Petrified Wood at Petrified Forest N.P.

See the previous post for more info about the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. This post is about the petrified wood that we saw and photographed at the Petrified Forest National Park.

But first a definition for petrified wood from wikipedia:

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 petrifiaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried under sediment and is initially preserved due to a lack of oxygen. Mineral-rich water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant's cells and as the plant's lignin and cellulose decay away, a stone mould forms in its place. It probably takes less than 100 years for wood to petrify.



Petrified wood at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona



A petrified log

Elements such as manganese, iron and copper in the water/mud during the petrification process give petrified wood a variety of color ranges. Pure quartz crystals are colorless, but when contaminants are added to the process the crystals take on a yellow, red, or other tint.
Following is a list of contaminating elements and related color hues:

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

Petrified wood can preserve the original structure of the wood in all its detail, down to the microscopic level. Structures such as tree rings and the various tissues are often observed features.



Polished petrified wood from the visitor center



Zoomed in photo (same piece of petrified wood as above picture)




Polished petrified wood from the visitor center



Zoomed in photo (same piece of petrified wood as above picture)





Below are pictures of petrified wood at the park in their natural form:

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

I have passed by this national park at least 20 times in my life and have never entered. Since we have the national parks pass, so we don't have to pay to get in and had some time to kill we decided to check it out today.



When we got to the park and went into the visitor center we found out that the best way to see the park when traveling east on I-40 is to go through Holbrook and take Route 180 to the south entrance of the park. Then drive north through the park and continue east on I-40. Since we didn’t know that and entered the park from the north we drove twice through the park.




Petrified Forest National Park is located east of Holbrook, AZ

The Petrified Forest National Park has one of the world's largest collections of petrified wood and the most colorful too. At the visitor center we learned that over the years a lot of the petrified wood has been stolen from the park by visitors.



The roads through the park are straight, but there are a few very short twisty sections



Painted desert in the north of the park





We tried to stop at every scenic overlook and at every attraction the park, but it seemed like a lot of it was the same stuff. The Painted Desert looked absolutely the same from each scenic overlook and even though there is petrified wood scattered all over the park. There was more of it at the south end of the park.



Posing with petrified wood





Newspaper Rock was kind of disappointing, from this overlook you could barely make out the Petroglyphs way down below

The Newspaper Rock and Petroglyphs just outside of Canyonlands National Park in The Needles District is amazing because you can walk up to it and touch it.



Petroglyphs on the lower portion of the rock to the far left and far right



Petrified wood scattered about



Petrified wood scattered about as far as the eye could see



We actually would have wanted to do the small hikes to the attractions but it was very windy and cold today and we just didn’t have the time to see it all. Half way through the park we decided to skip the rest of the stops and head to the south of the park and check out Giant Logs. Petrified wood is really beautiful but after you’ve seen so many pieces they all start to look the same.



People standing on a hill at Giant Logs



Walking through the Giant Logs exhibit



No, that’s not a ninja - it’s Mike all bundled up taking pictures




A petrified log



Having some fun with petrified wood

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Our Sedona vacation was over and we were heading home to Colorado today. On the way home we had two stops planed, the Meteor Crater was the first stop.



This is what I saw from the parking lot

I wasn’t going to pay $15 to see the meteor crater again since I have seen it already in 1991. The meteor crater is one of those things that I feel every one should see once in their life time and Mike had not seen it yet so I sat in the car and ate the lunch we made this morning and brought with while Mike went and checked out the Meteor Crater. 40 minutes later we were back on the road. These are the pictures Mike too.



The parking lot viewed from the crater



Meteor Crater is over 4,000 feet across and 550 feet deep



The crater owners proclaim this to be "the first proven, best-preserved meteorite crater on earth.”



The meteorite that struck the crater is officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite







Meteor Crater can be reached by Meteor Crater Road located between Flagstaff and Winslow, AZ

Sedona, AZ: Airport Road and a sunset

Today is our last day in Sedona, tomorrow we head back to Colorado. After hiking at Red Rock State Park (see previous post) we headed up to the top of Airport Road, from which you can see a lot of Sedona. We weren’t the only ones here, as the sun started to lower itself toward the horizon people started to arrive in bunches.



Views from the top of Airport Road in Sedona









It actually got a bit crowded so we took off for the time share and watched the best sunset this week from the balcony. We’ve had amazing weather here in Sedona this week, but clouds were approaching and tomorrow it was supposed to be cloudy. The clouds made a beautiful sunset.



Sun low on the horizon



Same rocks as above at sunet





Orange skies turn purple as night approaches