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What Turned the Trees of the Petrified Forest into Petrified Wood?Well the Painted Desert wasn't always the dry tableland it is now. During the triassic era of 225 million years ago this was a floodplain with many streams and to the south giant conifer trees grew sharing the land with small Dinosaurs and Crocodile-like amphibians that roamed around the Cycads and ferns. When the conifers fell they were washed along the streams and into the floodplain, where they were covered in mud, silt and volcanic ash. These deposits cut off oxygen and slowed down the decaying process with ground water containing Silica eventually seeping through to the logs. Very slowly the Silica encased the wood tissue with deposits, and cell by cell this continued until the Silica crystallized into Quartz and turned the logs into stone.
Eventually the ground sank and became flooded and covered in fresh water sediments. How long the process took to complete and reach this stage is still a mystery, but some time later the area was lifted far above sea level and it was probably these stresses that broke the stone logs into the pieces that you see today. Driving wind and rains have shaped the Painted Desert into the wonderful spectacle that it is today and uncovered these giant majestic trees of stone for you to savour. Holbrook is the closest location to find a hotel room near to the Petrified Forest where there is a Holiday Inn but the city of Flagstaff is not too far away and has more amenities if you are visiting other sites nearby.
The giant logs still continue to be worn down and in time erosion will play its part in revealing yet more giant logs buried below. Scientists believe that some areas have soil capable of housing more Petrified wood up to 300 feet deep.
Return from Petrified Wood to Painted Desert
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