Arizona Petrified Wood

The Arizona petrified forest is probably the best known in the world due to its vibrantly colored “rainbow wood” and the Petrified Forest National Park . This petrified forest is part of the Late Triassic-aged Chinle Formation and extends over a huge area–around 100,000 acres–but only a small portion is located within the national park. The fossilized wood is approximately 225 million years old! The dominant tree species in the forest is Araucarioxylon arizonicum , a type of conifer related to the living pehuén, or monkey tree.