Fossilized Fern?

[Rockhunter62]

My keen eyed wife Carol found this here fossilized fern today. If any of you keen fossil recognisers could identify this fern would be great. Found in the goldfields around Kalgoorlie.

Cheers

Doug

 

[Martyz]

That would make a beautiful sculptural piece cleaned up and stood upright with a nice polished wood base. :Y:

 

[Rockhunter62]

Reckon the misses will be onto that Martyz. :Y:

Cheers

Doug

 

[silver]

Looks like tree's in the mist.
Nice find :Y:

 

[Deepseeker]

Great Find Rockhunter62, could it have been a plant from an aquatic environment? It doesn't look like it would have had the structure to support itself in an air environment, maybe a seaweed or freshwater plant that ended up in mudstone or sandstone? Maybe Goldierocks would know? Either way it's a cracker of a find :trophy:

Just did a google search though. Is it possible it's a Pseudofossil? There are some very similar examples of Manganese Dendrites that look similar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil#/media/File:Dendrites01.jpg

https://www.123rf.com/photo_3862913...mestone-upper-jurassic-of-southern-germa.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/fossilid/comments/2hgp6y/fern_like_fossil_in_the_path_rockwork_australia/

Either way, an awesome find :Y:

 

[Pat Hogen]

This is an answer from an associate that knows fossils better than most everyone - "I am not sure on this one. At first glance it appears to be manganese dendrites that have formed on a bedding plane. It also appears to be a weathered specimen???? If at all possible, can I have a closer photo of one area? There are fossil plants recorded around Kalgoorlie."

So I will send him that closer pic that I see and report back to you. That staining does occur in a host of rocks that are leached by deposits of other chemicals and certainly does resemble dendritic ferns.

 

[DrDuck]

My first thought was dendrites too. The fern like patterns form from dissolved manganese and iron oxides that percolate along fractures and bedding planes in the rock.

 

[Rockhunter62]

This is an answer from an associate that knows fossils better than most everyone - "I am not sure on this one. At first glance it appears to be manganese dendrites that have formed on a bedding plane. It also appears to be a weathered specimen???? If at all possible, can I have a closer photo of one area? There are fossil plants recorded around Kalgoorlie."

So I will send him that closer pic that I see and report back to you. That staining does occur in a host of rocks that are leached by deposits of other chemicals and certainly does resemble dendritic ferns.

Here you go Pat,

I'm only using my camera on the tablet. I'm agreeing with the dendrites theory.

Hope this helps. The specimen is about 30cm x 20cm x3cm and was facing upwards just laying around old gold mine workings.

Cheers

Doug

 

[Jaros]

It's nice isn't it. Great find.

 

[user 4386]

Yep, dendritic pattern i suspect. The host rock can be a clue if you know what it is. Not many rocks in the Kalgoorlie area that look like that and are young enough to have fern fossils. So my money is on dendrites..

 

[Matrix007]

I agree with Goldie rocks it's dentrites or dentritic it's formed by minerals leeching through cracks in rocks starts at one point and radiates outward to form the Patton's on the rocks.