Fossil Wood In The Amole Arkose Tucson Mountains

[safossils]

I stopped by a local outcrop of Amole yesterday and snapped a few images of some petrified wood. This is preserved in fresh-water sandy limestone. The preservation is not great, but I thought it was interesting. The amole has been dated to 100 million Years. Just so happens, a Praying Mantis was also looking for fossils on this outcrop....

[Auspex]

Looks like a lot of vegetative detritus with the wood; anything else in this formation?

BTW, the mantis is the smaller native Ground Mantis (Litaneutria minor); most people are only familiar with the big, green Chinese import.

[safossils]

Fossils are few and far between. Pelecypod and plant remains are the most common fossils I've come across. A few Vertebrate remains have been reported, mostly disarticualted Dino Bones. Most Mesozoic sediments in Southern Arizona are fairly poorly consolidated, and were badly broken up during Laramide and Post laramide tectonics. The odds of finding a complete skeleton, or even a whole bone are remote - that doesn't stop me from trying though .

Walt

[geofossil]

Thanks for sharing the photos. Associated fossils vary a lot in deposits of petrified wood . A major variable is how the wood was deposited....as river debris and covered with sediments...washed out into the sea...covered with volcancic ash, mud slides, etc.

What can be productive is to scoop up a few samples at different layers of the loose dirt, gravel, rocks, etc. and look at the particles with a hand lens or microscope. As stated above, large 'stuff' is often crushed or disarticulated into eroded bits, but little things like miniscule teeth, seeds, shells, etc. can sometimes still be found.

Great shot of the insect. We enjoy the Nature on an outing as much as the fossiling. 'Bug watching' can open up a whole world of interest. We always have various insect books with us.

[safossils]

What can be productive is to scoop up a few samples at different layers of the loose dirt, gravel, rocks, etc. and look at the particles with a hand lens or microscope. As stated above, large 'stuff' is often crushed or disarticulated into eroded bits, but little things like miniscule teeth, seeds, shells, etc. can sometimes still be found.

Excellent, I'll have to try that next time out.

Thanks,

Walt