Lepidodendron sp.

This specimen illustrates how the Lepidodendron tree flares out at the base, and also it illustrates the rough, corrugated or ropey texture of this part of the tree. Further up the trunk, the pattern changed to an arrangement of diagonally aligned diamond-shaped leaf cushions, such as Lepidodendron obavatum and Lepidodendron aculeatum. At the top branches of the tree were leaves and cones which resemble some modern conifers in appearance.

This fossil was collected in 1992 .
Rock Type: Sandstone; fine-grained. Dimensions: 14 inches X 20 inches

Formation: Kanawha
Interval: Coalburg seam
Age: Middle Pennsylvanian Period, approx. 307 million years.

Location: Nicholas County, West Virginia; Ramp Run Surface Mine #1, located about 12 miles north of Summersville, West Virginia. Turn west off route 19 north of Summersville onto Spruce Run Road. Follow it about 7 miles. It is now mostly reclaimed, but there is still some darn good collecting along the exposed rock rip-rap outslope of the sediment ditch along Buffalo Creek.