In the US, Impressive Archaeological Finds: Stoned Trees Covered the Earth

The Petrified Fossil is a 3D fossil reflection of the original living organism. The petrification process takes place at great depth, where the wood is covered with sediment that blocks contact with oxygen, thus preventing the organic matter from rotting. Stone needs four main things: water, wood, mud, and volcanic ash.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified wood is found in all 50 US states and in many parts of the world. In northeastern Arizona, where there is one of the highest concentrations of fossilized wood in the world, thousands of years of erosion have brought many examples of this type of wood to the surface. This collection of petrified wood is now preserved within the Petrified Forest National Park.

Foundation laid

The history of this area of ​​the park began about 226 million years ago. years, during the late Triassic period, when the Chinle formation began to form here. Sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone, siltstone, and argillite, are frequently found here, and fossilized remains of ancient forests are also found deep within these layers.

Pangea is a supercontinent

Once upon a time, the entire land of our planet formed a supercontinent – Pangea. The aforementioned northern part of Arizona was then only a few degrees north of the equator and was on the southwestern coast of Pangea. So the climate here was tropical, there was a huge sediment-filled river system, perhaps the same size as the Amazon or the Mississippi of today, with water constantly flowing into the ancient sea.

Thick layers of sedimentary rocks

Frequent floods washed away rocks across the continent and formed thick layers of sedimentary rocks, which also contained the remains of animals and plants. It is these fossilized remains that are now found in said national park.

Species found

More than 200 species of plants were found at the Chinle Formation site. However, most examples of petrified wood are the remains of an extinct conifer, scientifically named Araucarioxylon arizonicum. However, modern botanists still do not definitively agree on whether all the fossilized wood specimens found are from this tree, so research continues.

Submerged trees begin to petrify

Trees submerged in sedimentary rocks remained there for millions of years. The dripping groundwater brought in quartz and other minerals that penetrated deep into the trees. Little by little, the quartz crystals filled the pores of the wood and a slow stoning process began.

Huge quartz crystals

Petrified wood is essentially a giant quartz crystal. Quartz crystals are usually transparent, and petrified wood can be any color of the rainbow. These amazing colors are formed due to impurities in quartz. For example, if it contains iron oxide, the petrified wood will be red, brown, and yellow. Cobalt impurities give shades of green and blue. Manganese adds a pink color, and carbon impurities allow black streaks to form.

Share naturally

Because quartz is very hard but very brittle, the petrified forest often looks as if the logs arrived a long time ago and cut off smaller parts of large finds. In fact, such a division, before about 60 million. years after the Colorado Plateau began to rise it is the result of natural decay found due to soil pressure.

Rising plateaus

As the Colorado Plateau slowly began to rise, erosion and other weather conditions removed the softer layers of sedimentary rock and opened up an incredible forest of fossilized finds. Some of these finds are more than 30 meters long and three meters in diameter and weigh up to 44 tons.

Rock-newspaper

Evidence has been found in the National Park area that primitive people lived here. Here, in a huge sandstone called the Rock-Newspaper, the first locals left many petroglyphs carved on the large stones.

Incredible view

The size and colors of the petrified wood found in the Petrified Forest National Park are impressive and infinitely surprising to the people who visit it. The ancient forest of tropical trees has now been turned into rocks that stand high above sea level, further proof of how ever-changing forces continue to shape our planet.

Imaginary treasures

One can only imagine what treasures of fossils from the Triassic period lie deep here. There is even no doubt that in time, more petrified trees will surface.