Section through 270 million year old fossilised tree fern

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:15 pm

Hi folks,

This fossilised tree fern comes from the Maranhao Sedimentary Basin in NE Brazil. It grew in the Permian period (late Palaozoic era) approximately 270 million years ago. Species is probably Tietea singularis or (less likely) Psaronius brasiliensis but I'll need to do more research before I can say with confidence.

This particular slice probably comes from near the base of the trunk/branch as it is almost entirely made of the central (supporting) stele. This is identifiable by the numerous brain-like structures of the vascular bundles of xylem tissue. The slice is polished on front and back and this posting includes images from both sides.

It's striking just how different the internal structure is from that of a tree.

I have another fossilised fern that shows the middle/upper trunk with cells that would have been involved with the transport of water and nutrients as well as the leaf bases. I'll do a project on that fossil for comparison with this posting sometime soon.

I will also pop this slice under the Meiji stereo microscope (maybe tomorrow) and will post results in the microscope forum.

Images are stacks of ~5 frames.

Bruce

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:25 pm

Bruce you sure have a lot of interesting stuff around your place. Kind of like you live in a museum. These are beautiful images, I will be looking for a posting in Micro. Thanks

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:24 pm

Amazing what time and water will do.

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:33 am

Hi Bruce. Wonderful fossil that was well photographed. How did you control surface reflection. Very diffuse lighting? Polarizer?

Irwin

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:27 pm

This is one beautiful specimen Bruce. A lot of plant structure is showing. I have never seen a fern slab before. A man and his collection is a wonderful thing

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:51 pm

Ken, Mike, Irwin and Doug - Thanks for your kind comments guys

.

I have posted microscopic images from this fossilised fern slice in the Microscope Forum, see:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 2013#12013

Bruce

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:16 am

Irwin,

My apology for delay in answering your question. Yes a good question too, these polished fossil rounds are VERY shiny.

I use a light tent (a 26" cube of white material). Illumination is 2 X 50W halogen desk lamps (one on each side) approximately 6 inches away from the material (they get very hot so I have to be careful). I also have a 100W tungsten wall light about 3 foot above the tent. I use custom white balance and get quite accurate results.

Bruce

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:58 am

Thanks Bruce.

I had wondered how effective a light tent was for highly relective surfaces.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:23 pm

A wonderfully preserved piece of wood fossil for its age!

Could be possible to find a pieces of the same quality on the market?

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:32 pm

Fascinating stuff Bruce!