Does petrified palm occur in the north half of the US ?

[jamesp]

Mar 6, 2016 8:37:20 GMT -5 Jugglerguy said:

That seems more likely, since I found it here. There is supposed to be palm in Squaw Bay and also on Sulhur Island though.

Yep.

[snowmom]

yes, i found what i thought was pet palm near Cheboygan a long time ago. I've read that there is palm to be found in many old articles pertaining to fossils in this area as well. I had heard there were several places Illinois and Ohio, Pennsylvania, also I know there is
pet wood in Canada in Alberta, Vancouver, Nunavet, Saskatchawan, and Edmonton, some of which could have arrived here as glacial erratics. The pink coral is considered quite rare, and pink petoskey brings a high price in some circles; wherever you found that, Rob, I'd be going back....very cool find!

[snowmom]

Just read an article telling about palm wood fossils having been found in the antarctic circle.... its evidently everywhere!

[jamesp]

Mar 7, 2016 6:10:48 GMT -5 snowmom said:

Just read an article telling about palm wood fossils having been found in the antarctic circle.... its evidently everywhere!

Palm in Alaska and gators in Canada.

Some believe they got there by continental drift. Theories abound in that arena.

When the Spanish arrived to the Rio Grande Valley it was thick in palms. A historical event that they are no longer there.
As far as fossilized palm, it seems to be much more widespread and common in the southern half of the US.

Palms by nature of their design do not handle cold winters. Venturing to guess that habitat was best over the many hot/cold ages in the southern half of the US.
The same study could be made with tropical corals one would assume.

Present day coral reefs are very modern having formed since the last ice age. So 10,000 years to create present day massive coral reefs.
Makes sense that a large palm forests could take over in the same short time period.

Both coral and palms seem like good geographical temperature indicators for any chosen age.

[Sabre52]

Yeah, Many of those species of pet wood found in south Texas are tropical species now found mainly in areas much further south. As the global warming folks always seem to ignore, climate changes on its own and it was much warmer in the southern US when all that fossil palm and cycad went into the ground. Maybe most of the palms and cycads died in later ice age periods Most south Texas palm is from the Oligocene 23-34 million years ago and I would think went into the gravels in later Pluvial periods. Tree species ( pet wood, pollen, seeds etc) are very good indicators of climate...Mel

[es355lucille]

Thanks James! We found a rock In the Rocky Mountains last week.....I had no idea what it was.......now I know. Syringopora!

[chassroc]

I read that pet wood can be found in every state...I imagine that would cover petrified palm too...

(I have also read that it doesn't always take millions of years to make Pet Wood, if conditions are right.

But rockhounding is much better in states where there is more federal land.

Once land becomes private, rockhounding and mining tend to be off limits to the general public.

In the NE, it is virtually impossible to find new and abundant rock hounding grounds.