Petrified Wood Found In Missouri

[Raistlin]

I am struggling with the petrified wood I am finding in my area. Most of it I have found on sand bars along the Mississippi. I have found it in Cape Girardeau, Thebes (Illinois), and Scott City. I Will try to post some photos tomorrow. But mostly I am wondering what types of wood can be found here and what ages are found here.

I know that some is found in the McNairy Formation and it is Cretaceous. Is there a way to tell what species/type of wood I have found? I know one piece at least is not like the others as the cell structure is larger and spaced father apart than other pieces.

I have also found a piece in Chaffee that I am sure is McNairy that look far different than the stuff I am finding on the river.

Also another question.

Why is it the river wash stuff normally gets such a high polish compared to other rocks the size I find? Is it due to the type of material the wood is made of?

[TNCollector]

From my experience, the McNairy sand is pretty much devoid of fossils. Because you are finding this along the Mississippi River I would consider the possibility of it being Tertiary in age rather than Mesozoic. Posting a picture of the fossils would help. All of the petrified wood I have found in the Cretaceous of that area has been small water worn pieces that are often lignified, dark in color, and brittle.

If the wood is silicified (has more colors and feels crystallized) then I would say it is likely not from the McNairy Sand.

Edited September 29, 2015 by TNCollector

[Auspex]

Petrified wood that takes a good polish is fully "agatized", hard and non-porous.

Identifying it will largely depend on the preservation of near-microscopic details. LINK

The specimens you are finding are "float", redistributed from their host strata, and their source will be difficult to ascertain with any level of confidence.

[Xiphactinus]

I was told by KU that the agatized wood that we found on the Kansas River was Cretaceous and was deposited by the glaciers. Most likely it originated near the Canadian border. I would assume that the wood we find here in the Mississippi River area is from that same source. It looks very similar.

[ashcraft]

From my experience, the McNairy sand is pretty much devoid of fossils. Because you are finding this along the Mississippi River I would consider the possibility of it being Tertiary in age rather than Mesozoic. Posting a picture of the fossils would help. All of the petrified wood I have found in the Cretaceous of that area has been small water worn pieces that are often lignified, dark in color, and brittle.

If the wood is silicified (has more colors and feels crystallized) then I would say it is likely not from the McNairy Sand.

Our McNairy deposit is different from yours. Ours is a riverine deposit, and contains a fair amount of petrified wood, including whole logs weighing over a thousand pounds (or so I have been told, my longest piece was around 5 feet). They are found in creek exposures that disect the McNairy deposit, including the Mississippi river itself. It is silicified, but browns and blacks are the norm. Stuff out of the Mississippi is a crapshoot as to were, and when, it came from. There are deposits of sandstone in Perry county exposed along the river that are Mississippian in age, that have "tree" remains, but they aren't silicified. You can also find actual wood that is thousands of years old.

Brent Ashcraft

Brent Ashcraft

[Raistlin]

Sorry it took so long to update with photos. I have been working OT (3 days a month, it does not sound like much but when working 12 hour swing shift it takes up time), and last week my AC went out and I had to replace both it and my heater unit because everything was so old and out of date.

So any way here are some photos of the wood I have found. Bonus some bone pieces, turtle shell piece, and arrowhead. I will put up some of the photos but because of the number of them I recommend going to the link and looking at all of them.

This piece I found in what I believe is the McNairy sandstone.

The odd thing about it is that it goes from obvious wood to rock. It is also not like my other wood in the stone it is made from. It feels lighter and reminds me more of plaster like (but I am certain it isn't) as I have accidentally chipped a few tiny pieces off when carrying it out with other rocks.

These all came from the river found on a sand bar. The long dull piece on the left I had doubts was wood until I viewed it under a scope.

These are examples of what I mean by high polish.

All of these were found in a different spot but still came from the river.

More high polish.

