Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Petrified National Park

Today we went to the Painted Dessert & Petrified Forest National Park.  Here are some of our pictures.













(Below):  The archeological site known as Newspaper Rock is neither a newspaper nor a single rock. The site boasts over 650 petroglyphs covering a group of rockfaces within a small area. High concentrations of petroglyphs like this mark a place as hugely significant. Many generations of people saw these markings and contributed their own. The petroglyphs were created by ancestral Puebloan people living, farming, and hunting along the Puerco River between 650 and 2,000 years ago.  There is no linear story, but we can still learn from the markings. Modern American Indian groups' interpretations include family or clan symbols, spiritual meanings, and calendar events. Some mark territory boundaries or migratory routes.

Close-up of piece below:
Normal distance from lookout:
Front of piece: 
Around the corner of the above piece:
(Below) Jim liked this shot because of the lone piece of petrified wood balancing on top of the clif:


The Blue Mesa Member (below) consists of thick deposits of grey, blue, purple, and green mudstones and minor sandstone beds, the most prominent of which is the Newspaper Rock Sandstone. This unit is best exposed in the Tepees area of the park. The Blue Mesa Member is approximately 220-225 million years old.



Below:  Hoodoos are natural stone towers at Devil's Playground, one of the Off the Beaten Path routes featuring the backcountry of the park.
(Below) Petrified wood found in the park and the surrounding region is made up of almost solid quartz. Each piece is like a giant crystal, often sparkling in the sunlight as if covered by glitter. The rainbow of colors is produced by impurities in the quartz, such as iron, carbon, and manganese.
Over 200 million years ago, the logs washed into an ancient river system and were buried quick enough and deep enough by massive amounts of sediment and debris also carried in the water, that oxygen was cut off and decay slowed to a process that would now take centuries.
Minerals, including silica dissolved from volcanic ash, absorbed into the porous wood over hundreds and thousands of years crystallized within the cellular structure, replacing the organic material as it broke down over time. Sometimes crushing or decay left cracks in the logs. Here large jewel-like crystals of clear quartz, purple amethyst, yellow citrine, and smoky quartz formed.



Here is a picture of one of the pieces of petrified wood next to the office at our campground:
































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