North Texas Petrified Wood

[DPS Ammonite]

Does anyone know the source and age of the petrified wood found at Lake Lavon and North Sulphur River both NE of Dallas, Texas?

 

shel67 found a piece of yellow palm wood from the North Sulphur River (NSR).  http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/76090-i-need-help-with-this-one-from-the-north-sulphur-river/&tab=comments#comment-820122     I found a similiar piece at NSR that I thought might be palm or Snakewood along with many pieces of wood with distinct growth rings.  I have also found petrified wood with distinct growth rings along the shore of Lake Lavon.  All the petrified wood looks more recent, Eocene and newer, since palms and trees with distinct growth rings are not present in the marine Cretaceous rocks of north Texas and those types of wood are much more common in post Cretaceous rocks throughout the US. The currents watersheds of NSR and Lake Lavon include formations of Pleistocene alluvium, river deposits and mostly limely, clay to sand-sized, marine, late Cretaceous sediments. Eocene and newer rocks with wood are found upsection in south Texas and west in the Texas panhandle. 

 

See this map with the geology of the area (Texas geology map Sherman Sheet):  https://www.twdb.texas.gov/groundwater/aquifer/GAT/sherman.htm

 

Has anyone seen similiar in situ pieces of silicified wood in the Austin and Taylor Group rocks of north Texas? I have not.

 

I doubt the wood is Pleistocene since you would expect to find larger, less rounded pieces from such recent deposits. There would not be enough time to petrify the wood, erode the formation and weather all the wood into small rounded pieces. Plus, nearby volcanic activity (and deposits) often is needed to provide a source of silica for the petrifaction. Little activity has occured during the Pleistocene in that area.

 

I have two theories of where the wood came from.

1) The usually well rounded petrified wood found in the Pleistocene deposits represents reworked lag deposits from the post Cretaceous rocks that have since been eroded away.

2) The river drainages have changed. The wood was carried by former rivers that drained areas with Eocene and newer rocks from distant parts.

 

Any other good theories?