A New Look at Cenozoic Fossil Wood from Thailand
Steven Manchester
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
See attached file for comments. The results sections 7.4-7.7 could be improved by showing more specifics about the results of conservation testing, and the conclusions section should add more about the relevance of the mineralogical aspects of the study.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Thanks for the careful review and the positive evaluation. We have adopted all of your suggestions for improving the wording and clarity of phrasing.
Reviewer 2 Report
"world’s longest known dicot trunk." It would be better to specify angiosperm trunk because "dicot" is an informal term.
The abbreviation XRD needs to be defined in the material and methods, where X-Ray diffraction is first mentioned.
The term "opal CT" should be explained at first occurrence. Otherwise I would assume CT is referring to Computed Tomography.
"low power" might be better stated as "low magnification"
Table 2 needs a more informative title.
"At Tak, porosities of fossil wood vary from 3.47% to 15.33%, with pore diameters of 0.001 to 9.380 microns" I find this phrasing confusing because pores and porosity in wood are traditionally considered to be the vessels, which should be much larger in diameter.
I think the term "renovation" has been used in cases where "construction" would be the preferred term.
See my comment on "Of these, the most important consideration is environmental control." include in my annotated copy of the manuscript.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
We appreciate your careful review and constructive suggestions. We are happy to accommodate your recommendations. Thanks for the wise advice. We have made the following changes:
Various wording and phrasing improvements.
- Adding scale bar and directions for Figure 11.
- Adding Kyriazi 2022 and Livesey 2022 references.
- Providing more specific information about conservation tests.
- Discuss the possibility of developing conservation plans before fossil logs are excavated,
- Improving the Conclusions to include mineralogy and overall meaning of the study.
