July, 2018 | Fossils In The Rocks

Petrified wood

Petrified wood can be found all over the planet. For instance large forests existed 225 million years ago in what is now Arizona. The Petrified Forest exhibit in Holbrook, Arizona, allows visitors to see lots of genuine petrified wood. You can go to their website from here: Arizona Petrified Forest.

Colorado has petrified wood scattered in several areas, especially all along the front range. Here are a few petrified wood pictures of collected specimens.

pictures of petrified wood, petrified wood pictures — Small piece of petrified wood showing the woodgrain.

Here we have a very small specimen about 2 inches lengthwise.

The grain of the wood is readily identifiable, this particular piece was polished in order to see the grain better. This is a specimen that was found in gravels on a rooftop. The gravels originated in Colorado so presumably the wood originated in what is now Colorado.

Incidentally, searching in gravels sometimes reveals incredible specimens of petrified wood as well as mollusks and bivalves.

pictures of petrified wood, petrified wood pictures

Here we see a specimen from a field south of Franktown, Colorado.

10 Million years ago a huge volcano erupted in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, and covered a large portion of Colorado to the east with ash. This included forested land east of the mountains.

For more information and to see some of the huge trees that were covered as well as some of the best preserved insects ever found, see their website here: Florissant Fossil Museum, or visit the Florissant Fossil Museum in Florissant, Colorado.

pictures of petrified wood, petrified wood pictures

This specimen also came from the volcano ashfall.

It was collected northeast of Colorado Springs, zooming in on the lower image shows the grain in the wood. Zooming in on the second image show the curvature of the original wood as well as the wood grain.

pictures of petrified wood, petrified wood pictures

This set of book ends came from the Arizona Petrified Forest

These were professionally prepared for sale from one of the local rock shops of the area.

For a great kids science kit of fossils, Amazon offers this item from the boys over at Dancing Bear:

Dancing Bear Fossil Collection Set, 15 Real Specimens: Trilobite, Ammonite, Fish Fossil, Shark Tooth, Petrified Wood, Dinosaur Bone, Fossil Book, Time Scale, ID Cards, Magnifying Glass, Science Kit. The Quarter isn’t included!

Crafting hobbyists, here is where you can get petrified wood for jewelry, polishing or other crafts from Amazon:

Fantasia Materials: 1 lb Petrified Wood Rough – (Select 1 to 18 lbs) – Raw Natural Crystals for Cabbing, Cutting, Lapidary, Tumbling, Polishing, Wire Wrapping, Wicca and Reiki Crystal Healing

Leave us a comment, tell us if you enjoyed our little adventure into PETRIFIED WOOD!

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

Fossil Name: Trilobite

Time: 540 MYA to 250 MYA

What is a Trilobite anyway? Trilobites were a form of arthropod that lived from about 520 MYA (Million Years Ago) to 250 MYA. Trilobites were so named because of the three lobed body they sported.

Trilobites are the official state fossil of three different U.S. states, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. California’s state fossil is Nancy Pelosi.

20,000+ different trilobite species existed.

One of everyone’s favorite fossils, trilobites were running around the planet for close to 300 million years, their fossils have been discovered on every continent, and they lived in the water although not all were able to swim.

The fossils shown were picked up in Utah near a Native American sacred mountain in the interior of the state. This is one plate with several different species and sizes of fossils. Native Americans wore trilobites as amulets and believed they had special powers.

Trilobites were arthropods, which means they covered themselves with a carapace similar to the insects and were related to what is now the family of insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. Trilobites ranged from specimens less than a 1/10 of an inch, for instance the agnostida, to a whopping 28 inches long by the name of Isotelus Rex!

This trilobite came from Morocco, and is approximately 450 million years old. Trilobites hit the end of their reign about 250 million years ago during the Permian extinction event. This event extinguished nearly 90% of all life on the planet, fortunately our ancestors, along with the ancestors of the dinosaurs, survived.

what is a trilobite

Another trilobite specimen here is the Phacops Flexicalamene, from ohio, shown in the curled position..

Sometimes you find many fossils that have been washed out of the rock, only to end up as a pile of rubble at the bottom of wherever you are searching.

what is a trilobite

SaveSave