoids and brachiopods, so I am guessing fossilized driftwood?

 

the object is hard and smooth to the touch, much heavier than wood. I have cleaned it up a bit, removing sedimentary material and some black gunk on the surface (still some visible).

 

Cheers,

Oli

 

[Oli_fossil]

If helpful, here is a photo of the layer where I found the item (the depression where it was embedded is visible, as is the basalt layer in the background). This was perhaps 3 meters above ground level, and I would estimate 7-10m below the top of the cliff, in a rarely trafficked shelf, accessible at low tide.

[Rockwood]

I think it could be palm wood.

[Oli_fossil]

Fossil palm wood? Is that based on the wood grain? Not many palms around that part of the world these days but I guess if it was driftwood it could’ve traveled quite a distance before petrifying? Thanks for the reply!

[JBkansas]

19 minutes ago, Oli_fossil said:

Fossil palm wood? Is that based on the wood grain? Not many palms around that part of the world these days but I guess if it was driftwood it could’ve traveled quite a distance before petrifying? Thanks for the reply!

Yes the wood grain:

 

I haven't heard of petrified palm wood specifically from Australia but it is found worldwide (Indonesia has large deposits).

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by JBkansas

[JBkansas]

Could only find two reports of fossil palm wood from Australia (Queensland and Tasmania):

https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/1651 

PDF HERE

Edited February 13, 2023 by JBkansas

[Rockwood]

1 hour ago, Oli_fossil said:

I guess if it was driftwood it could’ve traveled quite a distance before petrifying? 

I think if anything ocean currents were even more global until around the end of the Miocene. 

[JBkansas]

46 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

I think if anything ocean currents were even more global until around the end of the Miocene. 

Even today, driftwood in Australia has been tracked back to South America:

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/184203a0.pdf