Need help with my petrified wood..

[Utahman]

Okay so now that I have found a group of individuals to help me identify.... I would love to know what find of petrified wood I have collected.. species and mineralization would be helpful. I have stuff that I can't find online. 

I'll start with the first two that I can't even tell if they are wood or not... All help is incredibly appreciated. 

Found these two river tumbled pieces south of Green River, Utah. Jurassic I think? Very different from everything else in the field.. Looks agatized?

 

Thank you! 

Trenton

[Utahman]

Here is another one that I found in the San Rafael Swell in Utah. What the heck is going on here??... it is 1.5" wide.. 3" tall

[Utahman]

Here is a larger piece from the San Rafael Swelll... fungus fossils and bark. Is is opalized? Why so black? is that crystal sap?

[caldigger]

It is my understanding that much of pet. wood in order to narrow it down to species level will require having it cut, polished and study the cell structure under a microscope. 

[Mark Kmiecik]

31 minutes ago, caldigger said:

It is my understanding that much of pet. wood in order to narrow it down to species level will require having it cut, polished and study the cell structure under a microscope. 

In most cases only down to genus. For species ID most of the time it would need to be associated with foliage or fruit or both. One attached to the other. 

[TyBoy]

Not easy like the others have said

 

https://sciencing.com/identify-types-petrified-wood-8150213.html

[Utahman]

12 minutes ago, TyBoy said:

Not easy like the others have said

 

https://sciencing.com/identify-types-petrified-wood-8150213.html

Could anyone tell me the mineralization in the last one I posted? It's huge and weighs a ton. Very druzy looking... Only thing I could find that was close to it was opalized wood.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Utahman
added pictures

[Mark Kmiecik]

2 minutes ago, Utahman said:

Could anyone tell me the mineralization in the last one I posted? It's huge and weighs a ton. Very druzy looking... Only thing I could find that was close to it was opalized wood.

Just Google 'mineralization'. Read the Wiki and look at the images. Once you understand the process it's all downhill. Druzy is just a lot of very small crystals. The same amount of material could have formed one large crystal instead. Various factors like length of time of deposition and a few others are what determined the result. It's quite common in fossils of all kinds and most frequently fills any void the solution can reach. Crystals of that size could have taken thousands of years to form, again, depending on many variables.

[FossilNerd]

Hello Utahman! Nice Petrified wood!  @ynot may be able to assist with your mineralization question. He likes minerals, crystals, geology and the like.  

[ynot]

2 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

In most cases only down to genus. For species ID most of the time it would need to be associated with foliage or fruit or both. One attached to the other. 

This is an incorrect statement.

Wood plants can be identified to species level by analyzing the cellular structures. No leafs or fruit needed.

 

1 hour ago, Utahman said:

Could anyone tell me the mineralization in the last one I posted? It's huge and weighs a ton. Very druzy looking... Only thing I could find that was close to it was opalized wood.

You are most likely looking at a cryptocrystalline quartz (agate).

Opal does not form crystals and can not be "druzy". Also, opal is very light.

 

The first couple of pieces look more like a silicate rock than petrified wood to Me.

[Utahman]

47 minutes ago, ynot said:

This is an incorrect statement.

Wood plants can be identified to species level by analyzing the cellular structures. No leafs or fruit needed.

 

You are most likely looking at a cryptocrystalline quartz (agate).

Opal does not form crystals and can not be "druzy". Also, opal is very light.

 

The first couple of pieces look more like a silicate rock than petrified wood to Me.

Awesome. Thank you! I wasn't very sure about the first two that I posted and now I know I can toss em in the yard. haha.

It was difficult for me to identify out there because everything was tumbled smooth. I have one piece from the same area that looks very strange to me. Could you tell me what the opaque white mineral is please? Thank you very much for your help 

[ynot]

1 minute ago, Utahman said:

Could you tell me what the opaque white mineral is please? 

Sorry, can not identify it from pictures, too many possibilities.

[Utahman]

2 minutes ago, ynot said:

Sorry, can not identify it from pictures, too many possibilities.

Before I start posting a library of more photos... what is a good way to identify between Yellow Cat petrified wood, coprolite, and plain old yellow, red agate? I picked up some crazy stuff out there and before I go cutting into all of it, I'd like to know what it is.

Seems like I could do research on google for a year and only come up with similar, very vague results.. 

[ynot]

34 minutes ago, Utahman said:

identify between Yellow Cat petrified wood, coprolite, and plain old yellow, red agate?

Not familiar with yellow cat pw. Coprolites are seldom agatized.

Jasper (red and yellow agate) will not show wood grain features, but not all petrified wood will show those features either.

Best way is to join a local rock club, there is usually someone that knows the local geology very well and can give some pointers to tell the differences.