This example here shows many small bits in some limestone found on the north and of the Payson basin. Very fine rhizomes in a nearshore environment created by either aquatic, or or plants that grew just out of the water. The small tubes represent the passages in which the the feeding tendril roots of plants searched through the sediment for water. Occasionally, as we have found in certain areas,some of the larger route tubes contained modified remains of the original routes still intact. Such preservation is rare and outstanding, and uses a glimpse of the ancient route structures which created the tubes.
More typical rhizomes are the larger type, which span up to an eighth inch in diameter.
They are less packed than the fine hairlike rhizomes as seen above, and represents more larger route structures probing for moisture. This large block of limestone found in a creek, is filled with giant rhizomes. It almost looks like Swiss cheese because of the large number of tubes contained within. Peculiar Fossils Root Mummies. This 60x view shows the contents of one of the rhizomes we found, that was deep inside a giant boulder and shows the modified remains of the rhizomes progenitor.