Petrified Forest National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location:	Arizona, USA
Nearest city:	Flagstaff, AZ
Coordinates:	34°91′0″N, 109°80′0″W
Area:	218,553 acres (885 km²)
Established:	January 1, 1962
Visitation:	666,978 (in 1999)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Petrified Forest National Park is located in northeastern Arizona, along Interstate 40 between Holbrook and Navajo. It features one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, mostly of the species Araucarioxylon arizonicum. The park consists of two large areas connected by a north-south corridor. The northern area encompasses part of the multihued badlands of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation known as the Painted Desert. The southern area includes colorful terrain as well as several concentrations of petrified wood. Several American Indian petroglyph sites are also found in the southern area. The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales A national park is a reserve of land, usually owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. ... Image File history File links Locator_Dot. ... Image File history File links US_Locator_Blank. ... Official language(s) None Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ... Flagstaff, Arizona Territory. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... Official language(s) None Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ... Interstate 40 (abbreviated I-40) is a major west-east interstate highway in the United States. ... Holbrook (Navajo Tʼiisyaakin) is a city located in Navajo County, Arizona. ... Petrified log at the Petrified Forest National Park A petrified tree from California Petrified wood is a type of fossil, in which the tissues of a dead plant are replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz). ... Binomial name Araucarioxylon arizonicum Araucarioxylon arizonicum is a fossil conifer that is the state fossil of Arizona. ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 Ma (million years ago). ... The Chinle is a geologic formation that is spread across the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado. ... Painted Desert, Arizona Painted Desert, Arizona The Painted Desert is a cross-section of colored, badland hills stretching across most of Northern Arizona. ... An Atsina named Assiniboin Boy Native Americans in the United States (also known as Indians, American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Amerinds, or Original Americans) are the indigenous peoples within the territory that is now encompassed by the continental United States and their descendants in... Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, southern Utah, USA Petroglyphs are images incised in rock, usually by prehistoric, especially Neolithic, peoples. ...

Petrified trees

The Petrified Forest area was designated a National Monument on December 8, 1906. The Painted Desert was added later, and on December 9, 1962, the whole monument received national park status. Petrified trees. ... Petrified trees. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales A national park is a reserve of land, usually owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. ...

The park covers 218,533 acres (885 km²). Hiking opportunities are limited. The longest established trail in the park extends for only two miles; the others are one mile or less. Backcountry camping and hiking are allowed by permit only. However, a road does extend through much of the park. Landmarks include the Agate House, built of petrified wood, and the Agate Bridge, a petrified log spanning a wash. Beautiful natural scenes are common hiking destinations Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ... A mile is a unit of distance (or, in physics terminology, length) currently defined as 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards, or 63,360 inches. ...

The petrified wood of the Petrified Forest is the 'State Fossil' of Arizona. The pieces of permineralized wood are fossil Araucariaceae, a family of trees that is extinct in the Northern Hemisphere but survives in isolated stands in the Southern Hemisphere. During the Late Triassic, this desert region was located in the tropics and was seasonally wet and dry. In seasonal flooding, the trees washed from where they grew and accumulated in sandy river channels, where they were buried periodically by layers of gravelly sand, rich in volcanic ash from volcanoes further to the west. The volcanic ash was the source of the silica that helped to permineralize the buried logs, replacing wood with silica, colored with oxides of iron and manganese. Several major and many smaller concentrations of petrified wood occur in the park, corresponding to several stratigraphic intervals in the Sonsela Member and aptly named Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation. The major concentrations have been termed "forests" (e.g. Rainbow Forest, Crystal Forest, Black Forest, etc.) although the vast majority of the fossil tree trunks are preserved in a prone position and have been transported at least some distance from their original growth areas. However, in-place stumps of trees do occur in several areas (not easily accessible to the casual visitor), and many of the logs probably did not travel far before burial. Petrified log at the Petrified Forest National Park A petrified tree from California Petrified wood is a type of fossil, in which the tissues of a dead plant are replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz). ... Though every state in the United States has a State Bird and a State Flower, not every state in the United States has a State Fossil. ... Genera Agathis Araucaria Wollemia The Araucariaceae are a very ancient family of conifers. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of species. ... Insert non-formatted text here The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planets surface (or celestial sphere) that is north of the equator (the word hemisphere literally means half ball). On the Earth, the Northern Hemisphere contains most of the land and population. ... Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planets surface (or celestial sphere) that is south of the equator (the word hemisphere literally means half ball). On Earth it contains four continents (part of Africa, Oceania, most of South America, and Antarctica) and four oceans (South Atlantic... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 Ma (million years ago). ... Diamond Head, a well-known backdrop to Waikiki in Hawaii, is an ash cone that solidified into tuff Volcanic ash is the term for very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. ... A volcano is a geological landform where magma (rock from the Earths interior made molten by extremely high temperatures along with a reduction in pressure and/or the introduction of water or other volatiles) erupts through the surface of a planet. ... The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is the oxide of silicon, chemical formula SiO2. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... Petrified log at the Petrified Forest National Park A petrified tree from California Petrified wood is a type of fossil, in which the tissues of a dead plant are replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz). ...

