Petrified Conifer, Wood Slice from Arizona, Araucaria

A ground and polished petrified conifer wood slice from Arizona, from the Triassic genus Araucaria. A museum-quality collector's size that reveals the original trunk dimensions.

Petrified wood from the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, is approximately 220 million years old. The trunks of the Araucaria genus lay in volcanic ash. Silicic groundwater permeated and replaced the organic material cell by cell with quartz, chalcedony, or opal.

The reddish-brown, yellow, and black color bands are caused by traces of iron, manganese, and carbon. Each color layer represents local mineralization conditions during petrification.

The deposit in Petrified Forest National Park is one of the oldest and richest in the world. Today, mining within the park area is prohibited. Well-preserved material comes from historical collections or private lands on the park's fringes.

A paleontological collector's item with museum-gallery dimensions and 220 million years of Earth's history.