Metasequoia

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Metasequoia

Entry/Object ID

07.58.27

Description

Assemblage Zone: Flood Basalt Chemical Composition: Si O2 Crystal System: Hexagonal Description: Common Name: Metasequoia Age: Miocene Location data: Saddle Mountian area in eastern Washington State USA Description: Tree root outer appearance chalky white & browns, polished face shows browns, orange, beige & creamy tan-white **When wood turns to microcrystalline quartz or opal, various trace minerals may be incorporated, resulting in various colors. Because each piece of wood becomes silicified in its own local geochemical environment, the trace amounts of various elements that are incorporated into the petrified wood can vary greatly. This specimen, a Miocene "Metasequoia" from Saddle Mountain, WA. contains two entwined roots, each a different color. This illistrates that different trace elements can occur in the same stratum, resulting in different colors in the same specimen. Size: Diameter 4" Length 9" Type of Fossils Present: Plants Fracture: conchoidal Grain Size: Fine Hardness: 7 Quartz Lithofacies: Saddle Mountian Basalt Luster: Glassy Occurrence: Silicified wood, which is the fossilization and/or opalization of organic woody matter by the deposition of SiO2 in a anaerobic environment to prevent decay. This means that the wood must somehow be buried in an oxygen free enviroment, possibly in the silt-laden river or the bottom of a lake or buried by volcanic ash or volcanic related mudflow. The organic material in the wood is then replaced by silica, other minerals determined the colors of the petrified wood. Pressure: Low-Moderate Rock Color: Medium Rock Origin: Post-depositional Rock Type: Sedimentary Specific Gravity: 2.6 Surface Process: Not apparent Streak: white Temperature: Low Texture: microcrystalline Variety: Petrified wood is hydrous microcrystalline variety of quartz that can be defined in general term of chalcedony or opalization

Collection

Petrified Wood Collection

Acquisition

Accession

07.58

Source or Donor

Petrified Wood Collection

Acquisition Method

Donation

Other Names and Numbers

Other Number

Other Number: 2007.58.27

Dimensions

Width

4 in

Depth

9 in

Length

4 in

Dimension Notes

Dimension taken at widest points

Location

Location

Container

Right

Drawer

Bottom

Shelf

Left

Cabinet

Case #101

Wall

South wall

Building

Mentzer Hall - Petrified Wood Room

Category

Permanent