Pepper Tree

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Pepper Tree

Entry/Object ID

78.58.280 (B)

Description

Assemblage Zone: calcareous sediments Chemical Composition: Si O2 Crystal System: Hexagonal Description: Genus: Schinoxylon Common name: Pepper tree Age: Eocene Location data: Eden Valley, Wyoming USA Bridger fm. Description: One (B) of eight pieces, varying in sizes. The polished sides show wood in beiges, browns and black with silicates filler in greys, outerside is in cream and brown. Delmar believed this was possibly a tropical tree and from during the Jurassic period (Mesozoic era). Doug Foster identified this as a pepper tree from the Eocene epoch in the Green River Formation. The Green River Formation is a Eocene geologic formation that has recorded the sedimentation in a series of intermountain lakes environments created during the uplift of the Rocky Mountains by the Sevier (in the west ) and Laramide orogenys. Size: Diameter 2" Length: 4" Type of Fossils Present: Plants Fracture: conchoidal Grain Size: Fine Hardness: 7 Quartz Lithofacies: Volcanic Ash/Lake sed.s Luster: Glassy Occurrence: Silicified wood, which is the fossilization and 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 is then replaced by (SiO2) silica, other minerals determined its colors. Pressure: Low-Moderate Rock Color: Medium Rock Origin: Post-depositional Rock Type: Sedimentary Specific Gravity: 2.6 Surface Process: Not apparent Temperature: Low Texture: microcrtystalline Variety: Petrified woods ar hydrous microcrystalline varieties of quartz that can be generally termed as chalcedony .

Collection

Petrified Wood Collection

Acquisition

Accession

78.58

Source or Donor

Delmar Smith Petrified Wood Collection

Acquisition Method

Donation

Other Names and Numbers

Other Number

Other Number: 1978.58.280 (B)

Dimensions

Dimension Notes

Dimensions taken at widest points

Location

Location

Display Case

PW-8

Room

Petrified Wood Room

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Exhibit

Moved By

Jillian Mather Kettley

Date

May 28, 2025

Notes

Location update