OBSERVATIONS ON THE FINE STRUCTURE OF CALLIXYLON WOOD

Abstract

Secondary wood of three species of Callixylon of Lower Mississippian age, preserved by three different modes (fusinization, silicification, and phosphatization), have been studied and characterized in detail. Problems of interpretation at the SEM level of permineralized woods, both containing (silicified wood of Callixylon erianum) and essentially lacking (phosphatized wood of C. arnoldii) original organic cell wall material, are analyzed and discussed. In particular, it is concluded that the flat to curved surfaces showing no evidence of apertures, observed in bordered pit pairs, commonly represent pit membrane surfaces. It is accepted, however, that some concave surfaces might be the mineral accretion surfaces of incomplete pit cavity casts as proposed by Leo and Barghoorn (1976). Regions between groups of pits, previously interpreted as crassulae, may be artifacts of preservation. The fusinized wood has the general appearance of charcoal, but unlike commercially produced charcoal provides evidence of its original microfibrillar structure. The origin of fusain in the fossil record is discussed, and it is concluded that it probably had several origins, including forest fire. Since charcoal can be produced naturally in the absence of O2 (Brown and Davis, 1973), the suggestion that fusain (charcoal) in the geologic column provides a basis for “assessing oxygen levels in paleoatmospheres” (Cope and Chaloner, 1980) is not supported. Natural sites of fusain production in the absence of O2 are regions of vulcanism and organic sediments inhabited by anaerobic microorganisms. A circular pattern of crystal orientation in the pit borders of C. arnoldii is interpreted to represent the original microfibrillar pattern. Pit apertures in C. arnoldii are shown to be circular to slightly elliptical. Interpretive evidence of heterogeneous pit membranes in C. arnoldii suggests but does not prove the presence of a torus. The distinctive central region in some pit membranes of the fusinized wood of Callixylon sp. might represent accumulations of waste metabolites. It is argued that a torus would be highly adaptive in large pits with circular apertures.