glenmorenee Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Just thought I'd share some photos of a pretty nice specimen. Cube is 1". Found it buried in the garden at a recent estate sale. Amazing detail and when rapped it has a very high pitched ping! Best to all you diggers! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Really neat! I like the cacti too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Nice piece, love the knots. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I like it. Nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Very lovely and I also like the cacti. Good purchase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Definitely a cool piece. Thanks for showing us. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmorenee Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 Spring time! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Nice petrified wood. Nice spiky cacti. Good. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 15 minutes ago, glenmorenee said: Spring time! Those are absolutely beautiful! I was just noticing some optunia polycantha growing wild when looking for fossils. I'll take a picture and send it a little later. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 1 minute ago, Malone said: Those are absolutely beautiful! I was just noticing some optunia polycantha growing wild when looking for fossils. I'll take a picture and send it a little later. Thank you! Opuntia? They are Tidgy's favourite, fruit (prickly pear) and pads. Yummy and healthy for tortoises. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Opuntia? They are Tidgy's favourite, fruit (prickly pear) and pads. Yummy and healthy for tortoises. Optunia. Sorry I get in a hurry and don't proof read like I should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 The high desert animals eat them after wild fires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 There's a lot of character in that petrified log! Any sign of insect borings or other biological disturbance? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Nice one! Any idea how old it is? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Very nice specimen. Congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Here's one Optunia. Not nearly as nice as yours. Hasn't started flowering yet. I would be interested in the names of the ones you have. They are stunningly colorful! I cut this from a larger plant to start one in a pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmorenee Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 3 hours ago, Auspex said: There's a lot of character in that petrified log! Any sign of insect borings or other biological disturbance? Not that I can see. When we were digging it up, we originally thought it was a ceramic fire log because all the detail gave it an almost cartoony look. We wanted it for our garden, something that wouldn't rot and attract termites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmorenee Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 3 hours ago, Ludwigia said: Nice one! Any idea how old it is? No idea. No telling where the original owner dragged it home from. This was probably back in the day where you could just drive up and throw a piece into your car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmorenee Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Malone said: Here's one Optunia. Not nearly as nice as yours. Hasn't started flowering yet. I would be interested in the names of the ones you have. They are stunningly colorful! I cut this from a larger plant to start one in a pot. Ours is actually an Echinopsis. The cultivar name it goes by is "Impulse". If all of you want to see some mind blowing time lapse videos of Echinopsis cactus flowering, check out: http://echinopsis.com/time-lapses/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 I am curious where in Southern California you found it. I found a similar piece in a yard near San Bernardino. I have a good idea of where it came from: the Pliocene river gravels of the Colorado River. I have several bought pieces from the area. A lot of the wood is for sale: search for Arizona Petrified Ironwood. They all are replaced by quartz, lack fractures and make a high pitched sound when you hit them. All the ones that I have seen look and sound like fake fireplace logs. They are erroneously called petrified ironwood. The wood from the Yuma area is also noted for its: exceptional exterior detail including knots; brown, tan and grey interior color; and patchy exterior siliceous white patches. The interior structures are preserved enough to ID them as laurels, palms, walnuts, cottonwood and conifer. See this excellent article on the Yuma wood: http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/412 Also see: https://www.google.com/search?q=arizona+fossil+ironwood&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjysYTKr5XaAhVLxWMKHU3sDsMQsAQIJg&biw=1138&bih=630&dpr=1.25 The wood was deposited by river floods, buried and kept moist with river water. The silica rich Colorado River water petrified the wood. The nearly unabraded wood is found in situ where it was formed. This type of wood preservation is unusual because the source of silica was not nearby/on top volcanic rocks but silica from river water. See my photos of wood that I bought: 4 My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Nice piece of wood! As for 'cacti', there's only one lonely cactus visible in the original 7 pictures. The rest of them are succulents of one form or another...but not cacti. I see what appear to be some sedums and maybe an aloe in there. To the man with the bobcat engulfing his head...'prickly pear' (Opuntia) fruits and pads are actually pretty good food for humans too. 'Nopales' (the pads) and 'tunas' (the fruits) are often found in Mexican cuisine. I believe that the fruits are also eaten seasonally by some of the inhabitants (human and tortoise) of a country that lies along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of northern Africa that has a capital named Rabat. You just have to make VERY sure that you remove all of those nasty little spines (glochids) before popping the cactus bits into your mouth. -Joe 2 Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Fruitbat said: Nice piece of wood! As for 'cacti', there's only one lonely cactus visible in the original 7 pictures. The rest of them are succulents of one form or another...but not cacti. I see what appear to be some sedums and maybe an aloe in there. To the man with the bobcat engulfing his head...'prickly pear' (Opuntia) fruits and pads are actually pretty good food for humans too. 'Nopales' (the pads) and 'tunas' (the fruits) are often found in Mexican cuisine. I believe that the fruits are also eaten seasonally by some of the inhabitants (human and tortoise) of a country that lies along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of northern Africa that has a capital named Rabat. You just have to make VERY sure that you remove all of those nasty little spines (glochids) before popping the cactus bits into your mouth. -Joe Thank you! Very good information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malone Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 1 hour ago, DPS Ammonite said: I am curious where in Southern California you found it. I found a similar piece in a yard near San Bernardino. I have a good idea of where it came from: the Pliocene river gravels of the Colorado River. I have several bought pieces from the area. A lot of the wood is for sale: search for Arizona Petrified Ironwood. They all are replaced by quartz, lack fractures and make a high pitched sound when you hit them. All the ones that I have seen look and sound like fake fireplace logs. They are erroneously called petrified ironwood. The wood from the Yuma area is also noted for its: exceptional exterior detail including knots; brown, tan and grey interior color; and patchy exterior siliceous white patches. The interior structures are preserved enough to ID them as laurels, palms, walnuts, cottonwood and conifer. See this excellent article on the Yuma wood: http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/412 Also see: https://www.google.com/search?q=arizona+fossil+ironwood&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjysYTKr5XaAhVLxWMKHU3sDsMQsAQIJg&biw=1138&bih=630&dpr=1.25 The wood was deposited by river floods, buried and kept moist with river water. The silica rich Colorado River water petrified the wood. The nearly unabraded wood is found in situ where it was formed. This type of wood preservation is unusual because the source of silica was not nearby/on top volcanic rocks but silica from river water. See my photos of wood that I bought: Can you tell from the rings how old it was when it died or started petrificatiion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenmorenee Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 4 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said: I am curious where in Southern California you found it. I found a similar piece in a yard near San Bernardino. <snip> Thank you so much for the info! This explains SO MUCH! The exceptional exterior detail, check. The high pitched ping, check. The color, check. Looks like a ceramic fireplace log, check. We found this in backyard of a house in North Hollywood. Most likely the PO bought it and hauled it home. There were other pieces of petrified wood in the garden as well but not of this type. Thanks again. The internet knows all! 4 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 It is amazing what you can find out on the internet, esp. this forum. If DPS hadn't told you, I would have, but I'm usually late to the party. From your pics/description I recognized it immediately - I've got a couple chunks of this same stuff too but had no idea where it originated, wondered for a long time, until bringing it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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