ice age?

[ashcraft]

Found in an ancestral Mississippi river channel deposit, Deposit is around 50,000 years old.  Specimen is completely mineralized.  I don't see much material like this, and any thing I offer would be a total guess.  Opinions?

[ashcraft]

Second view

 

[ynot]

Could be petrified wood, but need a picture of the end and sides to be sure.

[ashcraft]

Petrified wood is common in the deposit.  This looks......different.....there is no cell structure under magnification, and when magnified to 50x you see what appear to be fibers running length-wise.  Cross hatching shows up in the photos, but it is only on the part of the surface that looks "glassy", the rest doesn't display much visible structure until you see the "fibers" under magnification.  The end that is broken also show internal fibers in the outer layer.

 

It has me scratching my head.

 

Brent Ashcraft

[Miocene_Mason]

Could it just be a mineral? 

[ynot]

If not wood then it is a fibrous mineral.

[ashcraft]

20 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Could it just be a mineral? 

Have considered that.....best I can say is "maybe"......it just has a more organic look to it, but i can certainly be fooled.  My thought is horn core with some of the sheath still attached....but have little experience in such things.

 

Brent Ashcraft

[Xiphactinus]

Looks like a heavily abraded mineral. Note the cubes at the "pointy" end.  Gypsum?

[Plax]

If it's an inch long I'd say a mineral but if it's 3 feet long???

[ashcraft]

37 minutes ago, Plax said:

If it's an inch long I'd say a mineral but if it's 3 feet long???

The material appears to be silica, it will not react with acid, and is too hard for gypsum.  Does a gypsum crystal fossilize?

 

The specimen is 3ish inches long, or 7cm.

 

Brent Ashcraft

[ashcraft]

I sent a picture to a museum curator who has similar deposits.  He said that it is petrified wood, without a doubt.  Thanks everybody for the input.

 

Brent Ashcraft