Extra Large Piece of N.C. Petrified Wood

[sixgill pete]

That's a big one Don! Nice color too.

Thanks Rick. Take you to the spot when ever the rivers go down.

[Huge petrified wood]

Big beautiful pieces of petrified wood found 45' feet + down in Fayetteville dig site!! 3 huge pieces and one about 6 feet long!!

[Huge petrified wood]

Side angle same piece!

2nd specimen 

[Huge petrified wood]

2nd specimen weighs about 150-175lbs and 1st specimen weighs approx. 250-300lbs...very heavy!! Have to use a skid steer to get #3 specimen from dig site!! 

Edited September 2, 2017 by Huge petrified wood

[thelivingdead531]

I know I'm late to the game but I wanted to say that I've lived in Goldsboro for several years off and on due to the military and if I had known that there were fossil opportunities in the area while we were there I would have been so happy! I'm disappointed I didn't know for all the years I lived there. All of these pieces are beautiful! 

[sixgill pete]

@thelivingdead531

 

Wayne County is full of fossil sites as is almost all of eastern North Carolina. However, many are on private property or are only accessible by boat. But the key is, like anywhere else. Do your research and get out and explore. You cant find any fossils sitting at home wondering where they are at!

[Plax]

On 9/2/2017 at 10:49 AM, Huge petrified wood said:

Side angle same piece!

2nd specimen 

I have some fayetteville wood collected several decades ago. It actually had soft gray wood in pockets despite the majority being silicified. 

[Barrelcactusaddict]

On 7/12/2016 at 7:38 PM, goatinformationist said:

Please, if you will provide some pics of the local amber. I have never heard of it being found up there. Cheers.

I'm quite late, but I saw this thread while uploading pics of Neuse River amber to my album. I'll be happy to share some pics below. Specifically, these pieces were recovered from layers (clay, fissile shales, and seams of loose sands with peaty material) belonging to the Bladen Fm. (member of the Black Creek Group). The specimens weigh from 0.2-1.5g each, and some are "runs" with several layers.

 

To date, this amber has only been officially described to occur in the Bladen member, although it might possibly be found in the older Tar Heel and younger Donoho Creek formations as well. The amber is found in association with araucarian and cupressaceous plant remains.

 

[minnbuckeye]

Nice amber!!! Any insects inside?  

 

Mike

[Barrelcactusaddict]

40 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Nice amber!!! Any insects inside?  

 

Mike

Thank you, I appreciate it! 

 

Unfortunately, I have not observed any obvious insect inclusions in the material I have (however, the long piece on the right might have something in it); although, there have been insect inclusions reported/described from Neuse River amber. It's pretty fragile material, and one piece actually fell apart as I was preparing the lot for photography; a thick, unfractured piece might make for good jewelry, though! 

 

Sadly, finding any info on this amber, and amber from other U.S. localities, is quite difficult.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Barrelcactusaddict

[Sjfriend]

Nice amber! We have local amber but is always reported as "micro" pieces associated with coal. I've seen a few bits but it is so tiny.

[Barrelcactusaddict]

2 hours ago, Sjfriend said:

Nice amber! We have local amber but is always reported as "micro" pieces associated with coal. I've seen a few bits but it is so tiny.

Thank you! I'm always surprised at how clear Neuse River material is (it would make for perfect photography of inclusions)! Even without insects, it's very beautiful amber; although it would be nice to find something inside, even if it were just incomplete parts. 

 

That's awesome that there's amber locally by you, even if it's small grains; barely any research has been published on Alaskan amber, so any find is very important! An acquaintance of mine, Keith Luzzi, had collected in the Aleutians back in the early 2000's, most of it being in exposed tundra; he had found a lot of large pieces, and several with inclusions, so it might be worth a look someday! 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Barrelcactusaddict
Grammatical correction.

