I'm petrified
Feeling petrified lately? Me too.
The Petrified National Forest in Arizona is a forest frozen in time. Long ago, a forest stood where a desert now remains. Volcanic activity covered the forest in ash; later water seeped in, creating the perfect environment for the fossilization of wood!
How does wood become fossilized?
Through a process called petrification (Harry Potter fans you know this means frozen). Petrification of wood occurs when minerals (things that have never been alive i.e quartz) replace each cell that makes up the wood, slowly over time (like how fossils are made but for wood). The minerals that are within the petrified wood are colored differently depending on the type of mineral (i.e. Violet = iron or manganese and gray = sillcon dioxide).
Erosion has exposed the petrified forest we know today.
Know the plants around you! (Even the petrified ones)
