Alabama's crystal filled silicified wood has been called many names over the years: Diamond Wood, Diamond Rock, Bling Wood, and Brilliant Wood. Until recently, only a handful of localities were known to produce small quantities of this unusual material, including Brilliant in Marion County, Wetumpka in Elmore County, and Clio in Barbour County.
These occurrences are associated with the Late Cretaceous Coker Formation, a member of Alabama's Tuscaloosa Group (90 million years ago). Most specimens recovered from these sites have been collected by digging with shovels, screening sediment, or using heavy equipment to remove overburden.
Our newest discovery is unlike any previously known Brilliant Wood occurrence. We have given the site the nickname Cretaceous Crystalwood Creek.
Located near the Florida Panhandle, far removed from the classic Brilliant Wood localities of central Alabama, Cretaceous Crystalwood Creek produces massive fossil logs recovered by divers directly from the river bottom. In one extraordinary 25 yard stretch, the riverbed is littered with silicified logs, some weighing well over 100 pounds and many hiding crystal lined chambers within.
Dig Dive Discover Divers locate and retrieve logs weighing well over 100 pounds. Once brought to the surface, the logs are carefully split apart, exposing crystal lined cavities that may not have been visible for nearly 90 million years.
The appearance of the material is striking. Quartz crystals range from water clear to deep smoky and even opaque black. Many crystals are doubly terminated despite remaining attached to the silicified wood. Crystal clusters vary from isolated individuals to densely packed overlapping groups that completely line internal cavities.
The fossil wood itself is generally dark brown to black. Portions remain heavily carbonized, preserving what is essentially ancient charcoal. Remarkably, some of this carbon rich material can still burn when heated. Clear and smoky quartz crystals are commonly found growing directly from this carbonized matrix.
Most references place these deposits at roughly 90 million years old during the Late Cretaceous. Research on fossil wood from Alabama's Tuscaloosa Group suggests that the original trees were likely flowering plants. One study concluded that the wood "probably represents an extinct flowering tree lineage or an early member of one of these modern groups during a time when flowering plants were still diversifying in the Cretaceous."
The abundance of open cavities within the wood suggests that portions of the original logs were already beginning to decay before silicification occurred. As mineral rich groundwater moved through the buried wood, the remaining open spaces became lined with quartz crystals while the surrounding wood was replaced by cryptocrystalline silica.
When the logs are split open today, they reveal hidden crystal chambers ranging from small pockets to large crystal lined vugs. Many also contain loose quartz crystals that break free during preparation. Every log is different, making each discovery a surprise.
These crystal filled fossil logs provide a rare glimpse into a Cretaceous forest that existed along Alabama's ancient coastal plain nearly 90 million years ago. Hidden beneath the river for millions of years, they are only now being revealed one log at a time.
Elizabeth J. Cahoon's 1972 paper
