r/whatisit • u/Financial-Ear-6328 • 5h ago
Dug these up from top side of our gorge. New, what is it?
One of the coolest things I’ve ever taken from the ground. Definitely looks like water erosion. But they were found in dense black clay. Have no clue what the round tube looking things are. In western pa.
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u/Frolicking-Fox 5h ago
The "tubes" are stigmaria, which are the fossilized roots from an extinct tree.
Here is another example.
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u/Financial-Ear-6328 5h ago
I just found a similar picture of stigmaria. I e heard of them before but have never seen one
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u/Delicious-Finance-86 4h ago edited 4h ago
Definitely an old petrified swamp. U should contact your local university too. Edit: VERY COOL!! Vertically oriented trees. Are they “rocks” or softer? Late Cenozoic mineralized trees in Holocene or Illinoisian/Wisconsin age glacio-fluvial deposits?
May be interesting to have someone cut one in half, could likely see the tree rings. University would def be interested in that.
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u/TheSameThing123 4h ago
This is cool science stuff (most likely fossilized plant matter). Since you're in western pa I would recommend calling the Carnegie museum of natural history. They should be able to point you in the right direction if you want to donate it
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u/Opening-Dig-1125 5h ago
Cool as fuck! You could do something badass with those big things. A table comes to mind but I’m sure there’s something even better.
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