fossil wood
{{Short description|Wood preserved in the fossil record}}
File:Thiruvakkarai wood fossil image.jpg
File:Clouseup of Wood Fossil-Thirvakkarai, Tamil Nadu.jpg]]
{{Paleontology}}
Fossil wood, also known as fossilized tree, is wood that is preserved in the fossil record. Over time the wood will usually be the part of a plant that is best preserved (and most easily found). Fossil wood may or may not be petrified, in which case it is known as petrified wood or petrified tree. The study of fossil wood is sometimes called palaeoxylology, with a "palaeoxylologist" somebody who studies fossil wood.
The fossil wood may be the only part of the plant that has been preserved, with the rest of the plant completely unknown:{{cite web |url=http://www.edstrauss.com/pwoodfx.html |title=Petrified Wood from Western Washington |author=Ed Strauss |year=2001 |access-date=April 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211224655/http://www.edstrauss.com/pwoodfx.html |archive-date=December 11, 2010 }} therefore such wood may get a special kind of botanical name. This will usually include "xylon" and a term indicating its presumed (not necessarily certain) affinity, such as Araucarioxylon (wood similar to that of extant Araucaria or some related genus like Agathis or Wollemia), Palmoxylon (wood similar to that of modern Arecaeae), or Castanoxylon (wood similar to that of modern chinkapin or chestnut tree).{{cite book
|author1=Wilson Nichols Stewart |author2=Gar W. Rothwell |title =Paleobotany and the evolution of plants
|publisher =Cambridge University Press
|edition=2
|year =1993
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fhm-oed74JgC&q=naming+fossil+wood
|isbn =978-0-521-38294-6
|page=31
}}
Types
=Petrified wood=
{{Main|Petrified wood}}
Petrified wood are fossils of wood that have turned to stone through the process of permineralization.{{Cite web |last=Bersama |first=CV Karya |title=Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Petrified Wood |date=5 June 2023 |url=https://karyabersama.com/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-petrified-wood/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |language=en-GB}} All organic materials are replaced with minerals while maintaining the original structure of the wood.
The most notable example is the petrified forest in Arizona.{{cite web
|url=https://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm
|title=Petrified Forest National Park
|access-date=April 8, 2011
|publisher=National Park Service, US Department of the Interior
}}
=Mummified wood=
Mummified wood are fossils of wood that have not permineralized.{{cite web |url=http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=414 |title=Mummified Forest Shows Effect of Changing Climate |author=Kelly Greig |date=January 17, 2011 |access-date=April 8, 2011 |publisher=Canadian Geographic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205052304/http://canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=414 |archive-date=February 5, 2011 }} They are formed when trees are buried rapidly in dry cold or hot environments. They are valued in paleobotany because they retain original cells and tissues capable of being examined with the same techniques used with extant plants in dendrology.{{cite book
|author1=Thomas N. Taylor |author2=Edith L. Taylor |author3=Michael Krings |title =Paleobotany: the biology and evolution of fossil plants
|url=https://archive.org/details/paleobotanysecon00tayl_312 |url-access=limited |publisher =Academic Press |year =2009 |isbn =978-0-12-373972-8
|page=[https://archive.org/details/paleobotanysecon00tayl_312/page/n55 33]
}}
Notable examples include the mummified forests in Ellesmere Island{{cite web
|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962379-1,00.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127090104/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962379-1,00.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=November 27, 2010
|title=Science: Unearthing a Frozen Forest
|author1=Michael D. Lemonick |author2=Courtney Tower |author3=Diane Webster |date=September 22, 1986
|access-date=April 8, 2011
|publisher=Time
}} and Axel Heiberg Island.{{cite web
|url=https://www.livescience.com/9128-2-million-year-mummy-trees-reveal-harsh-climate.html
|title=2-million-year-old 'mummy trees' reveal harsh climate
|author=Jeremy Hsu
|date=December 16, 2010
|access-date=7 August 2024
|work=Live Science
}}
=Submerged forests=
{{Main|Submerged forest}}
Submerged forests are remains of trees submerged by marine transgression. They are important in determining sea level rise since the last glacial period.{{cite book
|author=Eric Charles Frederick Bird
|title =Coastal geomorphology: an introduction
|publisher =John Wiley and Sons
|year =2008
|isbn =978-0-470-51729-1
|page=52
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-YX0mWBpjGkC&q=submerged+forest
}}