What is the Petrified Forest of Argentina?

Petrified Forest (Sarmiento) The Petrified Forest 30 km south of Sarmiento, Argentina is a provincial natural monument. It a forest from the Cenozoic era, the petrified wood is of primitive conifers and palm trees.

1. What is special about the Petrified Forest?
2. How did the Petrified Forest happen?
3. What happened at Petrified Forest?
4. What does Petrified Forest mean?
5. Is the Painted Desert the same as the Petrified Forest?
6. What do you do with petrified wood?
7. What happens if you take a rock from the Petrified Forest?
8. Is petrified wood valuable?
9. How long does it take wood to become petrified?
10. Is petrified wood a gem?
11. Is petrified wood alive?
12. Can you drive through the Petrified Forest?
13. Does petrified wood turn into rock?
14. How old is the youngest petrified wood?
15. How old is the petrified wood in the Petrified Forest?

What is special about the Petrified Forest?

The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name.

How did the Petrified Forest happen?

Much of the Petrified Forest formed from tall trees called conifers. They grew over 200 million years ago near waterways. During floods, water forced the trees to be pulled up from the ground. Over time, the wood from the trees became petrified.

What happened at Petrified Forest?

Water seeping through the wood replaced decaying organic material cell by cell with multicolored silica. Eventually, the land where the great logs were buried was lifted up by geological upheaval, and wind and rain began to wear away the overlying sediments, finally exposing the long-buried, now petrified wood.

What does Petrified Forest mean?

However, petrified wood is most commonly associated with trees that were buried in fine grained sediments of deltas and floodplains or volcanic lahars and ash beds. A forest where such material has petrified becomes known as a petrified forest.

Is the Painted Desert the same as the Petrified Forest?

The Painted Desert is a United States desert of badlands in the Four Corners area, running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park and southeast into Petrified Forest National Park. It is most easily accessed from the north portion of Petrified Forest National Park.

What do you do with petrified wood?

Lapidary Uses of Petrified Wood

It can be cut into cabochons or used to make tumbled stones and many other crafts. Small pieces of petrified wood can be placed in a rock tumbler to make tumbled stones. Only a small fraction of petrified wood is suitable for lapidary work.

What happens if you take a rock from the Petrified Forest?

In the 1930s, visitors to the Petrified Forest began to report that after taking a piece of petrified wood from the park, they were seemingly cursed with bad luck. This curse continues today, and is now a part of the park's history.

Is petrified wood valuable?

Petrified wood does have value to both collectors and jewelry makers, and it is priced between $0.25 and $10.00 a pound depending on its quality and size. This means that petrified wood can be a valuable investment as well as an aesthetically pleasing addition to any rockhound's collection.

How long does it take wood to become petrified?

It takes millions of years for petrified wood to form. The process begins when wood is buried quickly and deeply by water and mineral-rich sediment, removing it from a high-oxygen environment. This slows the process of decomposition nearly to a halt, letting the minerals in the water and sediment seep into the wood.

Is petrified wood a gem?

Though rock-hard and jewel-like when polished, petrified wood is actually a fossil, not a gemstone.

Is petrified wood alive?

Petrified wood did begin as something alive, growing, producing energy, absorbing water, moving, and reproducing. A dead tree, even though it no longer grows, reproduces, or moves, still counts as a living thing.

Can you drive through the Petrified Forest?

If you are short on time, drive through Petrified Forest National Park. With its 28 miles of paved park roads, it's a convenient one-way drive through the park. You can start at either the north or south entrances.

Does petrified wood turn into rock?

Petrified wood (from the Greek root petro meaning “rock” or “stone”; literally “wood turned into stone”) is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree or tree-like plants having completely transitioned to stone by the process of permineralization.

How old is the youngest petrified wood?

Our oldest wood is about 375 million years (m.y.) old and formed from the most primitive true trees that grew on the Earth, and our youngest wood, probably about only 15 m.y. old, grew along rivers that were eroding the Rocky Mountains.

How old is the petrified wood in the Petrified Forest?

Petrified wood was formed 225 million years ago during the triassic period and is 4 times as hard as granite and very colorful, due to the effect of impurities such as iron, manganese, copper and lithium present in the wood during the fossilising process.