Coal shale Pennsylvania fossil

[Jdzales]

Hello and thank you for your input.

 

This slab is 20" x 15" and has a folded, what I believe to be a sigillaria leaf that is about 30" long.

 

I am not sure though?

 

I have color changed one of the photos so you can see the specimen in the center.

[Rockwood]

It may be plant fiber, although I've never seen it look just like this. I don't see the structure of a leaf though. 

[Al Tahan]

looks like 3 different plant parts making a triangle.

 

The first photo tricked me for a second then I realized what you meant by “color change”...it looked geologic for a second but it’s a plant fossil...

 

doubt its a leaf though. I’ve seen some coal shale from PA with what appeared to be carbonized plant remains with a width of 6+ inches on some of the stalks that were many feet long (bear valley strip mine shamokin, PA) 

 

this is just a nice placement of 3 plant remains. I can’t really ID the plant 

 

Al

[Al Tahan]

I’m not sure I see anything to suggest a sigillaria fossil. There should be some distinguishing details that are identifiable beyond the profile. Do you have more pics? Also do you know the location and formation this was found? 

[Fossildude19]

I agree with Al, this seems a bit large for a leaf. 

 

I've done some color adjusting and outlining in the picture. 

They appear to be 3 separate items, to me. 

 

 

 

Note the overlap on the 3 items. 

It could be some pieces of a branch or decorticated bark of a lycopsid, but I do not see any distinguishing features to lead to any ID better than 

Plant, indet. 

 

Maybe some of the plant guys can weigh in. 

 

@paleoflor   @fiddlehead  @Plantguy

[westcoast]

I'm seeing poorly preserved stigmaria with rootlets...possibly..maybe

[Jdzales]

I also found these adjoining the area where the slab was excavated. This is the bark that led me to think sigillaria? These were found in Columbia County, Pa. just east of the infamous town called Centralia. I will take additional pictures of the fossil shortly. Thank you for everyone lending their experience and knowledge!

Edited December 19, 2018 by Jdzales

[Tidgy's Dad]

Looks like Stigmaria to me which is the general term for the the root formations of giant lycopsids such as Lepidodendron or Sigillaria.    

[Jdzales]

So. I took the slab from storage and used my notepad camera. All you all are fantastic. Fossildude, you were correct, it indeed was three separate impressions. I would have noticed that if I took the time to look at different angles...lol

 

Here is a few high magnification photos. So Stigmaria?

[Rockwood]

3 hours ago, Jdzales said:

So Stigmaria?

It looks exactly as much like Sigillaria periderm to me.

 

5 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

I do not see any distinguishing features to lead to any ID better than 

Plant, indet. 

In other words. What he said. 

[Rockwood]

5 hours ago, Jdzales said:

I also found these adjoining the area where the slab was excavated.

These look like Stigmaria, and Sigillaria.

[Jdzales]

49 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

These look like Stigmaria, and Sigillaria.

Thanks, Rockwood. 

 

I will say that the fossil on the slab does appear to be more tissue-like than the other bark fossil but as WestCoasr suggested that could very well be a bad capture?

[Jdzales]

My son sent me a picture of a sample he keeps in his car that was from the same dig. It being much smaller but has the same fibrous look as the large slab. Lots of fauna on this small piece too.

 

I color changed it as well

[Rockwood]

7 minutes ago, Jdzales said:

fauna

OOps.  You mean flora. Fauna are animals. 

[Jdzales]

Lol.... sorry

13 hours ago, Rockwood said:

OOps.  You mean flora. Fauna are animals. 

 

[Plantguy]

Neat finds! I agree with Rockwood that I think you've got a mix of Stigmaria and Sigillaria (the piece with the parallel arranged furrows/vertical leaf scars) in those later photos.

 

I'm not sure exactly though whats making up the specimen in the 1st set of shots..I agree it looks like plant debris but the preservation and/or photo quality isnt sharp enough for me to offer anything concrete..I'm waffling on wanting to say the area/piece that I circled shows some possible rootlet structures (usually they are more perpendicular) and not leaf attachment structures but I just cant tell from the photo detail. 

Thanks for showing us the finds! 

Regards, Chris