15.7" Colorful, Free-Standing Petrified Wood - Arizona

Colorful, Free-Standing Petrified Wood - Arizona #210861

This is a huge, red, blue, yellow, and orange polished section of Late Triassic petrified wood (Araucarioxylon) from Navajo County, Arizona. One face was cut flat and polished to a glossy finish while the remainder of the wood 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.