What is Petrified Wood? How Does it Form?
Polished slice of petrified wood: Photograph of a polished cross-section of a petrified log from Arizona. Enlarge the image to see the structure of the wood and even insect borings. Image by Michael Gäbler, used here under a Creative Commons license.
What is Petrified Wood?
Petrified wood is a fossil. It forms when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay due to oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment, replacing the original plant material with silica, calcite, pyrite, or another inorganic material such as opal. The result is a fossil of the original woody material that often exhibits preserved details of the bark, wood, and cellular structures.
What is Petrified Wood? How Does it Form?
