A LARGE SLICE OF PETRIFIED WOOD

A LARGE SLICE OF PETRIFIED WOOD

CHINLE FORMATION, UTAH, UNITED STATES

A large slice of petrified wood (107 x 70 x 3.7 cm), discovered near the petrified forests of Arizona, Trias (circa 220 million years ago).

This beautiful specimen of petrified wood sliced from the trunk of a giant tree, came from the finest deposit of its kind in the world, near the great petrified forest of Arizona in the US. The tree began its transition from a living organism to its current form over 22 million years ago. Gale force winds or a cataclysmic volcanic eruptions are both likely candidates for the cause of the tree's fall, along with its gigantic brothers, all crashing together into a river. Many of these trees rotted away, but several others slowly mineralized after having been covered with layers of sediment. Slowly over time, the cells of the tree were replaced with minerals — while it would have taken this tree fewer than 100 years to petrify, it took millions of years for modern man to discover it.