Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:50:01.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Microscopy of Silicified Wood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

George Mustoe*
Affiliation:
Geology Dept, Western Washington Univ.

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ancient forests comprised an enormous biomass and typically flourished in lowland habitats that offered favorable conditions for fossllization, so it is not surprising that petrified wood is the most abundant terrestrial fossil. Petrifaction of wood by carbonates, sulfides, oxides, and phosphates is evidence that fossilization can occur under diverse geochemical conditions, but silicification is by far the most common process.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2003

References

1. Suurman, P., “Mineralization of fossil wood,” S. Geologies 12, 1-43 (1972).Google Scholar
2. Mitchell, R.S. and Tufts, S., “Wood opal - a tridymite-like material”, American Mineralogist 58, 717-720 (1973).Google Scholar
3. Leo, R.F. and Barghoom, E.S., “Silicificatibn of wood” , Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets 25 (1). 147, (1973).Google Scholar
4. Stein, C.L., “Silica recrystaltization of petrified wood”, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 52, 1277-1262 (1982).Google Scholar
5. Scurfield, G. and Segnit, E.R., “Petrifaction of wood by silica minerals”, Sedimentary Geology 39, 149-167 (1984).Google Scholar
6. Barghoom, ES., Degradation of plant tissues in organic sediments, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 22, 24-42 (1952).Google Scholar