A kimberlite crater in Canada, said to be 53 million years old,
yielded exquisitely preserved unfossilized wood. Miners were
digging for diamonds and found unfossilized wood encased in the
rock. Diamonds are usually found in kimberlite dikes that erupt
the gems rapidly from deep in the earth in “explosive
phreatomagmatic events” (1/12/2012, 5/07/2007). The discovery
was reported on PLoS ONE by Wolfe et al. (“Pristine Early Eocene
Wood Buried Deeply in Kimberlite from Northern Canada,” PLoS ONE
7(9): e45537. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045537): We report
exceptional preservation of fossil wood buried deeply in a
kimberlite pipe that intruded northwestern Canada’s Slave
Province 53.3±0.6 million years ago (Ma), revealed during
excavation of diamond source rock. The wood originated from
forest surrounding the eruption zone and collapsed into the
diatreme before resettling in volcaniclastic kimberlite to
depths >300 m, where it was mummified in a sterile environment.
Anatomy of the unpermineralized wood permits con