Occurrence of Petrified Wood in Coal, Kane County, Utah

Abstract

Silicified wood has been found in a thin coal bed of the Dakota Formation (lowest Upper Cretaceous) in the southwestern Kaiparowits Plateau in Kane County, Utah. It is not expected that metamorphic processes would partly coalify and partly silicify the plant remains. The occurrence is local. No significant coarse clastic material, other than the logs, is present in the coal bed. No satisfactory explanation for its presence can be deduced.