Cell and ray detail in 48 million year old fossilised wood

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:25 pm

Hi folks,

This is a posting to both forums.

You are looking at the polished face of a fossilised branch (~5cm in diameter). The wood comes from the Green River Formation in the Blue Forest area of SW Wyoming. Fossils from this formation are known to be ~48 million years old. The presence of resin ducts lying along the medullary rays rather than following the line of the tree rings indicate that this is a Schinoxylon sp. (a member of the cashew family, Anacardiaceae).

The blue/gray area is agate.

An image of the complete branch section has been posted in the Macro and Close-up Forum, see:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 1743#11743

Bruce

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:36 pm

A very nice and intersting specimen there Bruce.

In relation to your macro post, is that "bracket fungi" that has...well, fosslized on the underside of the piece?

If so, lets see a shot of it through your scope or...lets just see it anyway, looks equally as interesting.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:06 pm

A beautiful, elegant, and informative pair of postings -- thanks for sharing!

--Rik

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:48 am

A very nice sample, and a nice set of pictures to show it to us. This is one of those pieces that get the imagination working... just trying to imagine the world this was growing in nearly 50 million years ago.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:31 pm

I appreciate your comments guys.

Ken - Yes you're right there is some interesting "stuff" on the outside of the bark. Actually more so on the side you haven't seen. So, with the the greatest pleasure I'll see what I can do over the next couple of days

.

Rik - So pleased you enjoyed them. Preparing and taking thes pics gave me a great deal of pleasure. If anything, being able to share them on this forum gives me even greater satisfaction.

Charles - That's it exactly. I get a real buzz from just holding something like this in my hand. To be able to examine something that was alive an inconceivable 50 million years ago, and yet something that still retains so much of its original detail - right down to the cellular level. You can't help but marvel at what you see and, as you say, wonder about the world it was growing in.

Bruce