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How Old Is Petrified Wood? Over millions of years, these minerals that have made their way into the tissue of the buried tree crystallize clear down into wood’s cellular structure. This crystallization process forms the hard-as-stone material you know as petrified wood.
The exact amount of time needed for wood to become petrified depends on the conditions — the main one being how rich the groundwater is in minerals such as silica — but generally ranges from...
Petrified wood is found worldwide in sedimentary beds ranging in age from the Devonian (about 390 million years ago), when woody plants first appeared on dry land, to nearly the present. Petrified "forests" tend to be either entire ecosystems buried by volcanic eruptions, in which trunks often remain in their growth positions, or accumulations ...
Petrified wood is not confined to one age or period. It spans across various geological epochs, from the Carboniferous to the Miocene. The formation process is so gradual that petrified wood you come across today could range from 20 million to over 200 million years old.
Petrified wood is a fossil that forms when plant material is replaced by silica, calcite, pyrite, or opal. Learn how petrified wood differs from agatized and petrified fossilized wood, and see examples and photos of various types and localities of petrified wood.
The specimen they uncovered was estimated to be around 380 million years old – predating even dinosaurs by tens of millions of years! The analysis involved drilling out a small core sample from deep inside the trunk and using radiometric dating methods to determine its age.
Petrified wood is a fossil formed when the organic components of woody plant material are gradually replaced by minerals, predominantly silica, via a process called permineralization. Learn how this transformation happens, how long it takes, and where to find petrified forests around the world.
Petrified trees in this forest are as large as 50 feet in length and 6.5 feet in diameter. The oldest exhibits found in the Petrified Forest are over half a billion years in age, while the most recent ones are about 60 million years old. However, the average age of the petrified trees is 100 million years. Jaramillo Petrified Forest, Argentina ...
The majority of petrified wood on Earth is believed to be anywhere from 65 to 570 million years old. It is possible to find pieces that aren’t as old, as some petrified wood also formed in the Cenozoic Era, which began 65 million years ago and continues to this day (1). Petrified wood comes in a wide array of colors.
Petrified wood from the Cretaceous–Paleogene of Chubut, Argentina, preserves a 66-million-year-old forest. Credit: Dhzanette, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Have you ever seen the brilliant hues of petrified wood and wondered how it gets its colors? When trees die, they typically fall to the forest floor, where they decay.