This piece is the only one I have found in Cape. It might be because the area is accessed more easily by more people or it might be the location is just not set up well enough to catch the wood as it washes down the river. It might also be that the pieces I have found were all below Cape and are coming from an area below Cape. This is also the only piece that Looks different that I can tell from the other wood I have found on the river. The cell structure is larger and spaced further apart. With all the other stuff it looks like the cells are compacted together and much smaller. They remind me of hard wood of some sort.

You can sort of make out the larger cells even without a scope.

Viewed under a scope.

Here are the bonus bone bits, turtle shell, and arrowhead I found as well.

All of them together.

The turtle shell piece. I believe it is fossilized/mineralized.

I am not sure if this is a piece of bone or tooth of some sort. It is heavy for its size and seems to have a darker outer shell.

Possible bird bones? These are small seems like they were hollow and also seem to be fossilized/mineralized.

And the arrowhead. I has washed down the river and is smoother because of that. I am not normally into arrowheads but I figured since I found it I would bring it home as well because it has its own story to tell about past life.

Link to the full album of pet wood.

http://imgur.com/a/jreyX

Link to bones and arrowhead.

http://imgur.com/a/ABfJJ

Thanks for the replies up to this point. Again sorry it took so long to get photos up.

[Raistlin]

I did not show all the pet wood I have. I recently though found in one day double the amount that I had prior to that day. As for the turtle shell piece if indeed it is truly fossilized I consider it one of my cooler finds.

I have yet to find that fossil I most seek or age I love the best. Something about pet wood though really intrigues me I also seem to really be intrigued by the Cretaceous (mostly plants I think) and Cenozoic nonhuman stuff. I guess that would be the closest to stuff I am interested in the most maybe because I don't find it as readily as say Mississippian stuff.

[Raistlin]

Petrified wood that takes a good polish is fully "agatized", hard and non-porous.

Identifying it will largely depend on the preservation of near-microscopic details. LINK

The specimens you are finding are "float", redistributed from their host strata, and their source will be difficult to ascertain with any level of confidence.

Most of the pieces I believe are agatized. I am reminded of the tiny chert/flint pebbles as some of them have a high polish but still most of the wood tends to out polish other rocks of the same size. I am going to have to polish/sand down one end of nearly all of my pieces so that I can see the cell structure better. While some I can see under a scope others I can only see the longitudinal cell structure from the side. Other pieces I have not put with my pet wood as I think I see similarities to pieces I know to be wood but I can not see enough to be sure. I either need to get more knowledge about it (well that is certain) or have someone with more knowledge look them over.

[Bullsnake]

Beautiful pieces, Robert!

[Raistlin]

Thanks. What I love about some of them is that they look like wood. One of the first pieces I found I thought was a piece of drift wood until I tapped it with my walking stick and heard it. Then I picked it up and felt the weight. Even then I was wondering if it was just water soaked. After it was dry I was certain of what it was.

I am still trying to figure out how some of it looks so much like normal wood in color.

[ashcraft]

I think your turtle shell may be a scute of some kind, if so, very cool. Not seen many of these from around here.

Try posting it as its own thread in the ID section.

Brent Ashcraft

Edited October 7, 2015 by ashcraft

[Xiphactinus]

Are you sure that first piece of wood (the non polished one) isn't a chunk of bone?

[TNCollector]

Wow! You are finding some really cool stuff out there. Completely different than my part of the McNair Sand, which is pretty much empty. Your turtle bits look like the ones I find in the Cretaceous of MS.

[Raistlin]

ashcraft, on 07 Oct 2015 - 1:05 PM, said:ashcraft, on 07 Oct 2015 - 1:05 PM, said:

I think your turtle shell may be a scute of some kind, if so, very cool. Not seen many of these from around here.

Try posting it as its own thread in the ID section.

Brent Ashcraft

I think I might post a few things over there this weekend. Not only the turtle shell but the tooth/bone thing. At least to find out what it could be. I am sure it is turtle though because of the rib on the inside of it. Well that and it looks just like some that I have bought (that came from Florida) only smaller. If not for having them I would not have guessed on what it came from. I just wish I knew its source.

