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Petrified wood is a fossil in which the organic remains have been replaced by minerals in the slow process of turning to stone. Specific conditions must be met in order for the fallen wood to be transformed - in general, the fallen trees get buried in an environment free of oxygen (anaerobic environment), which preserves the original tree structure and general appearance. Other conditions include a supply of mineral rich water flowing through the wood, replacing the organic tree structure with inorganic stone. The end result is petrified wood, a tree, with its original basic structure in place, replaced by stone.

This process could occur in less than one thousand years. The minerals involved are most commonly silicates such as quartz. Other minerals such as manganese, iron and copper, in the water or mud during the petrification process give the wood a variety of colour ranges: black - carbon; green/blue - copper; red/brown/yellow - iron. Petrified wood can preserve the original structure of the wood in all its detail right down to the microscopic level. Structures such as tree rings and the various tissues are frequently observed features. Although petrified wood can be found worldwide, it is rather rare in larger quantities and at times can be difficult to obtain by the average collector.

The pieces of petrified wood here today are from the Triassic period - i.e. over 200 million years old. They were found in Madagascar and belong to the Araucariacae family, which is related to the Monkey Puzzle tree.

The Araucariaceae are a very ancient family of conifers. They achieved maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when they existed almost worldwide. At the end of the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs became extinct, so too did the Araucariaceae in the northern hemisphere.

There are three genera with 41 species alive today, Agathis, Araucaria and Wollemia, all derived from the Antarctic flora and distributed largely in the southern hemisphere. All are evergreen trees, typically with a single stout trunk and very regular whorls of branches, giving them a formal appearance. Several are very popular ornamental trees in gardens in subtropical regions, and some are also very important timber trees, producing wood of high quality. Some have edible seeds similar to pine nuts, and others produce valuable resin and amber. In the forests where they occur, they are usually dominant trees, often the largest species in the forest; the largest is Araucaria hunsteinii, reported to 89 m tall in New Guinea, with several other species reaching 50-65 m tall.

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Petrified Wood (7.5cm)

Price: £9.00
(Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

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Petrified Wood (10cm)

Price: £13.50
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Petrified Wood (12.5cm)

Price: £19.00
(Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)

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Petrified Wood (15cm)

Price: £24.00
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