Fosilized Wood???

[zozo]

I found me 2 very odd batches of fosilized wood.. 33 kilo's all together.. I bought it for a few euros it was so cheap i just couldn't leave to buy it. It's from a private collector, he said he found it back in the 70's while working at a dig side in Germany.

I'm realy amazed about the looks, but they look so odd in colors that i'm realy not so sure anymore if they are suitable to put submersed. They also all have some glittering mineral textures..

Batch 1 is Black/Blue/Red rock where the bark of the wood shows white.

Batch 2 realy looks off this planet it has the strangest colors and almost looks kinda toxic with its Ochre, Yellowish sulpheric colors.

Are there simple household ways other than vinegar to check and find out if strange colored rocks of strange origine are safe to use and are inert. Or do i realy need to soak it for weeks and find all kinds of drip tests to find out?.

Anybody experienced?.

 

[ian_m]

I tested my rocks with 10% hydrochloric acid, Ebay £5 for 100ml that came in dropper bottle, dripped on limestone gives a very strong positive unmissable fizz reaction. Other rocks I have, all bought from local fish shop, give no reaction.

 

[zozo]

Thanks ian_m.. I did the (muriatic) acid test, no fizz.. I thought this is only for calcium testing!? Does this test mean inert all the way and ok to use..Since the strange colors in these stones i thought, where the hell has that wood been before it miniralized and turned to stone. Actualy no idea about it, this is not the typical fosilized wood you see around so often.

 

[Tim Harrison]

That big orange coloured rock looks like tufa...a type of limestone formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals.

Edit: OK considering your test, then maybe not.

 

[zozo]

It definitely is fosilized wood, up close this is clearly to see.
That orange ochre colored batch is found in Schlüchtern/Vogelsberg - Germany
The other batch in Friesen - Germany

 

[Tim Harrison]

Nice find. The process of fossilisation occurs when the original organic material is replaced by minerals, so theoretically your fossilised wood could still be composed of carbonate minerals particularly calcite and obviously something else to give the ochre colour, maybe iron.
But if it doesn't react then it maybe composed of something like silica.
I know there is something similar on the market which is probably not fossilised wood at all but rather formed via another mineralisation process (possibly some sort of dehydration precipitation) which gives the impression of fossilised wood - either way it's all good

 

[ian_m]

The acid reacts with carbonate, normally calcium carbonate to calcium chloride and carbon dioxide (the fizz). Fossilised wood is normally silicate based, thus will be unaffected by the hydrochloric acid.

Found this whilst checking my 2nd sentence.
http://www.petrifiedwood.org.uk/colors-and-mineral-composition.html

 

[zozo]

Thanks Troi.. I know the process, how it is fossilized, that it needs t be buried in an oxygen low invironment with flowing miniralized water, so the wood cells get replaced by this mineral and thus mineralize. I also see it jused a lot in aquascapes, but usealy these is the somewhat regular type of rock where you have to look twice if it is rock or wood. This +/- 33 kilo i bought for the unbelievable amount of € 4,- from a fossil hunter collector, who is shrinking down his collection. So this is no regular LFS stuff nor decorative fakes.. It just looks rather completely off from what petrified wood i've seen till now..

 

[zozo]

Thanks ian nice read..

Some types of petrified wood contain a variety of colors which makes them highly valued as decoration products. Colorful petrified woods are predominantly composed of silicon dioxide but they contain one or multiple minerals other than silicon dioxide such as iron, copper, manganese, cobalt, iron oxides, manganese dioxide, pyrite, goethite and calcite. The intensity and number of colors depends on the amount and type of the mentioned minerals that were present in water and mud that covered the tree during the petrifaction process.

Brown and reddish brown color indicate presence of iron which turns reddish brown when exposed to the air. The more the iron the more intense the red color. Green and blue color can be a result of several minerals including copper, cobalt and manganese, while manganese dioxide can produce blue, pink or purple color. Again, the higher the amount of any of the mentioned minerals the more intense the color. Brown, yellow and orange can be produced by goethite (an iron oxyhydroxide), while black color indicates presence of pyrite.

This is what i indeed was thinkig.. Now the question do i have to be afraid of it? Can it still leach nasty goodies to the water?

 

[ian_m]

Can it still leach nasty goodies to the water?

