Petrified wood is found in every county in Arizona. The theory of its origin is that wood buried in mud or sand had the organic portions replaced by minerals in a process called permineralization. The petrified wood preserves, in some cases, the structure of the wood down to the microscopic level. This piece of wood is sitting out in front of the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.
The most common mineral in petrified wood is quartz in its myriad forms and colors. Pure quartz (rock crystal) is almost colorless, but contaminating elements can radically change the color:
- carbon - black
- cobalt - green/blue
- chromium - green/blue
- copper - green/blue
- iron oxides - red, brown, and yellow
- manganese - pink/orange
- manganese oxides - black/yellow
I spent a lot of my younger years in a small town on the Colorado Plateau. It did not take me long to recognize the type of clay formation that had petrified wood. I lived only an hour or so away from the Petrified Forest National Monument, (now a National Park) near Holbrook, Arizona. The Petrified Forest National Park is an amazingly diverse area with one of the world's largest concentrations of petrified wood. It is illegal to remove petrified wood from the Park and there is a large pile of wood near the entrance from the Park Rangers' confiscation of people's attempts to steal the wood from the Park.
It is ironic that people will spend money to purchase a small piece of petrified wood. In Arizona and other states, the Bureau of Land Management set the reasonable limits for personal use of up to 25 pounds per day, plus one piece, with a total limit of 250 pounds per year. In both Holbrook and Winslow, there are a number of mineral dealers that will sell huge 1000 lb. plus tree trunks of petrified wood. I am sure that many people are absolutely amazed at the price of the larger pieces of petrified wood.
Some of the ranchers in the area surrounding the National Park have discovered that by digging down to the strata containing the wood, they can uncover huge pieces of the wood. I had a friend, long since dead, who owned a rock shop. He had worked all his life scrapping out a living on the Plateau and for his retirement he purchased this Rock Shop. Through an agreement with one of the mining ranchers, he obtained a huge piece of highly agatized wood. He rigged a huge mineral saw and spent months sawing the hard quartz into a giant slabs. He then spent many more weeks and months polishing the slabs. He told me that he sold one slab to the Smithsonian and one to museum in Japan. He said in those two sales, he made more money than he had in many years of entire working life.
We have always had chunks of wood around our houses both inside and out. Most of which we have found ourselves. I do not believe I have ever spent a dime for a piece of petrified wood.
I know of some areas that have concentrations of petrified wood that rival the National Park although I am not likely to tell you, or anyone else, where they are.
It is ironic that people will spend money to purchase a small piece of petrified wood. In Arizona and other states, the Bureau of Land Management set the reasonable limits for personal use of up to 25 pounds per day, plus one piece, with a total limit of 250 pounds per year. In both Holbrook and Winslow, there are a number of mineral dealers that will sell huge 1000 lb. plus tree trunks of petrified wood. I am sure that many people are absolutely amazed at the price of the larger pieces of petrified wood.
Some of the ranchers in the area surrounding the National Park have discovered that by digging down to the strata containing the wood, they can uncover huge pieces of the wood. I had a friend, long since dead, who owned a rock shop. He had worked all his life scrapping out a living on the Plateau and for his retirement he purchased this Rock Shop. Through an agreement with one of the mining ranchers, he obtained a huge piece of highly agatized wood. He rigged a huge mineral saw and spent months sawing the hard quartz into a giant slabs. He then spent many more weeks and months polishing the slabs. He told me that he sold one slab to the Smithsonian and one to museum in Japan. He said in those two sales, he made more money than he had in many years of entire working life.
We have always had chunks of wood around our houses both inside and out. Most of which we have found ourselves. I do not believe I have ever spent a dime for a piece of petrified wood.
I know of some areas that have concentrations of petrified wood that rival the National Park although I am not likely to tell you, or anyone else, where they are.
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