Petrified Wood Polished Round Rock Circle Cliffs Utah #O141-175

Product Description

Petrified Wood Polished Round Rock Circle Cliffs Utah  

This is a gorgeous polished round Petrified Wood piece that has been sliced and polished on one face, natural rough on the back.

The Petrified Wood stone slab is 5 inches and by 3.26 inches wide and about 3/4 thick.

It does not stand on its own.

This wood is from Circle Cliffs, near Garfield, Utah.

The second-largest fossil forest of its age in North America, if not the entire world, is in the Circle Cliffs portion of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Commonly called the Wolverine Petrified Forest, this area’s official name is Wolverine Petrified Wood Natural Environmental Area.

The fossil wood preserved in the Wolverine Petrified Wood Natural Area originates from the Late Triassic Chinle Formation and comes from the Triassic Period around 220 million years ago.

Most of the petrified wood appears to represent Araucarioxylon, a species of petrified wood common throughout the Chinle Formation at many localities in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in Utah was established in 1996. Collecting is illegal in the area. This piece was from an old collection and was self-collected in the 40's or 50's, prior to the establishment of the park.

Petrified Wood formed when a tree died and was quickly buried by sediments. Minerals in the groundwater then permeated the wood, replacing the original organic matter and turning it to stone. The main mineral is silica, but trace elements in the silica create a variety of colors.