Wood ash stone near Sydney, NSW - a carbonate pedologial feature in an acidic soil

Abstract

Wood-ash stone, composed mainly of calcite (XRD, XRF, EMS and petrological determination), has been found within the remains of a large, standing and mostly burnt tree (Angophora costata) near Sydney, N.S.W. This may be the first recorded occurrence of wood-ash stone in Australia and outside North America. Slow burning of standing trees is proposed as a mechanism for producing carbonate features in nutrient poor and acidic soil parent materials such as the quartzose Hawkesbury Sandstone.