Manganese dendrites

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Manganese dendrites, in Cambrian sandstone, north of Bouila, western Queensland. Black manganese oxide minerals are precipitated along cracks and fractures in the rock in a dendritic or branching pattern. To the untrained eye , they can be mistaken for plant fossils, but, unlike fossils,  they are formed much later than the sediments were deposited, and are inorganic in origin. Yellow brown limonite (iron hydroxide ) coats fractures in a similar way.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6650″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]