Fossil!

jnicholes · Mar 13, 2020

Me and my brother were walking near a waterfall, when my brother picked up a rock he thought was interesting.

I looked at it and immediately said, "Thats a FOSSIL!"

It has an unusual structure. There is definitely petrified wood in it. However, the petrified wood twists and turns and branches too many times, so I suspect this is a petrified trees root system.

Currently working with the people on thefossilforum.com to identify it.

Pictures are attached.

When I figure out what it is, Ill let you all know. If anyone here can help me with identifying it, that will be much appreciated.

Jared

Red-Coat · Mar 13, 2020

'Waterfall' may be the clue here. I thinks that's travertine... a precipitated carbonate deposit from calcium-rich water. It will mineralise anything organic trapped within it and frequently organic material such as roots and plant detritus acts as the nucleus which kick-starts the precipitation. In many ways, that's similar to the mineralisation process for a more conventional fossil but happens much more rapidly. Travertine deposits usually aren't more than about 200,000 years old, but can form in very much shorter periods of time... even as short as a few months if the conditions are right.