9.9" Colorful, Free-Standing, Polished Petrified Wood - Madagascar

Colorful, Free-Standing, Polished Petrified Wood - Madagascar #199041

This is a 9.9" wide, polished section of colorful petrified wood from Ambilobe, Madagascar. It features a mottled mixture of red, brown, orange and purple coloration, with multiple quartz crystal encrusted pockets. The base of the piece has been cut flat so that it stands up nicely on a hard surface.

The petrified wood is from an extinct conifer called Araucaria. It is from the early Triassic period, approximately 220 million years old, close to the time the first dinosaurs appeared on the planet.

What Is Petrified Wood

Petrified wood is the name given to wood that has been turned into stone (fossilized) through the process of permineralization. In this process, all of the organic matter becomes replaced by minerals, while much of the original structure, such as tree rings, is retained. For this to happen, the wood needs to be buried in an environment low in oxygen to prevent decomposition and with flowing, mineral-laden water, so minerals may replace structures. The coloration is caused by various minerals that present in that water during fossilization. For example, red colors are due to iron compounds, greens due to copper, and so on.