Pepper Tree

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Pepper Tree

Entry/Object ID

78.61.8

Description

Assemblage Zone: calcareous sediments Chemical Composition: Si O2 Crystal System: Hexagonal Description: Genus: Schinoxylon Common name: Pepper tree Age: Eocene Location data: Blue Forrest, Eden Valley, Wyoming USA Green River Fm. Description: A limbcast from Eden Valley, Wyoming. Only one end is polished color: central zone is in pinkish beige, surrounded by black and brown with grey, white, and blue agate filler. One small open hole is visible. Growth rings can be seen (faint) , as can some surface cracks. Doug Foster identified this piece as (Schinoxylon) 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: 5.750"x 6.250"x .750" 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

78.61

Source or Donor

Delmar Smith Limb Cast Collection

Acquisition Method

Donation

Other Names and Numbers

Other Number

Other Number: 1978.61.08

Dimensions

Width

6-1/4 in

Depth

3/4 in

Length

5-3/4 in

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