Bowman Prairie Walk -- Petrified Wood EarthCache

Adjacent to the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum in Bowman, North Dakota is what is known as the Prairie Walk. It is an area set aside to be reminicent of what it would have been like to walk on the prairie before the westward expansion. Here you will see a nice exhibition of interesting rocks, petrified wood and some native grasses and wild flowers as you stroll along the path.

North Dakota is known to have a large amount of petrified wood, especially in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park located north of here, just outside of Medora.

You will only be about three feet from the street, but it's very easy to just get lost in the splendor of this area. DON'T pick flowers or destroy the rocks. Make sure to bring your camera you won't leave disappointed.

Among several varieties of interesting rocks, you will find four or five real nice examples of petrified wood.

The name "petrified wood" comes from the Greek root petro meaning "rock" or "stone"; literally "wood turned into stone." The fossilized remains are the result of  tree-like plants having turned to stone . The organic materials have been replaced with minerals, probably silicates, while retaining the original structure. Unlike other types of fossils which are typically impressions, petrified wood is a three-dimensional representation of the original organic material. The process occurs underground, when wood becomes covered with sediment and is initially preserved due to a lack of oxygen which inhibits decomposition. Mineral-laden water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant's cells as the buried plant continues to decay and becomes a stone mold. All of the organic matter needs to become petrified before it decomposes.

Elements in the sediment that covered the tree as it petrified contained minerals that also give the petrified wood it's colors. Upon examination you may notice many colors options. Here are some of the colors you may see and what minerals caused them.

• carbon – black
• cobalt – green/blue
• chromium – green/blue
• copper – green/blue
• iron oxides – red, brown, and yellow
• manganese – pink/orange
• manganese oxides – blackish/yellow

I am not a particularly scientific person. In such, I obtained some of this information from the sources on the internet including Wikipedia.

IF you enjoyed this cache as much as I did making it, feel free to give it a favorite point. Favorite points indicate that this is a cache worthy of doing.

To log this cache, send the answers to the following questions to the email in my profile and/OR post a photo taken at the site along with your log.

1)  Observing the texture of the petrified tree's "bark", is it smooth or textured?    

2)  What species of tree does it appear to be?

3)  Are there visible rings that show on the ends?

4)  What is the elevation at the Prairie Walk?