Dinosaur bone or pet wood?

[Raistlin]

As promised in another posting here is the piece I found near the McNairy formation (well at least in a dried creek bed that goes through that formation).

The formations that this possibly could have washed from are:

McNairy sandstone (upper Cretaceous)

Fluviatile and Fluviolacustrine (Holocene and Pleistocene)

Loess (Pleistocene)

Dinosaur is suspected to be found in the McNairy but has not yet been found (to my knowledge). This is chalky in the way that with enough pressure a dental pick can scratch or even chip away small bits. It does not burn or smell of being burned. I held a lighter to a part of the bottom and it didn't even get black. Under a scope it looks like sandstone in a way but when scratching it (with some pressure) and the weight makes it sort of plaster like (at least to me).

The weight (given in 4 different units)

.450 lbs

205 g

.205 kg

7.20 oz

Here are the photos.

Under the scope 9did the best I could do sorry).

This is all the information I have at the time. If you have any other tests I could do feel free to let me know and I will post the results.

Thanks for you help.

[Troodon]

Looks like pet wood not dinosaurian

Edited October 12, 2015 by Troodon

[Raistlin]

That is what I thought. But in another posting the idea of it being dinosaur bone came up. Possibly because of how I explained it being plaster like and how one side seems to be rock and not have pores as the other side does.

So I am posting it here to get a better idea

[Auspex]

Yup, petrified driftwood. The structures are somewhat suggestive of bone, but completely consistent with weathered wood.

I like the heck out of it!

[Raistlin]

Can we guess what formation it might be from?

I believe Brent thinks the McNairy wood should be silicic (hopefully he will stop by to confirm). I have found Stromatolites that should be coming from the McNairy and they are silicic or chert like. That also brings to question if I am finding Stromatolites there would I be finding wood as well?

[Rockwood]

I couldn't find the post or the photo (not super organized) but earlier this summer I posted a photo of some modern wood which had been recovered after years at the bottom of a lake as a potential reference. The texture was a lot like this.

[TNCollector]

These are all beautiful examples of petrified wood. One might think bone due to the porous structures seen under the microscope, however notice the orientation of said structures - they all point in the same general direction, which is indicative of wood grain. The similar structures seen in wood generally ho in different direction, vary in size, etc.

[Ptychodus04]

It looks a lot like petrified palm wood that I have seen from east Texas.

Although more weathered.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Ptychodus04

[Raistlin]

Rockwood, on 12 Oct 2015 - 04:16 AM, said:

I couldn't find the post or the photo (not super organized) but earlier this summer I posted a photo of some modern wood which had been recovered after years at the bottom of a lake as a potential reference. The texture was a lot like this.

So you think it could be more modern?

TNCollector, on 12 Oct 2015 - 07:30 AM, said:

These are all beautiful examples of petrified wood. One might think bone due to the porous structures seen under the microscope, however notice the orientation of said structures - they all point in the same general direction, which is indicative of wood grain. The similar structures seen in wood generally ho in different direction, vary in size, etc.

I have some bone that I found at a different location and only small bits so no ID is possible. The cell structure is far different than that of the wood I have found. I originally thought this was wood, but another posting had me rethinking my original thought.

Ptychodus04, on 12 Oct 2015 - 08:30 AM, said:

It looks a lot like petrified palm wood that I have seen from east Texas.

Although more weathered.

That makes sense because of the larger further apart cells. I have one piece of pet wood I found here that has distant large cells when the rest all have very small tight compact cells (sort of like a hard wood I believe).

[Rockwood]

I was merely suggesting that being submerged in a low oxygen environment, as would likely exist beneath algal mats, is a known mechanism for producing this appearance in wood grain.

[Raistlin]

Ahh okay.

[ashcraft]

Can we guess what formation it might be from?

I believe Brent thinks the McNairy wood should be silicic (hopefully he will stop by to confirm). I have found Stromatolites that should be coming from the McNairy and they are silicic or chert like. That also brings to question if I am finding Stromatolites there would I be finding wood as well?

The stromatolites and the petrified wood are found together, but I am thinking the stromatolites are reworked out of the St. Peter sandstone, an Ordovician deposit, by the ancestral Misissippi The sand portion of the St. Peter was also burying the wood, giving plenty of silica for the wood to petrify. The sample you have does not have the typical McNairy look to it. All that I have found is solid silicified material, including the pores being filled. You said in correspondence that it flakes, my samples are extremely hard, and glassy. Petrification occurs by the infilling of the voids in the wood with silicic material, doesn't look like your specimen preserved that way. Something different for sure.

Brent Ashcraft

Edited October 13, 2015 by ashcraft

[Raistlin]

Man my stuff is being difficult

Is it possible it could be from one of the younger periods in that area and is in the process of replacement? The map also shows Holocene and Pleistocene being present. I am not sure what pet wood looks like as it progresses through stages.

[ashcraft]

Man my stuff is being difficult

Is it possible it could be from one of the younger periods in that area and is in the process of replacement? The map also shows Holocene and Pleistocene being present. I am not sure what pet wood looks like as it progresses through stages.

no preserved wood from around here from those times, it is all still just wood.

Edited October 14, 2015 by ashcraft

[Raistlin]

I thought it would have started to mineralize. I guess I still have a lot to go on understanding and learning about this stuff.

So does that mean that the bone fragments I found (I posted them years ago) from the same area mammoth tusk has been found are not mineralized either? Or even the turtle shell piece I found?

Took some digging lol.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/33277-bone-fragments/?hl=raistlin#entry365888

If I recall it does not seem to burn. I can test it again I guess. It is also heavier than expected.

[ashcraft]

I have never seen anything from the Diversion channel that was permineralized (petrified), unless it was washed in from else where (usually paleozoic from the Appalachians).

I have taken samples from that area from underneath the loess cap, presumably 10,000 years old plus, that are still wood. A mastodon jaw was found there also, that had fresh rodent gnaw marks.

Mineralization can occur very quickly also, in a few years in highly mineralized water. The creeks around here exhibit manganese staining in less then two years..

Out of the Mississippi, none of these apply.

Brent Ashcraft

[Raistlin]

That is interesting. I need to get back over the way of the block hole and see if I can find anything else again with the waterways being down. The Mississippi river is getting really low again. They have spots marked off for the barges and they are going through one at a time near one Scott City/Thebes area. You can now walk a great deal of the banks and sand bars again. We should get out again some time. I have kind of been on the kick of finding the pet wood Cretaceous or younger stuff lately. Also recently found out that there are sharks teeth to be found in Illinois not sure where yet just seen some.

[ashcraft]

I am down in my knee at the moment. Walking very much is "unpleasant".

Brent Ashcraft

[Raistlin]

I would offer to help you but you are so much taller than me it would look funny with me attempting to carry you. Is it just a pull or something more? I hope it gets better soon.