Palm Fossil from Arizona

During my visit to the Gallery of Natural History at the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (1300 N. College Ave, Tempe Arizona 85281) I saw fossil specimen (AHS-NH#14891) from Yavapai County, Arizona USA. It is a polished palm tree fossil.

Image taken October 2014.

Learn more:
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/trjune99.htm#palmwood

Woodworthia arizonica Fossil

While touring the Natural History section of the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (1300 N. College Ave, Tempe Arizona 85281) I saw fossil specimen (AHS-NH#11646) from Chinle Formation of Holbrook, Navajo County, Arizona USA. It is a Woodworthia arizonica Jeffrey 1910 tree fossil. This plant existed in the Upper or Late Triassic Period.

Images of museum specimen taken October 2014.

Sources to refer to:
JEFFREY, E.C. 1907. Araucariopitys, a new genus of araucarians. Botanical Gazette, 44, 435-444.

JEFFREY, E.C. 1910. A new araucarian genus from the Triassic. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Boston, 34, 325-332.

Learn more at these sites:
The Late Triassic Schilderia Adamanica and Woodworthia Arizonica Trees of the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA by G.T. Creber and S.R. Ash
http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00345.x

Pasadena Rock Museum

http://pasadenarockmuseum.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/woodwortniaarizonica/

Fibrous Calcite from Illinois

Back in 2010 I found a Devonian brachiopod fossil with a fibrous or needlelike mineral growth in it. I was trying to determine what this was. Last week while touring the Gallery of Natural History section of the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (1300 N. College Ave, Tempe Arizona 85281) I saw a calcite specimen (AHS-NH#11396) from Cave in the Rock, Hardin County Illinois, USA. It appears to be composed of calcite fibers. This formation type seems similar to the one I saw in the brachiopod. So maybe this type of calcite is what formed in that Devonian brachiopod. Images of museum specimen taken October 2014.

Here is an image of the Devonian brachiopod I found in Clark County, Indiana, USA.

See the rest of the pictures and more discussion of this specimen at my blog post here:

http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2010/12/fibrous-or-needlelike-mineral-growth-in.html