red-and-multicolored petrified conifer, wood slice from Arizona, Araucaria

A red-multi-colored fossilized coniferous wood slice from Arizona, paleobotanically identified as Araucaria. The polished cross-section reveals annual ring structure and mineralization stratigraphy.

Petrified wood from Arizona comes from the Triassic Chinle Formation, a period approximately 225 million years ago. Silicic groundwater solutions replaced the organic matter cell by cell. Iron oxides color it red and orange, manganese oxides black, pure silica white-transparent.

The Araucaria identification is a premium paleobotanical classification. The intense red coloration documents an iron-rich mineralization phase over very long periods.

The Petrified Forest region in Arizona has been a documented site for collector's material of this quality since the 19th century. A well-balanced collector's dimension with premium paleontological evidence.