Petrified/Opalised Wood

[Wwoofa]

Hi,
February's "Gem of the Month" is .... Petrified/Opalised Wood. Apologies for the late posting ... hopefully I can catch up soon

Feel free to add more info & pics. If anyone has any questions about Petrified/Opalised Wood then this is a good place to post them.

You might like to change your "Gem of the Month" votes now that this one has been covered.

General Information:
Petrified Wood (or "Fossilised Wood") is formed when silica in solution fills the pores and cavities in submerged or buried timbers. As the woody fibre gradually decomposes, more silica in solution takes its place until the original wood is replaced entirely by silica. This is done in such a manner that the original shape and structural detail is preserved. As Petrified Wood is mainly composed of silica (quartz) it has a hardness of around 7 on MOH’s scale of hardness.

Opalised Wood (or "Wood Opal") is a form of Petrified Wood which has developed an opalescent sheen or, more rarely, where the wood has been completely replaced by opal.

Here are a few useful links that should cover all of the main information.

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_wood
Mindat - http://www.mindat.org/min-8018.html
Mindat - http://www.mindat.org/min-9837.html
Gemdat - http://www.gemdat.org/gem-8018.html
Gemdat - http://www.gemdat.org/gem-9837.html

Fossicking Locations:
Petrified Wood can be found in many locations in Australia. Here are just a few of the more well-known locations...

QLD - Chinchilla
Chinchilla is located approx. 300km north-west of Brisbane. There are a number of collecting locations. It is famous for the excellent "Chinchilla Red" Petrified Wood.

More info can be found here...

http://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/fossicking/south-east/chinchilla/

Here are some nice examples in the gallery...







NSW - Bellata
Bellata is located between Narrabri & Moree in north-west NSW. You can find Petrified Wood, Agate and Jasper.

More info can be found here...

http://www.frostysaussieadventures.com/Fossicking/NSW-Bellata-Agate.htm
http://aussielapidaryforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=4122.msg39022#msg39022

Here are some nice examples in the gallery...



TAS - Lune River
The Lune River is located in the far south of Tasmania. It is famous for it's fossilised ferns.

More info can be found here...

http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/portal/lune-river

Here are some nice examples in the gallery...

[Fullerton]

There's some agate pics amongst the pics of the 'Gem of the Month, which is petrified wood.

[Wwoofa]

Indeed ...my bad ... I'll fix it up

[Fullerton]

I suspect a Freudian slip ... you secretly want another agate inspired Gem of the Month   

[Lapis Lupinus]

I'm sure they were agates when I found them! But they might have petrified since then

[Jimnyjerry]

An bit of opalised wood  (common opal)

[The Rock Hunter]

I remember reading a book about Victorian mining and in there was a old deep lead mine at Ballarat they wore mining back in the day they wore mining in a ancient creek bed under basalt flow and while mining they found a full tree 6ft wide by 30ft in the conglomerate that they wore mining in now sure what happened to it after that but It was a pretty big tree that was fossilized   

[tinker]

There is a petrified tree at the bottom of Adelong Falls NSW, it is a complete tree measuring about 60ft in length, by 5ft in width.  The tree is inbedded in rock at the base of the Falls and is quiet impressive.

[nssian]

I am luck enough to have quite a few KG's of this Agatised Wood from the Roma/Chinchilla district 

[col]

I will have to make my way to Adelong falls one day to check this tree out.

[MakkyBrown]

Here's a bit I found on a very quick visit to one of the public fossicking areas at Chinchilla in 2013, we also stopped at the Museum town /rock display at Miles. There is some amazing wood and fern in that collection.

[Wwoofa]

A very nice piece

[MALACHI]

I love Chinchilla, the red colouring found in the wood is amazing when cabbed and polished.

Malachi 

[MakkyBrown]

I love Chinchilla, the red colouring found in the wood is amazing when cabbed and polished.

Malachi 

I agree mate, nice and hard and takes a beautiful polish, currently making a couple more pocket knives out of it

[MALACHI]

Is it the presence of an iron or some other mineral that causes this beautiful red colouring in the Chinchilla? 

Malachi