[Sjfriend]

18 minutes ago, Barrelcactusaddict said:

That's awesome that there's amber locally by you, even if it's small grains; barely any research has been published on Alaskan amber, so any find is very important! An acquaintance of mine, Keith Luzzi, had collected in the Aleutians back in the early 2000's, most of it being in exposed tundra; he had found a lot of large pieces, and several with inclusions, so it might be worth a look someday! 

Wood love to find some (ok, that was an intended pun if you couldn't tell lol). I have seen a few photos of larger pieces found elsewhere in the state. Haven't seen any indications of collectable deposits but they have to be there. Just hard to find under all our snow and ice. Or could just be how darn big our state is with so little easy access.

[hemipristis]

On 7/12/2016 at 7:15 AM, sixgill pete said:

This piece of wood was found in the Neuse River In Wayne County North Carolina. There is a very close by ( about a half mile away ) deposit of Cretaceous TarHeel Formation where amber is found. However I do not think this wood is Cretaceous, but who knows.

Thought I would share the pics, It now resides in my fossil garden around my block patio out back.

BTW my truck is an F-150

Nice!

 

 

[Barrelcactusaddict]

2 hours ago, Sjfriend said:

Wood love to find some (ok, that was an intended pun if you couldn't tell lol). I have seen a few photos of larger pieces found elsewhere in the state. Haven't seen any indications of collectable deposits but they have to be there. Just hard to find under all our snow and ice. Or could just be how darn big our state is with so little easy access.

I got ya, I certainly "resinate" with that pun (ok, it's not "resinite", but I was close)! I'll never pass up an opportunity to go out field collecting. 

 

True, from what I've heard, amber occurrences are fairly widespread in Alaska. Like you mentioned, though, the tundra isn't exposed for long (maybe a month at most), and transportation definitely is more challenging; I guess that helps make the amber there all the more valuable: intrinsically and scientifically!

[Al Dente]

13 hours ago, Barrelcactusaddict said:

To date, this amber has only been officially described to occur in the Bladen member, although it might possibly be found in the older Tar Heel and younger Donoho Creek formations as well. The amber is found in association with araucarian and cupressaceous plant remains.

Nice pieces of amber. I haven’t had much luck with pieces this size in NC, but I do find a lot of sand size pieces in pretty much all the Cretaceous formations that I collect including Tar Heel, Bladen and Peedee. I have found larger pieces in the Miocene Pungo River Formation, but these might not be true amber.

[Barrelcactusaddict]

7 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Nice pieces of amber. I haven’t had much luck with pieces this size in NC, but I do find a lot of sand size pieces in pretty much all the Cretaceous formations that I collect including Tar Heel, Bladen and Peedee. I have found larger pieces in the Miocene Pungo River Formation, but these might not be true amber.

Awesome, thank you!

 

I believe the material from my lot was likely recovered from exposures near the Arrington and Broadhurst bridges; it was collected a long time ago, so it may have also come from exposures that are now part of the"Cliffs of Neuse State Park".

 

That's excellent, I thought there might be more amber than what is contained in the Bladen sub-unit; also, with Miocene-aged material, given the current general classification of the minimum age of amber, I'd definitely consider that material to be at the very least an old sub-fossilized resin. It's probably safe to assume that Pungo River Fm. material is true amber. Those must be some interesting pieces! 

[traveltip1]

Good wood

[Plax]

Tarheel Fm for me though it has been broken up into other formations across the state line in SC. The Goldsboro amber is Tarheel formation. Bladen has much less amber. very little in the Donoho Creek and Peedee as Al Dente has said.

[Barrelcactusaddict]

1 hour ago, Plax said:

Tarheel Fm for me though it has been broken up into other formations across the state line in SC. The Goldsboro amber is Tarheel formation. Bladen has much less amber. very little in the Donoho Creek and Peedee as Al Dente has said.

That's true, according to Carter et al. 1988 (Fossil Collecting in North Carolina, Bulletin 89), the Goldsboro amber locality he described is that of "Locality 34", which is known as the Neuse River Cut-off; this site was described as a "Cretaceous Black Creek Formation". From this site are ants of the Specomyrminae described in amber by Krynicki 2013, where he describes the site as being Campanian in age, covering both the Bladen and Tar Heel Formations in terms of age: unfortunately, Krynicki does not distinguish between members of the Black Creek Group here.