Probably.

However I would assume most of the petrified wood contaminants are most likely water insoluble, as if any were water soluble they would have been washed away a long time ago.

I suspect if the "other bits" don't react with the acid and you perform frequent water changes, then you are good to go.

 

[zozo]

No it didn't react to acid, nor can wash of any of the colors after all dirt is gone the water stays clear even after boiling.

The the black/blue/red/white rock could do realy nice in a scape.. The other, looks realy toxic, even more when wet, maybe got to do some with that as well. Than i would need to add some Play Mobil oil barrels, a bicycle frame and some bones. And green rasboras..

Thanks guys for the information. You might see some of it back in the future.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Looking forward to see what you going to do with this

 

[zozo]

Well now actualy looking at it for longer, it becomes more intresting by the minute.. I'm seriously considering that colored stone with the green rasbora. That would pop completely out of this world.. When the big tank is planted, i'll have a smaller old tank as good as empty again. I definetly going to test the looks in there.. If it works, i'll run off for a nano cube..

 

[alto]

I really like Batch #2 shapes & colors

Batch #1 is not dissimilar to what used to sell locally as "petrified wood" for aquariums (you can still find some of this in shops - old inventory just gets passed on to newer shops), I've not heard of any issues with it

You should set up hardscapes with both, add water & lighting - then post photos - so we can all share in the wonderful shapes & colours

 

[Sonsey]

I've had fossilized wood in a tank before, I really enjoyed the look when combined with some red moor wood and plenty of plants. I never had any issues with it myself.

Here's a Green Machine fossilized wood scape, certainly looks the part!

 

[zozo]

After a long resting and storing periode i took another look at the Ochre batch of petrified wood.

I took the big chunk from above picture and sprayed that piece wet for the first time. I saw Ochre collored water run off? Kinda strange i thought, didn't expect that. Did put it in a bucket of water for a while and took a closer look after soaking for a few ours. The water turned dark ochre color and parts of the rock had a soft silky feel to it and colored my hands. I started rubbing and scratching and it seems like the rock had a lot of nooks and crannies filled with a same colored loam or clay. Rubbing and spraying a bit more it actualy became more interesting till suddenly it split into 2 sections and even more ochre clay came out of it..

Now it is this.. It split at the crack as seen in the big chunk in the above picture.. The 2 pieces were held together by a bone hard dry clay between it. Actualy a nice surprice with even more interesting scaping potential, ended up with a nice cave. The color is absolutely odd but still beautifull and also rather strange contrast against the green..

Anyway i got curious and started searching for Ochre Clay and rather soon stumbled upon Limonite as its origine and also its relation to Petrified wood. It's a hydrated iron oxide mineral, that developed in ancient marsh bogs organic sedimented clay deposits at certain anoxid conditions. Related to Goethite and Hematite all feric oxides form simmular clay deposites from ancient marsh lands under different conditions. And found that lots of petrified wood found come from anoxid conditoned deposites like this from ancient forest bogs. The black and red colored wood from above is likely mineralized in a (red clay) hematite deposite. And the Brown/yellow/Orange colored in a Limonite clay deposite.

A lucky find it absolutely is.. It triggered my interest even more and definitively going to scape with this rock. (Yellow Stone Park?)

 

[Oldguy]

The Carboniferous period produced limestone, coal and iron ore often layered over each other but at different levels. All three were mined in the area that I live in. Nice specimens but I would be wary of iron leaching.

 

[zozo]

Thanks.. I'll test it with Daphnia and such, if that stay alive and multiplies then i have little to wary about.. I guess, can't find a better and cheaper test kit that that.

 

[Tim Harrison]

I reckon it'll be fine...still waiting to see what you're going to do with it

 

[zozo]

I reckon it'll be fine...still waiting to see what you're going to do with it

Me too, but i still have 3 aqauriums and mission bathtub currently running.. Than 2 aqauriums in the kitchen are about to be taken down, after that the kitchen top and floor needs a referbish, a paint job and actualy the bathroom as well. But we are nearing winter, not the best season for that. So got a lot on the agenda and have to wait till next spring for the money tree in the garden to cary fruit .. For now it also only dreamimg for me, what to do with it? But i have several creazy ideas on hold.