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Field Trip: Petrified Wood, Odessa, DE (Members Only)

  • 08 Apr 2023
  • 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Townsend, DE

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Petrified Wood from Odessa

Once again we are going to collect petrified wood in Odessa. Signup needs to be by email directly with me (Bob Ertman, robertertman@msn.com) because I need to be sure that everyone knows the new ground rules and the limits on the collection area. This is a John Wolf Memorial Trip.
We’ll meet at the farm, 384 Old State Rd,  Townsend, DE, starting at 10:00 A.M. There is a long driveway directly across the street from a school complex & we’ll be there until 3:30 or 4:00.

New ground rules:  We will collect only in the area to the left of the driveway and only as far back as the old house. Everyone needs to sign up with me so that I know that everyone knows this. This is a working farm.

We’ll walk the field and collect petrified wood (cypress), probably originally deposited in the Cretaceous or Paleocene Rancocas Group and later redeposited in a Pleistocene bed.  (Thanks to Dr. Earl Manning, DVPS member, for correcting our previous description of the petrified wood as being Pleistocene.) No special equipment is necessary; in fact, you should leave your tools at home so that we do not do anything to cause erosion on this low-till farm. 

Here’s a link to a nice write up about one of our trips to a nearby site:

http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/2011/08/petrified-wood-from-delaware.html

The trip will not be called off for light rain but thunder is a different matter: we cannot be the highest things in the field.