Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-200). Also available via the Internet.

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The problem of petrified wood theft was examined in the Petrified Forest National Park. This study accomplished the following 2 objectives: 1. Perform a complete inventory throughout five high use areas at the Petrified Forest National Park 2. Quantify the petrified wood loss within the five high use areas at the Petrified Forest National Park over a one year time period. Line intersect sampling was used to sample three size classes of petrified wood along with fixed area quadrat samples which sampled two size classes. Line intersect sampling units were established in August 1993 and revisited during August 1994. Line Intersect sampling results suggest that petrified wood displacement within the park does occur but not to the extent that Scher (1990) reports. Quadrat sampling results are not conclusive with regard to petrified wood displacement due to constraints on the sample design. / Master of Science

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Fossil plants in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation are preserved in fluvial channel, overbank, and lacustrine deposits. Plant-bearing units in these deposits are classified into seven types based on these depositional environments or subenvironments. Taphonomic characteristics of these assemblages, and of individual plant fossils within them, indicate that most plant fossils have either not been transported far from their growth sites or are preserved in situ. One particular deposit in the central part of Petrified Forest National Park preserves fossil plants in three associations: (1) allochthonous logs in basal lags in a channel-fill/lateral accretion deposits; (2) autochthonous horsetail trunks and parautochthonous horsetail leaves in a crevasse-splay deposits; and (3) parautochthonous and autochthonous cycadaceous, fern and other types of leaves, and erect and prostrate trunks in a paludal/distal splay deposits. Exposures of contemporaneous high-sinuosity channel and overbank deposits in this area enabled the reconstruction of the local paleogeography, paleohydrology, and paleoecology at a high resolution. Fossil plant assemblages of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation are concentrated in the lower members of the formation. The lower part of the Chinle Formation was deposited in an incised valley system. Depositional, hydrological, and near-surface geochemical conditions in the incised valley system were conducive to preservation of terrestrial organic material, even though regional conditions were characterized by seasonal/monsoonal precipitation and groundwater conditions. Fossil plant assemblages preserved in these types of fully terrestrial incised valley-fills are taphonomically biased towards riparian wetland environments.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-09-02T15:10:01Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação final.pdf: 8181941 bytes, checksum: 644c77808b1a817d56598a81727f0da5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-02T15:10:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação final.pdf: 8181941 bytes, checksum: 644c77808b1a817d56598a81727f0da5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / CAPEs / Os afloramentos fitofossilíferos da margem nordeste da Bacia Sedimentar do Parnaíba, em estratos do Permiano (Cisuraliano) da Formação Pedra de Fogo, ainda estão pouco estudados. Este trabalho visou o reconhecimento e análise de alguns dos afloramentos da margem supracitada, tendo se concentrado no estudo de áreas nos municípios de Altos, no Piauí, e de Duque Bacelar e Coelho Neto, no Maranhão. Em Altos, detectou-se em um único afloramento, uma associação autóctone?/parautóctone, dominada por grandes lenhos gimnospérmicos (com até 1,80 m de diâmetro). A área de Duque Bacelar e Coelho Neto apresentou mais de cinco afloramentos contendo associações formadas, especialmente, por lenhos gimnospérmicos de grande porte (de até 1,15 m de diâmetro), alguns em posição de vida, e, secundariamente, por caules de pteridófitas horizontalizados, e.g. Psaronius sp. (com até 5 m de comprimento). Análises espectroscópicas em amostras de fósseis do Maranhão apresentaram um elevado nível de sílica e a permanência residual de carbono amorfo, evidenciando nestes troncos um processo de permineralização por sílica. Foram confeccionadas lâminas petrográficas de troncos fósseis com o intuito de verificar o grau de preservação de tecidos e determinar o seu potencial para futuras análises taxonômicas. Finalmente, foi possível corroborar que as associações encontram-se inseridas em rochas lacustres da base da Formação Pedra de Fogo (Membro Sílex Basal), próximas ao contato com a infrajacente Formação Piauí (Carbonífero, Pensilvaniano). Esta observação contrasta com estudos anteriores, realizados na margem sudoeste da bacia, que referem o posicionamento dos fitofósseis na parte superior da Formação Pedra de Fogo (Membro Trisidela) ou, ainda, na sobrejacente Formação Motuca. / Petrified plant-bearing outcrops of lower Permian (Cisuralian) strata of the Pedra de Fogo Formation located in the northeastern margin of the Parnaíba Sedimentary Basin, are still poorly studied, and dominated mostly by gymnosperm trunks and, rarely, pteridophyte stems (Psaronius sp.). This work aimed prospection and analysis of some of the outcrops in the aforementioned margin of the basin, being focused on two new areas in the municipalities of Altos, Piauí state, and Duque Bacelar-Coelho Neto, Maranhão state. In Altos, an autochthonous?/parautochthonous assemblage dominated by huge gymnosperm trunks (reaching 1,8 m in diameter) was recorded in a single outcrop. The Duque Bacelar-Coelho Neto area evinced more than five exposures formed mostly by large gymnosperm trunks, some of them in life position (reaching 1,15 in diameter) and, less often, by pteridophyte stems in horizontal position, e.g. Psaronius sp. (reaching 5 m long). Invertebrate traces and stromatolites are exposed here too. Spectroscopic analyses in fossil samples from Maranhão showed a high concentration of silica and the residual presence of amorphous carbon, evincing a process of silica-permineralization. Petrographic thin-sections of fossil trunks were produced in order to verify the degree of tissue preservation and determinate its potential for future taxonomic analyses. Finally, it was possible to assess that these assemblages are placed within lacustrine rocks at the base of the Pedra de Fogo Formation (Sílex Basal Member), close to the contact with the underlying Piauí Formation (Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian). This observation contrasts with former studies made at the southwestern margin of the basin that refer the placement of fossil-plant horizons of the Pedra de Fogo Formation to the uppermost Trisidela Member or even to the overlying Motuca Formation.