Xiphactinus, on 07 Oct 2015 - 5:00 PM, said:Xiphactinus, on 07 Oct 2015 - 5:00 PM, said:

Are you sure that first piece of wood (the non polished one) isn't a chunk of bone?

Are you talking about the whiteish larger one in the first photos? Or the skinny brown one in photo #4? The white one I do not think could be bone. The skinny brown one could be I will put it under the scope again and look it over. It does look like wood as I recall though. But I am still knew enough that I could have it confused. It just does not remind me of bone that I have found before.

TNCollector, on 07 Oct 2015 - 5:41 PM, said:TNCollector, on 07 Oct 2015 - 5:41 PM, said:

Wow! You are finding some really cool stuff out there. Completely different than my part of the McNair Sand, which is pretty much empty. Your turtle bits look like the ones I find in the Cretaceous of MS.

I would not have thought the turtle shell would be that old. I was thinking younger maybe Cenozoic. I will post it up in the ID section this weekend maybe someone can give me a better idea. I think my biggest problem though is not really knowing where it came from. I can find some neat stuff from the Mississippi river but the curse is not knowing its source.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Raistlin

[Raistlin]

Are you sure that first piece of wood (the non polished one) isn't a chunk of bone?

The skinny brown piece is definitely wood. I was actually able to clean off some crust on it and expose some shinier surface underneath. As well as being able to see the longitudinal cell structure.

[Xiphactinus]

I'm talking about the large, white one....1st photo in post #6 of the thread. I'm pretty sure that's bone.

[Raistlin]

Really? What kind of bone would look like that? It comes from the McNairy. I found it and several stromatolites. It was the only piece I found that was not stromatolite. I was certain it was wood.

What makes it seem like bone?

[ashcraft]

If it is bone, and as I look at it I can't rule it out, you may have found the first dino remains in the McNairy. Russ Jacobson from the ISGS (retired) thought there should be, but never did find any.

He is a member here, but hasn't posted recently, to my knowledge. I will see if I can pm him to take a look.

Brent Ashcraft

Couldn't get hold of him.

Edited October 8, 2015 by ashcraft

[Xiphactinus]

Did you find it in situ in the McNairy or just among rocks for the McNairy. If it wasn't IN the rock, it could be float and be anywhere from modern to Pleistocene to Cretaceous.

[Raistlin]

This came from wash down a stream. The map is see shows McNairy and something else. I am at work and will check when I get home. I would love for it to be Dino bone or any kind of bone. Now I wonder what I really have.

[ashcraft]

I have never found any of the petrified wood insitu. I am assuming it is not out of the Mississippi, or the Diversion Channel, so the most likely possibilities are Cretaceous or paleozoic. None of the pleistocene stuff is fully mineralized, we don't have anything in between the Pleistocene and the Cretaceous formations in that area except the Mounds gravel, which is Pleiocene, and not fossilferous. It clearly hasn't moved far. There are outcrops of Owl Creek nearer the river, and over by Bloomfield which does have mosasaur remains. There are some outcrops of paleocene material in the area also, but they have yielded poorly preserved plant remains (ackerman clay and holly springs sandstone).

I guess I would like to know,

a) is it from near Chaffee?

b)is it fully mineralized?

c)Is it truly bone?

An interesting, and potentially very interesting find.

Brent Ashcraft

[Raistlin]

Found it in Chaffee. It seems to be rock (reminding me of plaster in a way). As for being bone I thought it was wood.

I guess now I need to figure out what I really have.

[ashcraft]

I suggest putting a match to it in an inconspicuous place. See if it smells minerally or like burnt hair. It could be bovine remains where you found it.

Brent Ashcraft

[Raistlin]

I thought I would have time tonight to dig into this and get the formations and test it but time is short. I will post my findings this weekend.

[Raistlin]

Here is the link to the bone/wood thing if anyone is interested. It has information and tests I have tried so far.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/58241-dinosaur-bone-or-pet-wood/

Also I posted the turtle shell piece and the tooth/bone piece as well.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/58242-turtle-shell-piece-and-maybe-a-bone-or-tooth-piece-found-in-Missouri/