My Current Favorite Fossil: The Gilboa Forest

Yesterday was National Fossil Day (for the public—for geologists, every day is National Fossil Day). My recent trip to New York included a visit to a fine little exhibit of Middle Devonian tree stumps in the upstate hamlet of Gilboa, and those are my favorite fossils of the moment. Yes, not even my great-aunt's horn corals or my pyritized brachiopod or even my sample of dinosaur bone ranks higher in scientific significance than those humble sandstone lumps. Their discovery after a major flood in the 1850s helped make America a leading theater of geoscience. And repeated excavations at the site have confirmed that these were the world's first trees, making up the world's first forest. See a larger photo here, or add it to your list of New York geology sites to visit.
_{Fossil stump at Gilboa — Geology Guide photo}