Some petrified wood

Theft of petrified wood has remained a problem despite protection and despite the fact that nearby vendors sell wood collected legally from private land. Despite a guard force of seven National Park Service rangers, and fences, warning signs and the threat of a $275 fine, about 12 to 14 tons of the fossil wood disappears from the Petrified Forest every year. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 145 KB) Summary From the Petrified Forest National Park. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 145 KB) Summary From the Petrified Forest National Park. ...

The Chinle Formation at Petrified Forest National Park also has produced abundant fossil leaves, vertebrates (including giant crocodile-like reptiles called phytosaurs, large salamander-like amphibians called metoposaurs, some of the earliest dinosaur fossils from North America), and invertebrates (including freshwater snails and clams). Phytosaurs - family Phytosauridae or Parasuchidae - were a group of large (2 to 12 meters long - average size 3 to 4 meters) semi-aquatic predatory thecodonts that flourished during the Late Triassic period. ... Orders & Suborders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Thyreophora Ornithopoda Marginocephalia Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. ... Garden Snail photographed in the USA. The name snail applies to most members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells. ... Maxima clam (Tridacna maxima) Clams are shelled marine or freshwater mollusks belonging to the class Bivalvia. ...

Much of the striking banded coloration of the Chinle Formation badlands that make up the Painted Desert region is due to soil formation (pedogenesis) during the Late Triassic. These paleosols (ancient soils) preserve evidence of conditions during the Triassic including the nature of the landscape and the paleoclimate. The Chinle paleosols suggest that the climate was dramatically seasonal, with distinct very wet and very dry seasons. This climate was probably similar to the modern monsoon of the Indian Ocean region, and was characteristic of tropical areas of Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Earth when all the continents had assembled to form the supercontinent Pangaea. Soil is material capable of supporting plant life. ... Pedogenesis or soil evolution (formation) is the process by which soil is created. ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 Ma (million years ago). ... In soil science, paleosols (spelt palaeosols) in Great Britain and Australia) can have two meanings. ... Soil is material capable of supporting plant life. ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 Ma (million years ago). ... Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of the earth. ... In soil science, paleosols (spelt palaeosols) in Great Britain and Australia) can have two meanings. ... Monsoon in the Vindhya, a mountain chain in central India A monsoon is a wind pattern that reverses direction on a seasonal basis. ... The Paleozoic Era is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ... The Mesozoic is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ... In geology, a supercontinent is a land mass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. ... Map of Pangaea Pangaea separation animation Pangaea or Pangea (derived from Παγγαία, Greek for all earth) is the name given to the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, before the process of plate tectonics separated each of the component continents into their current configuration. ...

The Petrified Forest (1936) is a film, a gangster thriller starring Bette Davis, which uses the Petrified Forest area as an atmospheric isolated setting. The Petrified Forest (1936) is a predecessor to film noir with an original screenplay by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon, from the play by Robert Sherwood. ... This article is about Bette Davis the actress; there is also a singer named Betty Davis. ...

See also

• List of areas in the National Park System of the United States
• Petrified forest of Lesbos

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Petrified Forest

The National Park System of the United States is the collection of physical properties owned or administered by the National Park Service. ... Lesbos (Greek: Λέσβος - Lésvos, Turkish: Midilli; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea; its inhabitants are called Lesvonians (rather than Lesbians) or Lesviotians. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

External links

• National Park Service website
• Private website
• Photos of Petrified Forest National Park - Terra Galleria
• Photographic virtual tour of Petrified Forest National Park
• Mile By Mile: Parkway Highway #1 - Petrified Forest National Park Scenic Route

