How Was the Petrified Forest Made?
During the Triassic Period (200 – 250 million years ago) the Colorado Plateau area of northeastern Arizona was located near the equator and on the southwestern edge of the landmass known as Pangea. The Pangea land mass separated to create the continents we have today. Pangea had a tropical climate very different from our climate today. Fossil evidence of this ancient land lies in the sediments called the Chinle Formation that is now exposed in Petrified Forest National Park. Over time floods and other weather conditions knocked down trees and some were buried in the soil. Most of the trees decomposed but some didnt. The ones that didnt were petrified and became the fossils seen at the Petrified national Park today. Most of the fossilized logs are from a tree called Araucarioxylon arizonicum. Two others, Woodworthia and Schilderia, occur in small quantities in the northern part of the park. All three species are now extinct. How Did the Redwood Get Petrified? Tree logs were buried in se
During the Triassic Period (200 – 250 million years ago) the Colorado Plateau area of northeastern Arizona was located near the equator and on the southwestern edge of the landmass known as Pangea. The Pangea land mass separated to create the continents we have today. Pangea had a tropical climate very different from our climate today. Fossil evidence of this ancient land lies in the sediments called the Chinle Formation that is now exposed in Petrified Forest National Park. Over time floods and other weather conditions knocked down trees and some were buried in the soil. Most of the trees decomposed but some didnt. The ones that didnt were petrified and became the fossils seen at the Petrified national Park today. Most of the fossilized logs are from a tree called Araucarioxylon arizonicum. Two others, Woodworthia and Schilderia, occur in small quantities in the northern part of the park. All three species are now extinct. How Did the Redwood Get Petrified? Tree logs were buried in se
