Wood fossil possibly? An ID would be great. Thank you.

[Lezlie Gann]

Hi everyone! This is my first post and I'm so excited this forum exists.

The first fossil I'm asking for an id on was found at the TN VA line off interstate 81 at a construction site. My husband Larry said that there were several pieces of it like a cut tree so we were thinking it might be a piece of petrified wood. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The measurements are 228.6 mm L x 228.6 mm W on biggest side 177.8 mm W smallest side x 114.3 mm H. 

[Rockwood]

I don't think petrified wood is right. It does look like a natural cast of the trunk of a tree like plant. Just which one I can't really say though. 

[Rockwood]

Cordaites might be a reasonable guess. It's a little hard to find a good reference for it though.  

[Lezlie Gann]

The reason I say it's a fossil is that it's crystalized and feel like a rock not a tree but I don't know anything about this kind of thing so all I really can do is guess. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Lezlie Gann

[Lezlie Gann]

Thank you for your assistance! I really appreciate it. 

[Jan Lester]

I don’t think Rockwood was saying it is a tree, but a cast of a tree…a rock formed around the tree, like a cast. So not a fossil itself, but a trace fossil. Rockwood, correct me if I’m wrong. 

[Opabinia Blues]

6 minutes ago, Jan Lester said:

I don’t think Rockwood was saying it is a tree, but a cast of a tree…a rock formed around the tree, like a cast. So not a fossil itself, but a trace fossil. Rockwood, correct me if I’m wrong. 

Indeed. “Petrified” implies permineralization, which is a specific form of fossilization. Rockwood seems to think that this is indeed a fossil, just not a “petrified” fossil. It’s formed through a process called casting, wherein the tree is buried and rots away only for the empty space to be filled in later. What you have then is the cast of the filled in empty space.

[Rockwood]

8 minutes ago, Jan Lester said:

I don’t think Rockwood was saying it is a tree, but a cast of a tree…a rock formed around the tree, like a cast. So not a fossil itself, but a trace fossil. Rockwood, correct me if I’m wrong. 

A proper explanation has been given above. I might add that the term trace fossil does not apply here. Trace fossils are the result of an activity. This would be a body fossil. 

Why roots are sometimes called root traces I'm not sure. 

[Jan Lester]

1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

A proper explanation has been given above. I might add that the term trace fossil does not apply here. Trace fossils are the result of an activity. This would be a body fossil. 

Why roots are sometimes called root traces I'm not sure. 

I stand corrected…and my son asked why I did not ask him before I displayed my ignorance. Ha!

[Lezlie Gann]

On 5/16/2023 at 4:53 PM, Rockwood said:

Cordaites might be a reasonable guess. It's a little hard to find a good reference for it though.  

It's very hard to find a reference! So, let me get this right if I can. You guys are says it's a cast of a tree trunk or something like it. Does that mean it's something that wrapped around it and made a cast? The reason I said a tree is because they were cutting down trees around the interstate and cutting it up when we stopped and got a piece of it. There was an entire trees of this and we went back to get more but they had already cleared it. I'm not saying you are wrong but would there be an entire tree of it if it's a cast? This has been sitting in a flower bed ever since we picked it up because my mother in law wanted it. She is moving so she wanted to get it out of the flower bed. Just want to be sure I understand because I have no idea and have never studied anything about it.

Thanks!

Lezlie