Petrified oak wood — Quercus sp.

Geologic period: Not established from the current verified source set.

Age: Exact age not yet established for this display specimen.

Feeding: Photosynthetic plant.

Body plan: Wood tissue.

Evidence: Smithsonian Deep Time identifies the object as petrified oak wood.

Why it matters: Petrified wood demonstrates how mineral-rich water can preserve growth structures and microscopic anatomy long after the original tree dies.

Plain Language Identity: Fossil oak wood identified as Quercus sp. whose woody structure has been preserved through mineralization.

What You Are Looking At: Mineral-preserved wood from an oak or oak relative identified only to Quercus sp.

Preservation: Petrification / mineralization.

Open Questions: Do not assign an exact species, locality or numeric age until the individual catalog record is positively linked.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-do-fossils-form-1-180972340/

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Quercus sp.

Evidence / representation: Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

Reading Deep Time: How Rocks, Fossils and Time Become Evidence.