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Petrified trees in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2009. All Rights Reserved
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- Search LEARN NC for Arizona, AZ, butte, fossils, mesa, national parks, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Petrified Forest National Park, petrified tree, petrified wood, Rainbow Forest, sandstone, trees, and wood.
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Petrified trees in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. The geological structure of the crystalline quartz that forms the trees causes fractures clean across the trunk, giving the false impression that they’ve been cut with a chainsaw. These trees are striped with rich bands of color, such as green, purple, red, and blue.
Petrified Forest National Park encompasses part of the Rainbow Forest and the Painted Desert. It consist of several “forests” of petrified wood. Around 200 million years ago, logs washed into a river and were buried quickly and deeply by sediment, which sealed them from oxygen and slowed their decay. Minerals replaced the log’s organic material and crystallized, forming amethyst, citrine, and smoky and clear quartz. The resulting logs are rainbow hues and glitter in the sun. Petrified Forest National Park is also home to many plant and animal fossils and is the site of much ongoing research.
