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strange wood fossil that needs ID


matthew textor

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Hi everyone this is Matthew again 

today in the creek I found this strange fossil I think it might be some kind of wood but I am not sure ?

does anyone know what this is?

 

IMG_2592.JPG.7504f0951de4d898742264aaaac254a5.JPGIMG_2591.JPG.90932d922195285f6e072c30dacfb0ad.JPG 

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Hey Matt!

That's a neat find.  :) 

Not sure you can nail down any specific ID on this, other than to say it is plant material. 

There are no diagnostic details to nail down an ID. 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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Hi Matt.  I agree with Tim. I am curious about the context though because sometimes I find similar material where I don't expect to find it. Is this a site where you have found plant material before? Do you normally find marine or other fossils there? Is the wood part hard like the rock and is the rock limestone like it looks?

 

I forget where the sites you hunt are located so that could limit the possibilities depending on the age. If you know the formation or even the period I might know if there is any similarity between this and the ones I find in Texas. Thanks for any help you can offer.

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 @BobWill

 

Matt's usual hunting grounds are Devonian marine environments. 

The Devonian of New York has fairly common stray plant pieces that are usually unidentifiable.

They are a bit more plentiful in Eastern New York, but are not uncommon in Western New York, where Matt is located. 

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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5 minutes ago, Scylla said:

I see the faintest hint of straitions like on well preserved calamities.

No nodes, however. 

Also I don't believe Calamites were around during the Devonian. 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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8 hours ago, BobWill said:

 Is the wood part hard like the rock and is the rock limestone like it looks?

 

This stuff is carbonized and can flake off fairly easily, and the host rock is likely shale. I've found a number of these in the Devonian of Western NY and here in Ontario.

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Very cool find Matt! :)

The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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13 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Would callixylon be a reasonable guess ?

There may not be enough diagnostic detail to say, sadly. If it is Callixylon, then it would have to be in later Devonian deposits (if I recall correctly, earlier stages of the Devonian did not have such deep-rooting trees like Callixylon). 

 

But, for the curious, some light reading if one can find these:

 

Gensel, P.G. and D. Edwards (eds.). 2001. Plants Invade the Land: Evolutionary and Environmental Approaches. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

 

Raven, J.A. and E. Edwards. 2001. "Roots: evolutionary origins and biogeochemical significance." Journal of Experimental Biology 52: 381-401.

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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55 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

No nodes, however. 

Also I don't believe Calamites were around during the Devonian. 

Yup, calamites are carboniferous. Wasn't positive this had to be Devonian. I also do not see any nodes, but sometimes the nodes are far away from each other and not seen in a short segment. Anyway, I don't think this is calamites, but I still see striations like in calamites. So maybe it is an ancestor species from the late Devonian. Check out this link.

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Would be a guess, at best.

Could also be a branch of Archaeopteris

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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My thought was that it seems less flattened, more woody, than most early Devonian plants.

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5 hours ago, Kane said:

This stuff is carbonized and can flake off fairly easily, and the host rock is likely shale. I've found a number of these in the Devonian of Western NY and here in Ontario.

Thanks, that's why I asked in case it was. Since most wood is mineralized and hard I have been curious about some I find in Cretaceous limestone of north Texas.  It looks just like charred wood from a recent forest fire and is completely encased in the rock so couldn't have been recently carbonized roots or other wood. Very flakey with lots of fine detail. I'm just wondering how it might have been preserved. If the same thing comes out of Devonian material that makes it even more mysterious to me.

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16 hours ago, BobWill said:

Hi Matt.  I agree with Tim. I am curious about the context though because sometimes I find similar material where I don't expect to find it. Is this a site where you have found plant material before? Do you normally find marine or other fossils there? Is the wood part hard like the rock and is the rock limestone like it looks?

 

I forget where the sites you hunt are located so that could limit the possibilities depending on the age. If you know the formation or even the period I might know if there is any similarity between this and the ones I find in Texas. Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

I found it in the same site with all my other fossils

 

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16 hours ago, BobWill said:

Hi Matt.  I agree with Tim. I am curious about the context though because sometimes I find similar material where I don't expect to find it. Is this a site where you have found plant material before? Do you normally find marine or other fossils there? Is the wood part hard like the rock and is the rock limestone like it looks?

 

I forget where the sites you hunt are located so that could limit the possibilities depending on the age. If you know the formation or even the period I might know if there is any similarity between this and the ones I find in Texas. Thanks for any help you can offer.

it has to be devonian and this is the first time I have found it there in the creek 

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16 hours ago, BobWill said:

Hi Matt.  I agree with Tim. I am curious about the context though because sometimes I find similar material where I don't expect to find it. Is this a site where you have found plant material before? Do you normally find marine or other fossils there? Is the wood part hard like the rock and is the rock limestone like it looks?

 

I forget where the sites you hunt are located so that could limit the possibilities depending on the age. If you know the formation or even the period I might know if there is any similarity between this and the ones I find in Texas. Thanks for any help you can offer.

 the rock is all shale 

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Any possibility of aquatic vegetation?

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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7 hours ago, Rockin' Ric said:

Maybe late to the game, this looks like a Cordaites leaf?

Too early for Cordaites, Ric.  This is a Devonian aged area ;) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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53 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Any possibility of aquatic vegetation?

Not that I am aware of in the Devonian. 

Again, this is probably unidentifiable, other than to say it is plant material. 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Judging by the faintness of the ribbing (and disregarding geologic time), it could be Phragmites.

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Mat, you have brought us a wonderful mystery! It has faint features that are tantalizing, but (at least to the level of expertise of those responding so far), not diagnostic.

Let's call on @paleoflor, and see whether he can help.

 

P.S.; I like the fossil :wub:

"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!

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On 7/28/2019 at 3:15 PM, matthew textor said:

 the rock is all shale 

at the site I don't find wood very often maybe once a year. this fossil does not come up very often unlike other 

fossils I have found there before 

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