10.7" Colorful, Petrified Wood (Araucarioxylon) Stand-up - Arizona

Colorful, Petrified Wood (Araucarioxylon) Stand-up - Arizona #258373

This is a beautiful, 10.7" wide standing section of Late Triassic petrified wood (Araucarioxylon) from Navajo County, Arizona. Details in the wood have been preserved in a myriad of reds, browns, and whites. One face has been cut flat and polished to a glossy finish, and the other side was left rough. The base has been cut flat so that it stands up nicely on a hard surface without the need for a display stand.

Araucarioxylon Petrified Wood From Arizona

This wood is similar to petrified wood found in the Petrified Forest National Park near Holbrook, Arizona. Its petrified forest encompasses nearly 100,000 acres, and is almost entirely represented by the extinct conifer Araucarioxylon arizonicum.

The petrified wood from Araucarioxylon arizonicum happens to be the state fossil of Arizona. It is frequently referred to as "rainbow wood" because of the large variety of colors some specimens exhibit. The reds and oranges come from hematite inclusions within the silica, the yellows from limonite, and the purples from extremely fine hematite spherules.

Araucarioxylon arizonicum is estimated to have grown more than 150 feet high and dominated the tropical forests in what is now Arizona nearly 225 million years ago.