Name: Gary
Status: Other
Grade: N/A
Location: KS
Country: United States
Date:
Question:
I have a piece of petrified wood that has been
mineralized mostly however there appears to be a small Y branch
encased in matrix, has a shiny core (crystal) and surrounded by
Wood including a section of bark (thin brown) viewed from back
(not the face)
Is it common or possible to find actual wood in a piece of petrified wood?
Replies:
Garry,
Since the process of developing petrified wood usually involves
mineral-rich water flowing through the wood and the minerals
replacing the cellulose and cell matter (as these decay away), I
imagine the process is from the outside-in. The wood gets petrified
on the outside first as those are more easily accessible to the
minerals and water and then slowly penetrating inward. It is
therefore possible to find a piece of petrified wood in which the
encasing minerals have preserved the wood inside or in which the
process of petrification has not been completed.
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