Petrified wood (from the Greek root "petro" meaning "rock" or
"stone", literally "wood turned into stone") is a type of fossil:
it consists of fossil wood where all the organic materials have
been replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as
quartz), while retaining the original structure of the wood.
The petrified trees formed about 150 million years ago in
Jurassic. They were covered by silt mud and volcanic ash and this
blanket of deposits out of oxygen and slowed the logs’ decay.
Gradually silica-bearing ground waters seeped through the logs bit
by bit, encased the original wood tissues with deposits. Slowly the
process continued the silica crystallized into the quartz and the
logs were preserved as a stone mould forms in its place.
It is not wood that makes petrified wood colorful, but the
chemistry of the petrifying groundwater. Minerals such as
manganese, iron, and copper were in the water/mud during the
petrification process. These minerals give petrified wood a variety
of color ranges. Quartz crystals are colorless, but when iron is
added to the process the crystals become stained with a yellow or
red tint.
List of minerals and related color hues:
Copper - green/blue
Cobalt - green/blue
Chromium - green/blue
Manganese - pink
Carbon - black
Iron Oxides - red, brown, yellow
Manganese Oxides - black
Silica - white, grey
The pentrified trees preserve external form and internal
structure of trees in detail. Structures such as tree rings and the
various tissues are often observed features which can provide
evidences for studying plant evolutaion and changes of environment
and climate.
Opening Hours: 06:00 – 23:00
Fee for Entrance:
- YMB20/person for adult
- YMB10/person for studend, child and elder
Transportation: Bus no: 57, 218, 220 and 382
To Log this Earthcache, please send the answer of the following
questions to owner:
1) What useful purposes has some of the petrified wood been put?
(two uses: Please don't copy the answer from Internet.)
2) Estimate the height of the tallest petrified tree on site.
3) (Optional) Post any photo of your GPSr with that petrified tree
scenery in the background.
Please don't post the answer into the log.
(P.S. An EarthCache site is a special place that people can
visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our
Earth. The treasure is the lessons people learn about our plant
when they visit the site. Any irrelevant misleading information
will be deleted.)
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