Fossil Wood News
deutsche Version
This is a series of brief treatises based on own finds, unless indicated otherwise,
 of fossil wood, mainly Palaeozoic, including specimens found enclosed in Permian chert,
  every one of them reporting some observation, idea, interpretation, or discovery
    apparently not yet published in the scientific literature (except for own publications)  
       and occasionally contradicting established wisdom.

Every treatise consisting of text, pictures, and references is confined to a concise format of one or two printed pages, thus differing much from the lengthy papers in scientific journals. This is meant to be a means of spreading information quickly in easily comprehensible quanta, which would be virtually impossible with the conventional ways of publication.
Some contributions which had been accessible only via "Misconceptions" have been included in the below list.

The separation of the fossils into
"Permian Chert" and "Fossil Wood" is to some degree arbitrary. Ferns have been listed under Permian Chert News but trees and shrubs (partially) consisting of coniferous-type wood like the seed ferns have been included here.

List of issues
sorted according to subjects            Click on the number

"Wood crystals"
1.   "Wood crystals"
30. "Wood crystals"   Part 2

Silicification phenomena
2.   On the origin of white spots in fossil wood
21. Degradation and preservation of palaeozoic wood
28. Apparition in the wood
36. Black and white stains in silicified wood
42. What cracks can reveal about petrified wood formation
44. Fossil wood aspects  

The mite coprolite craze
3.   Oribatid mite coprolite sightings – a transient craze ?
4.   Alleged coprolites of "unknown creatures" replace alleged oribatid mite coprolites
5.   Dubious oribatid mite coprolites once more:  Comment on Z. Feng et al. (2010)

6.    Alleged coprolites - Remnants of decayed tissue
7.   Alleged arthropod coprolites re-interpreted
8.   Palaeozoic wood rot mistaken for oribatid mite coprolites
11. Antarctic shit
12. Comment on: The Late Palaeozoic tree fern Psaronius ... by R. Rössler

14. Alleged arthropod borings in fossil wood and their possible formation
16. Elusive creatures in fossil wood – Clean-up in the wake of a waning obsession
18. Cell-size clots in bennettitalean tissue: No oribatid mite coprolites
20. Wood rot in the Permian coniferous tree Plyophyllioxylon
22. No mite coprolites inside Vertebraria and Australoxylon wood
23. Oribatid mite coprolites: Result of wishful thinking
24. Palaeozoic mites that never existed

26. One piece of petrified wood challenging the "state of the science"
38. Permian wood implications: no charcoal, no creatures
 
The charcoal illusion
9.   Permian wood misinterpreted as fossil charcoal
35. Silicified wood mimicking charcoal 
37. Pith rays in Permian wood
38. Permian wood implications: no charcoal, no creatures
40. Black fossil wood aspect caused by fire or water ?
41. Black fossil wood bleached


Pith
27. Pith in petrified wood from the Kyffhäuser mountains
31. Pith in petrified wood from the Permian Doehlen Basin
36. Black and white stains in silicified wood
37. Pith rays in Permian wood
43. Permian wood with wide pith rays
44. Fossil wood aspects

Calamites        (see also Permian Chert News)
13. Calamite fragment with peculiar details
15. How the largest known anatomically preserved calamite was discovered in Chemnitz
37. Pith rays in Permian wood
43. Permian wood with wide pith rays

Cracks
16. Elusive creatures in fossil wood – Clean-up in the wake of a waning obsession
17. Fossil shrinkage crack patterns
25. Volcanism and fossilisation
29. Alleged fossil wood burrows
37. Pith rays in Permian wood
39. Crazy cracks
42. What cracks can reveal about petrified wood formation
 
Less-common trees
10. An uncommon type of Syringodendron
19.
A small seed fern stem with peculiar structure
32. Permian or Mesozoic stem with enigmatic structure
33. Permian wood with uncommon details

Site map
Chert News
Silicified wood
Wood rot vs. coprolites
Silicification