Don’t Be Afraid of Petrified Wood

Pet­ri­fied Wood Stools by Roost

According to wikipedia, “pet­ri­fied wood (from the Greek root petro meaning “rock” or “stone”; lit­er­ally “wood turned into stone”) is the name given to a spe­cial type of fos­silized remains of ter­res­trial veg­e­ta­tion. It is the result of a tree having turned com­pletely into stone by the process of per­min­er­al­iza­tion. All the organic mate­rials have been replaced with min­erals (mostly a sil­i­cate, such as quartz), while retaining the orig­inal struc­ture of the wood. Unlike other types of fos­sils which are typ­i­cally impres­sions or com­pres­sions, pet­ri­fied wood is a three-​​dimensional rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the orig­inal organic mate­rial. The pet­ri­fac­tion process occurs under­ground, when wood becomes buried under sed­i­men­tand is ini­tially pre­served due to a lack of oxygen which inhibits aer­obic decom­po­si­tion. Mineral-​​laden water flowing through the sed­i­ment deposits min­erals in the plant’s cells; as the plant’s lignin and cel­lu­lose decay, a stone mould forms in its place.

In gen­eral, wood takes less than 100 years to pet­rify. The organic matter needs to become pet­ri­fied before it decom­poses com­pletely. Aforest where the wood has pet­ri­fied becomes known as a Pet­ri­fied Forest.

Ele­ments such as man­ganese, iron and copper in the water/​mud during the pet­ri­fi­ca­tion process give pet­ri­fied wood a variety of color ranges. Pure quartz crys­tals are col­or­less, but when con­t­a­m­i­nants are added to the process the crys­tals take on a yellow, red, or other tint.”

Don’t wait 100 years to own some pet­ri­fied wood. Get your Pet­ri­fied Wood Stools by Roost at Clayton Gray Home.