@jason-humphreys I agree with @bruce-wayne, this looks like coal. It’s all been compressed and while I do see some sort of impression there just isn’t enough there/the right details.

@jacob-polzin Sorry for the late response. I sent these pictures to my girlfriend since I didn’t recognize it and she studies Mesozoic plants and focuses mainly on the Triassic and Jurassic. We can certainly see why you thought plant though. Because therapod tracks have been found in the Manassas, do you think it could be a fluvial structure? My…[Read more]

@shannon-olczak This is Alethopteris, a seed fern (not a real fern because it uses seeds to reproduce instead of spores). Phylum is Pteridospermatophyta.

@shannon-olczak Yes, this is probably Oligocarpia, a fern in the family Gleicheniaceae. This nodule likely comes from the Mazon Creek Formation which is Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian).

@nina-hotov do you have a picture of the top or bottom (“cross sectional area”)? This could help determine if it is wood or not.

@shannon-olczak@mackenzie-ross-2 I believe this is a nodule from Mazon Creek (Formation name)? It would be Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian). Are these two separate specimens or are they two halves of the same specimen? If they are different, the first and second appear to be the seed fern (not true fern) Alethopteris. However, the last picture…[Read more]

@mackenzie-ross-2 and @shannon-olczak sadly I cannot. All I can say is that it’s wood. Identification for petrified wood requires preserved cellular details and prepared slides via thin-section or cellulose acetate peels. I’m sorry, it’s just the nature of wood ID.

@a-trilobite My guess is that your guess about it being recent with quick hardening mud is correct. I don’t see any Cretaceous or younger rocks in NE OH and that sort of venation only occurs from Cretaceous onward (one, and only one exception in the Triassic) (The Triassic one is a very weird gymnosperm). If you look at the trees around you, you…[Read more]

@chase-grim so looking at macrostrat.org it looks like that area is Ordovician-Silurian in age meaning it not likely a plant since we don’t see a lot of land plants until the Devonian. My guess would be an animal (or animal colony) like graptolite, bryozoan or even some sort of echinoderm since they too can have branching appendages. I’m going to…[Read more]

@lighting-lou, @a-trilobite and @daniel-park are correct. If it looks like tire treads, it’s Sigillaria. If you see diamonds, it’s Lepidodendron. If you just see dots it’s Stigmaria. Stigmaria is a root genus for roots belonging to either Lepidodendron (a stem genus) or Sigillaria (another stem genus). Because plants have distinct organs that…[Read more]

Hi @chase-grim! Usually when I think of Ohio I think of marine deposits so animals that come to mind are bryozoans and graptolites but I don’t think any of those have zooids shaped like that or branch 3-ways (see center right of fossil). I could be mistaken as these fall out of my field of expertise. However, there is terrestrial input in marine…[Read more]

Hi @a-trilobite. Because it’s an angiosperm we know it’s Cretaceous or younger, however, without more of the margin, cuticle or higher order venation it’s too hard to say which angiosperm. Can you give a more specific location? It might be possible to compare (and ID) with known specimens if a nearby flora is already described.

Great! Thanks!

@diane-soderman and @mackenzie-ross-2 I agree with @bill-heim that there is wood in the second picture. I also think that there is wood impression in the first. But because there is no cellular detail we won’t know what type of plant it was.