 

In Ferenczi 1958, quite an old publication, amber is described as coming from the Bladen member (specifically along many stretches of the Neuse southeast of Goldsboro) of the Black Creek Group (of course, this may be innacurate, as the Tuscaloosa Fm. is included in the Ferenczi Group, however stratigraphic data is provided for the Stephenson Group [quoted from Stephenson 1912]). Actually, the Pungo River Fm. is also mentioned here by Dr. Ferenczi, and is described as Middle Miocene; a relatively recent analysis also places the Pungo River Fm. as being roughly 19-6 Ma in age, according to Denison et al. 1993. The amber that Al Dente recovered from this formation is quite young, but nonetheless can be likely be considered true amber.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't any recent publications (at least that I can obtain) that officially describe the Black Creek Group sub-units that amber can be found in near Goldsboro (much less specific size variation of the amber grains). Wikipedia does mention amber as being found in the Tar Heel/Coachman Fm., yet I cannot find a publication that officially describes this. However, as Plax and Al Dente have confirmed through personal experience, amber is found in all members of the Black Creek Group and the South Carolina Peedee Fm., overlying the former Group; perhaps a detailed description of amber size variation between the sub-units of the Group could be organized someday?

 

All this being said, the amber I am in possession of was recovered from Bladen Fm. exposures southeast of Goldsboro, and sadly not from the fossiliferous Neuse River Cut-off to the southwest. I would not mind someday obtaining amber from the Cut-off locality, however! 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Barrelcactusaddict
Stratigraphic data source cited in the Ferenczi pub.

[Plax]

The Tarheel gets decidedly more marine SE of Goldsboro and amber is a minor constituent there. The Bladen is quite a way from Goldsboro. See "The Geology of the Carolinas 50th Anniversary volume, Carolina Geological Society". A big delta explains the change in environment of deposition of the Black Creek Group formations. In SC for instance the Donoho Creek and Bladen are similar looking to the Tarheel in NC with all the sand / clay interbeds with lignite. In the Cape Fear River Valley both are decidedly more marine with the Donoho Creek being fully marine. All three thin to the NE and are fully marine at their end.

[Barrelcactusaddict]

On 11/29/2021 at 7:20 AM, Plax said:

The Tarheel gets decidedly more marine SE of Goldsboro and amber is a minor constituent there. The Bladen is quite a way from Goldsboro. See "The Geology of the Carolinas 50th Anniversary volume, Carolina Geological Society". A big delta explains the change in environment of deposition of the Black Creek Group formations. In SC for instance the Donoho Creek and Bladen are similar looking to the Tarheel in NC with all the sand / clay interbeds with lignite. In the Cape Fear River Valley both are decidedly more marine with the Donoho Creek being fully marine. All three thin to the NE and are fully marine at their end.

Excellent information, thank you!

 

I have not reviewed that publication, but it does sound very interesting, not to mention it is quite recent in comparison to the others I had cited.

 

I was looking at another publication today, one also from the Carolina Geological Society (USGS, Owens and Sohl 1989); it mentions the Bladen member briefly on page 11, and it seems it does indeed outcrop in several sections near the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, also accompanied by a map of N.C. & S.C. outcrop distribution (Tar Heel, Bladen, Donoho, Peedee Fm.). The amber I have came from Bladen Fm. exposures SE of Goldsboro, but as you stated, it certainly was not close to the city (unlike the Cut-off locality).

 

I've always loved a good publication on geological formations, and as far as diagrams go, I can never get enough of stratigraphic maps! The Carolinas really do have a rather dynamic geological history, and it must be great to be able to freely study and collect from their Formations in-person. 

 

-Kaegen

Edited November 30, 2021 by Barrelcactusaddict
Removal of diagrams/imaged text/link to avoid possible destructive collecting practices at the localities