PLX010 - LARGE LIFELIKE PETRIFIED EOCENE SPLIT TREE TRUNK SECTION WITH RARE PRESERVATION FROM FRANCE

Product Description

ITEM # 

PLX010

ID

Petrified log

FOUND

Lyon, France

AGE

EOCENE:  54.8 - 33.7 million years ago

SIZE

20.5" long x 5" wide x 2' thick

CONDITION

NO REPAIR OR RESTORATION 
RARE MINERALIZATION OF THE CELLS
OF THE WOOD TO RESEMBLE A LIFE-LIKE
MODERN LOG SECTION.  

NOTE

INCREDIBLE GRAIN AND COLOR
REMARKABLE LIFELIKE 3D DETAIL. RARE!

INCLUDES STAND - Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANT FOSSILS

This is a large portion of a split trunk from a tree that once lived in the Eocene Period in France.  The species is not known.  There are  very rare features that are not seen in your typical petrified wood.  If you were only allowed to look at it and not pick it up to feel its weight, you would absolutely swear it was modern wood!  The unique petrification process has retained the most minute cellular structures, COLOR and texture of modern wood right down to the chatoyant appearance of living wood grain when viewed in strong light.  This piece was dug so it had not been yet exposed to the elements of modern time.  Perfectly resembling split firewood, the fibrous internal structures are intact and completely petrified.  This is an immensely attractive fossil wood specimen and highly recommended either as a stand-alone accent piece or as an addition to a fossil wood collection to show the varying forms of petrified wood.  Irresistible to touch!  SELDOM do you see petrified fossil wood with these features and this well preserved in such a massive solid piece.  NO REPAIR, POLISHING, OR RESTORATION.  

Petrified wood in its natural form is MUCH LESS prevalent on the market compared to sliced and polished examples.  Unfortunately, when such modifications are done to the specimen, the fossil value of the wood is lessened and the piece becomes more of a pretty mineral showpiece rather than an educational and intriguing display fossil because the natural interior and exterior appearance has been modified or in some cases, destroyed.  

Petrified wood forms when real wood lies buried underground and its organic structure is gradually replaced with hard mineral.  This petrification requires rapid burial of the wood to prevent normal decay.  This can happen in different ways.  A flooding river can have bury the forest floor under a layer of sand and silt, for example.  Another circumstance could occur when forests are covered by volcanic ash.  After burial, mineralized groundwater begins to percolate through the wood, coating cell walls and filling the intercellular cavities with stone.  In some cases, the entire log is converted to stone and is solid like a cast of the original piece.  In other cases, the delicate cellular structures are preserved along with growth rings, bark and knots such that the petrified wood exactly resembles modern wood yet is heavy as stone when held, and clinks like porcelain.  Such detailed preservation is possible because the organic wood molecules become coated and surrounded with smaller silica molecules.  Small amounts of impurities in the mineralized water add color to the fossilized wood.  The hues of yellow, brown and red indicate iron while black and purple are derived from carbon or manganese.