Sycamore- no mechanical damage or sign pf pest or pathogen

[Corymbia]

Look at this sycamore in Kansas city, no visual sign or mechanical damage or pest or pathogen, canopy in good shape with minor water shoots. Anyone can give me a cause of the problem.

 

[JD3000]

Looks like damage and then decay started below soil line and is working it's way up.

 

[Drumbo]

Looks like damage and then decay started below soil line and is working it's way up.

Agreed

How long has the tree been there? Any work done to the lawn like a sprinkler system or any trenching in the past?

 

[Corymbia]

Gentle has lived at the house for 25 years, No sprinker system or trenching, It total has me perplexed

 

[Drumbo]

Any other trees around the area with similar problems?

 

[Leroy]

Lightning? It kinda has that spiral to it.

 

[JD3000]

2nd pic, about halfway up

Two brown elliptical shapes surrounded by a field of tan/beige, could be fruiting structures.

 

[Leroy]

Good eye!

 

[TreeCo]

The soil near the tree sure looks dark.

Used motor oil?

It may be chemical damage from years past.

 

[Treezybreez]

Sycamores prefer wetland conditions, so right off the bat that dry compacted looking soil is not ideal.

Could a car wreck have caused it? It does have the lightning struck look.

 

[KTSmith]

Why say in the thread title "no mechanical damage"? All I see is tree response to mechanical damage, maybe from a single event 5-10 years ago. Definitely not a recent event. Maybe lightning, but cambial necrosis in a spiral does not necessarily indicate lightning. Hard to see precisely where the woundwood ribs are up along the bole, but are quite clear at the tree base.
Given the tree's position, sure, car wreck possibly. Or an irresponsible parking or work-crew staging area. Sure, might be other enviro contamination involved, but I don't take these any further than mechanical injury in the not-to-recent past.

 

[craneguy1]

Take it down and plant a london plain...