Friday 4 November 2016

Petrified!



The fields around here are strewn with bits of petrified trees. Most of the pieces are quite small, but I've seen quite large lumps built into the walls of houses and barns. They are deceptively heavy.

When I see bits, I still tend to pick them up. I have quite a large collection, so I'm not sure quite why I continue to bring them home.

Many years ago I took a piece to a specialist museum back in the UK to ask its age. They kept the piece for a while for analysis, then came back with the answer that it was from the Tertiary period, and was about 13 Million years old.

It kinda puts things into perspective. No doubt after we've made the planet uninhabitable for humans, other plant or animal life will continue for another 13 Million years; leaving their own particular traces.



30 comments:

  1. Lovely - if these were in the fields near me I couldn't resist the temptation to bring them home. x

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    1. The problem is that one ends up with a mountain.

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  2. I have never seen a petrified tree. I have seen fossil shells, some are even put in walls and pavements here.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. Plenty of fossils here too, and stone age implements.

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  3. I would pick them up as well. In the UK I used to live on the Isle of Sheppey on the Kent coast. I spent hours with the children when they were young, collecting fossilized bits of wood and things from the beaches. Shark's teeth were the best find. Happy days!

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    1. Beach-combing has always been a favourite pastime, even better when one finds fossils etc.

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  4. It appears like a piece of firewood to me and I would put in on the woodburner. Is the photo not doing it justice? Am I missing something? Is it some sort of joke day in France?

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    1. The photo turned out very light. This particular piece is about 8 inches long, and it weighs about 2 kilos. Very deceptive.

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  5. Oh gosh,I've got one almost exactly the same as that, same size and everything. Picked it up in one of the quarries from my old home in Portland, Dorset. Mine sits on the grate next to the fireplace, along with all the other odd bits of rock from around the world. I don't do souvenirs when I travel, just local rocks!

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    1. Much better than sombreros or straw donkeys.

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  6. That's quite a thought Cro. I used to come across whole petrified trees in New Zealand but never quite thought of them in that relationship.

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    1. There's a huge whole tree (almost) on the lawn outside the Natural History Museum in London.

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  7. When I saw the photo and the headline my first thought was that an asteroid is heading straight for us.
    I'm half way through Konsalik's Weltuntergang novel Ein Komet fällt vom Himmel.

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    1. As long as any asteroid was only this size, I wouldn't worry too much. It's the biggies that I fear.

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  8. We went once to a petrified forest somewgere in the US - might have been Mesa Verde. I bought the most beautiful piece of polished petrified wood - a lovely reminder.

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    1. This stuff would slice and polish-up nicely, it's blueish and marble-like.

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  9. I'm not sure I've ever seen a piece of petrified wood. Some scared looking branches maybe...

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    1. There must be pieces in your garden; it's everywhere.

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  10. Amazing to have them strewn about outside your back door.

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    1. I was very excited when I found my first piece, now it's almost an everyday experience.

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  11. Hi Cro, most interesting post. I had several pieces of petrified wood in my Free State garden; we've left there now and "retired" south in the mountains. Have a great day. Jo

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    1. Sounds like this stuff is quite common the world over. Logically, I suppose it would have to be.

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    2. Where I come from (the Free State) in a nearby town, the Dutch Reformed Church yard is surrounded by petrified wood tree trunks lain horizontally on a brick wall. My dad was christened in that church way back in 1919; his parents were married there two years before and in the late 60's both these grandparents of mine were buried from there. This church and it's petrified wood wall is very near to my heart!

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    3. Error: read: stone wall!

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  12. So far, I have only seen photographs of petrified wood. I bet the Museum of Natural History in my neighborhood has some on display. Although it's a short walk away, it's been years since I've been in that museum. Thank you for reminding me of its treasures.

    Happy weekend.

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    1. I adore all museums of 'Natural History', other than good Art Galleries, they are my favourites.

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  13. How exciting, Cro. I have three pieces of (polished) driftwood gracing my dining room table. Things of beauty. Though not fossilized.

    As it happens one of my sisters is called Petra. Whilst our maiden name alludes to wood a rock she ain't. Though petrifying she is.

    You may care to take a look at my onions and sprinkle a sharp knife's observations on them.

    U

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    1. Were your parents clairvoyants? To call someone Petra who later becomes 'stony' is worthy of a crystal ball.

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  14. Perhaps you could build another " tower" with all your petrified trees?

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