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Petrified Wood

 

Petrified Wood is a type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation resulting from trees or woody plants completely fossilized into stone all the way down to it's microscopic level. Minerals (mostly a silicate, i.e. Chalcedony or Quartz) with the woody structure remaining. Other types of fossils are usually made by impressions.

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Due to lack of oxygen when wood becomes buried under sediment (or volcanic ash) Petrified Wood is preserved and the process of petrifaction begins. When water containing minerals flows through sediment it turns those minerals into the cell structure of the wood which stone overtakes the wood as it decays. 

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Greek:"petros" meaning "stone" or "rock"

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Colors and their containing minerals:

    Black ......... Carbon, Manganese Oxides

    Blue ........... Chromium, Cobalt or Copper

    Brown ....... Iron Oxides

    Green ........ Chromium, Cobalt or Copper

    Orange ..... Manganese

    Pink ............ Manganese

    Red ............. Iron Oxides

    Yellow ...... Iron Oxides, Manganese Oxides

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