Curious About This Piece Of Pet Wood

[Jesuslover340]

Came across this piece of petrified wood awhile back and was just noting the odd red markings in the second photo. Any idea what would cause such unique markings on petrified wood? I've never seen such before...

[FossilsAnonymous]

No idea, but it sure looks cool!

[Miocene_Mason]

Liesegang rings?

[Innocentx]

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

[FranzBernhard]

4 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Liesegang rings?

 

1 hour ago, Innocentx said:

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

This would be very "cool" (a word I seldom use)!

 

Btw, nicely contradicting interpretations! This means, that more data are necessary. How thick is the brown stuff? Is it level with the surrounding material? Does it stand out or is it depressed? Is it only a very thin coating? Is it soft? Does it have the same structure as the surrounding material?

Franz Bernhard

[andreas]

4 hours ago, Innocentx said:

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

I think so too. Could you please take an end vew pic of the piece. Those markings seems to run parallel to the growth rings of the wood. In recent wood  similar markings can be found between the bark and the wood.

[Jesuslover340]

On 17/12/2018 at 11:37 PM, WhodamanHD said:

Liesegang rings?

Are they to be found on petrified wood? I'm only seeing them memtioned on "picture sandstone"?

21 hours ago, Innocentx said:

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

That would be really neat! I hope it is...

19 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

 

This would be very "cool" (a word I seldom use)!

 

Btw, nicely contradicting interpretations! This means, that more data are necessary. How thick is the brown stuff? Is it level with the surrounding material? Does it stand out or is it depressed? Is it only a very thin coating? Is it soft? Does it have the same structure as the surrounding material?

Franz Bernhard

 

17 hours ago, andreas said:

I think so too. Could you please take an end vew pic of the piece. Those markings seems to run parallel to the growth rings of the wood. In recent wood  similar markings can be found between the bark and the wood.

 

The markings do seem even with the surface of the wood. Unsure the ends will show much, as it seems to be compacted (and thus, has lost any indication of rings), but I'll include photos for you guys below. Thanks!

 

 

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks for the additional info and photos!

I think, the third and fourth pics are escpecially informative (at least to me). It seems that the brownish stuff is only a thin coating / staining. You can see quite similar stuff also at both ends of your specimen in the second pic of your first post.

The coatings could have formed in a very narrow fracture, and in my oppinion, some Liesegang-like processes could be possible there. But I don´t really know it.

Franz Bernhard

[snolly50]

22 hours ago, Innocentx said:

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

The pattern does indeed remind me of insect tracings seen beneath the outer bark of pines in the cambium layer (and I assume occurs other trees as well).

[andreas]

With the additional pics I am leaning more towards mineral staining and rule out insect predation though it looks very similar. Because the staining is visible on other surfaces and cracks of the piece too I am with Franz Bernhard.

kind regards

Andreas

3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks for the additional info and photos!

I think, the third and fourth pics are escpecially informative (at least to me). It seems that the brownish stuff is only a thin coating / staining. You can see quite similar stuff also at both ends of your specimen in the second pic of your first post.

The coatings could have formed in a very narrow fracture, and in my oppinion, some Liesegang-like processes could be possible there. But I don´t really know it.

Franz Bernhard

 

[JohnBrewer]

On 17/12/2018 at 4:28 PM, Innocentx said:

It looks like the trace of insect predation.

That was my thought too. 

[ynot]

On 12/17/2018 at 2:27 AM, Jesuslover340 said:

Came across this piece of petrified wood awhile back

How sure are You that this is a piece of petrified wood?

It looks a lot like a weathered gneiss.

I have seen similar iron staining on metamorphic rocks in My area.

[Miocene_Mason]

7 hours ago, Jesuslover340 said:

Are they to be found on petrified wood? I'm only seeing them memtioned on "picture sandstone"?

I don’t see why not. They are a phenomenon caused by minerals dissolved in fluid, so being petrified it wouldn’t stretch my imagination to have a crack stained in this manor. But I’m not a geologist nor am I a chemist so I could be 100% wrong. 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

4 hours ago, ynot said:

How sure are You that this is a piece of petrified wood?

It looks a lot like a weathered gneiss.

I have seen similar iron staining on metamorphic rocks in My area.

I like this interpretation. The gneiss or schist (it’s hard to tell its protolith now) has been sheared (pulled in two directions) and is now mylonite as evidenced by this mineral creating what we call a “boudin”. The woody looking appearance is foliation.

Here’s some other boudins (from google) to compare to

I suspect if you were to break a chunk off the red staining would only be on the surface. The red rings must be some kind of fluid staining. Boudins show which direction the rock has been sheared in this case it’s been pulled like this

A simple diagram to show this would be this one also from google

Don’t be sad as this is still a very cool rock and displays some amazing history. It’s been to the point of partially melting and made it back up to the surface with the structural history of it intact. These are frequently found in fault zones. Maybe check a geologic map of where you got this and see if any faults were nearby. That’s a great specimen. Also take another picture closer so we can see the pressure shadows around the mineral.

[Innocentx]

The weathered gneiss theory is quite interesting. @Jesuslover340, you've been very helpful with providing additional photos. Perhaps you might add one( just one with about 3MB size) so we can zoom in more, lit at an angle to show a bit of shadow. The straight on photo using flash has some glare so is hard to see.

I think then we might know better if this is pet wood or gneiss. Thank you.

[Jesuslover340]

@Innocentx, @ynot, @UtahFossilHunter, the gneiss theory is new to me. I had assumed it to be petrified wood due to its prevalence in the area but had noted the texture of it was unique. I've taken a couple photos of the end of it as Innocentx has requested, without flash and as close as my phone will allow.

 

And a couple more:

[Jesuslover340]

I also just found that wood from the area is often high in iron, which obscures ring structure (if it is pet wood). Unsure if that helps. Plant fossils aren't my forte...

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

I think this is interesting.

I circled the areas I thought were hints of layering. This is probably either our missing tree rings or more foliation. I noticed the white band in the upper right where I think is an asymmetric tree ring or a slight fold in white minerals may be. @Jesuslover340 do you own a jeweler’s loupe or magnifying glass? If you do, you can stick it in front of your phone’s camera to allow for even closer pictures.

[Jesuslover340]

8 hours ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

I think this is interesting.

I circled the areas I thought were hints of layering. This is probably either our missing tree rings or more foliation. I noticed the white band in the upper right where I think is an asymmetric tree ring or a slight fold in white minerals may be. @Jesuslover340 do you own a jeweler’s loupe or magnifying glass? If you do, you can stick it in front of your phone’s camera to allow for even closer pictures.

Maybe my husband's phone will serve better. The magnifying glass didn't turn out well, and I can't find my loupe since we've moved O.o

[Innocentx]

I'm tending toward gneiss. 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Look at this surface here and here

They both have that same red staining probably indicating some kind of layering or fractures in the rock. The staining is thin and only on the surface. The striations look like slickenslides which is a faulting feature. Compare to these images from google

Hand sample

Boulder 

With the mylonite texture, the rotated (quartz?) mineral, and the slickenslide features, I’m fairly certain this is a faulted metamorphosed chunk of gneiss.

[Jesuslover340]

Out in the garden it goes 

Thanks everyone!