A couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to find a very unusual looking rock near my cabin. I actually had no idea what I had found.
Keep in mind I’m a backcountry hiking and backpacking guide. I have no background in geology or petrology. I did, however, know this rock was very unusual and something inside me told myself I just had to learn more about this strange find!
After reaching out to several people for answers I was put in contact with two different geologists who both seemed to agree on its identification.
I was told this is a fossil from a tree known as a Lepidodendron or possibly a fossil from the Lepidodendrons tree root system called a Stigmaria. Sometimes the Lepidodendron is also referred to as a Scale tree.
I was also told this type of tree dates back to the Carboniferous Period between 359 million to 299 million years ago. (To help put that in perspective the oldest known dinosaur is believed to have been around only 228 million years ago.
This particular type of prehistoric tree is believed to have reached heights of 130 feet with some having trunks 3 and half feet in diameter and thought to have thrived up to the late Triassic Period. By the Mesozoic era it’s believed that all these trees had died out and replaced by Conifers.
We truly live in an amazing world and if you slow down and really take the time to look closely sometimes it shares its secrets with us!
Backwoods Adventures
Scott
