Pepper Tree

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Pepper Tree

Entry/Object ID

05.58.147(A)

Description

Assemblage Zone: calcareous sediments Chemical Composition: Si O2 Crystal System: Hexagonal Description: Genus: Schinoxylon Common name: Pepper tree Age: Eocene Location data: Blue Forest, in the Eden Valley petrified wood area, Wyoming USA Bridger Fm. Description: (A) one of four pieces, a limb cast from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, colors grey, brown, black, beige and clear agate. 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. Type of Fossils Present: Plants Fracture: conchoidal Grain Size: Fine Hardness: 7 Quartz Lithofacies: Volcanic Ash / lake sedim 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

05.58

Source or Donor

Petrified Wood Collection

Acquisition Method

Donation

Other Names and Numbers

Other Number

Other Number: 2005.58.147(A)

Dimensions

Width

1-11/16 in

Depth

2-1/2 in

Length

1-11/16 in

Dimension Notes

Dimensions taken at widest points

Location

Location

Display Case

PW-8

Room

Petrified Wood Room

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Exhibit

Date

May 22, 2025

Notes

Location update