Petrified Forest National Park is a Triassic park. In an age before dinosaurs, about 225 million years ago, an extinct species of conifer trees once stood tall. After they fell, floodwaters washed them away and buried them under river sediments. The volcanic ash slowed the decomposition of the trees by creating cutting off oxygen. Over time, groundwater dissolved silica (silicon dioxide) from the ash, where it seeped into the logs. Crystals formed and replaced the organic matter of the trees. These jewel-like crystals of quartz, purple amethyst, yellow citrine, and smoky quartz have added beautiful colors to the logs.
MUST SEES
Giant Logs
At Giant Logs Trail, the trees are from a different time and place. They once lived in a lush tropical place. After the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart, North America drifted north. Thanks to fossilization, you can imagine what the trees looked like.
Crystal Forest
In the Crystal Forest, these ancient trees are composed of quartz and amethyst crystals. After the trees turned to stone, the land experienced uplift. Because of the way quartz fractures, some of the logs look like they have been cleanly sawed off.
Painted Desert
The Painted Desert are badlands, a terrain of highly eroded sedimentary rocks with steep slopes and deep drainage channels. These red and lavender rock layers compose the Chinle Formation of the Triassic Period.
Blue Mesa
Blue Mesa is a highlight of the Chinle Formation. The colorful bands represent different sedimentary rocks. The reddish base contains iron oxide. The white stripe is sandstone. The darker red layer consists of stained siltstone. The cap is clay.
Agate Bridge
Agate Bridge is a petrified log spanning a ravine at Agate Mesa in the Petrified Forest. How did this 100-foot tree land here so perfectly? Early park visitors once took photos standing on the natural bridge.
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