Fossil wood from Tasmania collected by Sir Joseph D. Hooker in 1840

BGS image ID: P776111

Tamrin fossil tree; Microscope slide from the Sir Joseph D. Hooker Collection, BGS.

This slide is of piece of fossil wood from Tasmania collected by Hooker in 1840. The Expedition leader, James Clark Ross recorded that the fossil trees were found encased in ancient lava flows and were preserved as 'most beautiful agate'. Age: Tertiary Period, 40 million years old.

From Collection A: Joseph Dalton Hooker collection. Hooker's collection comprises material collected during his 1839-1843 circum-Antarctic voyage in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. 

Bob McIntosh