Petrified Wood (Location: Ashley)
This well preserved piece of petrified wood was found after a landowner did some work on one of his paddocks with a digger. Most of the petrified wood from the Ashley river area displays rounding from being tumbled down a river but this piece does not. This suggests it either broke off from a larger piece recently or is in-situ (this is where the tree grew).
We don’t know the exact geologic layer the petrified wood is from, but it is most probably Miocene or Pliocene (Neogene Period) in age (2.5 to 23 million years old). Other wood samples from this area were identified as belonging to the Eucalyptus genus by Mathew Vanner in his 2023 doctorate thesis [Download the PDF here]. This tells us something about the climate in North Canterbury during this period, as Eucalyptus trees prefer a warm and sunny environment.
Petrified wood is usually identified by making thin sections, 30 microns thick, of the wood to study it under a microscope. Making the sample this thin allows light to pass through it. It is then compared to online wood databases such as the Inside Wood database.
[find a thin section of petrified wood]
Contributions:
Morne, Mamlambo Fossils