National Parks of the United States

Acadia | American Samoa | Arches | Badlands | Big Bend | Biscayne | Black Canyon of the Gunnison | Bryce Canyon | Canyonlands | Capitol Reef | Carlsbad Caverns | Channel Islands | Congaree | Crater Lake | Cuyahoga Valley | Death Valley | Denali | Dry Tortugas | Everglades | Gates of the Arctic | Glacier | Glacier Bay | Grand Canyon | Grand Teton | Great Basin | Great Sand Dunes | Great Smoky Mountains | Guadalupe Mountains | Haleakala | Hawaii Volcanoes | Hot Springs | Isle Royale | Joshua Tree | Katmai | Kenai Fjords | Kings Canyon | Kobuk Valley | Lake Clark | Lassen Volcanic | Mammoth Cave | Mesa Verde | Mount Rainier | North Cascades | Olympic | Petrified Forest | Redwood | Rocky Mountain | Saguaro | Sequoia | Shenandoah | Theodore Roosevelt | Virgin Islands | Voyageurs | Wind Cave | Wrangell-St. Elias | Yellowstone | Yosemite | Zion The parks of the United States National Park system are one type of protected area in the United States and are operated by the U.S. National Park Service. ... File links The following pages link to this file: Image:Delicatearch. ... Acadia National Park preserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast of Maine. ... Arches National Park preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations. ... Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota, preserves 242,756 acres (982 km²) of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. ... Big Bend National Park is a national park located in Texas, USA. For more than 1,000 miles (1600 km) the Rio Grande / Río Bravo forms the international boundary between Mexico and the United States; Big Bend National Park administers approximately one-quarter of that boundary. ... Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, due east of Homestead, FL. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving areas in the United States. ... Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado. ... Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. ... Canyonlands National Park, located near Moab, Utah and the Arches National Park, was designated as a National Park on September 12, 1964. ... Capitol Reef National Park is a United States National Park, in south-central Utah. ... Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a United States National Park located in the Guadalupe Mountains the southeastern corner of New Mexico, Eddy County. ... The Channel Islands National Park is a national park that consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of the U.S. state of California, in the Pacific Ocean. ... Located in South Carolina, the 34 mi² (89 km²) Congaree National Park is the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States but one of the smallest national parks. ... Crater Lake National Park is a U.S. National Park located in Oregon whose most famous feature is Crater Lake. ... Cuyahoga River in the park Categories: Stub | National parks of the United States | Ohio landmarks ... Death Valley National Park is a mostly arid national park located east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County, California, USA with a small extension and exclave (Devils Hole) in Nevada. ... Denali National Park Denali National Park and Preserve is located in Interior Alaska and contains Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. ... Dry Tortugas National Park is a United States National Park, located in the Dry Tortugas islands of the Florida Keys. ... Everglades National Park preserves the southern portion of the Everglades (all south of Tamiami Trail), but represents only 20 % of the original wetland area. ... Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is one of several large U.S. National Parks in Alaska. ... Glacier National Park is a National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. ... The area around Glacier Bay in southeastern Alaska was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925. ... Grand Canyon National Park is one of Americas oldest national parks and is located in Arizona. ... Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in western Wyoming, south of Yellowstone National Park. ... Great Basin National Park is a United States National Park, located in east-central Nevada near its border with Utah. ... Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve became a United States National Park by an act of Congress on September 13, 2004. ... The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park that straddles the ridgeline of the Appalachian Mountains. ... Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet (2,667 m) in elevation. ... Haleakalā National Park is a United States national park located on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii. ... Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution—processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct human culture. ... Established from Hot Springs Reservation, Hot Springs National Park is a United States National Park in central Arkansas adjacent to the town of Hot Springs. ... Isle Royale National Park is a U.S. National Park in the state of Michigan. ... A Joshua tree silhouetted by a rock Joshua Tree National Park is located in south-eastern California. ... Katmai National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. ... Established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Kenai Fjords National Park is a United States National Park on the Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska near the town of Seward. ... This Article is about Kings Canyon National Park, USA. For Kings Canyon, Australia, see Kings Canyon, Northern Territory. ... Established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Kobuk Valley National Park is a United States National Park in northwestern Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. ... Established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southwestern Alaska. ... Map of Lassen area showing hydrothermal features (red dots) and volcanic feature or remnant (yellow cones). ... Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in south-central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the most extensive cave system known in the world. ... Mesa Verde National Park is a national park, located in southwest Colorado. ... Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in southeast Pierce County, Washington. ... Looking toward Magic Mountain from the Cascade Pass trail North Cascades National Park is a U.S. National Park located in Washington state. ... Olympic National Park is located in the U.S. state of Washington, in the far northwestern part of the state known as the Olympic Peninsula. ... Established in 1968 from unprotected land as well as small portions of existing state parks, Redwood National Park is a United States National Park on the northern coast of California between Eureka and Crescent City. ... Rocky Mountain National Park is located in the north central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. ... Saguaro National Park, located in the state of Arizona, is part of the United States system of national parks. ... Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. ... Shenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Piedmont region of Virginia. ... Established in 1978, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States National Park comprising three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. ... Established in 1975, Voyageurs National Park is a United States National Park in northern Minnesota near the town of International Falls. ... Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles (18 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. ... Established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Wrangell-St. ... For the next-generation airliner series from Boeing, see Boeing Yellowstone. ... Yosemite redirects here. ... Zion National Park is a United States National Park located near Springdale, Utah in the southwestern United States. ...