Saturday, April 28, 2007

Rare!

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On our first visit to the Adirondacks, we went to Pottersville to visit the Natural Stone Bridge & Caves. The samples we took pictures of are over 1,000,000 years old.
Click HERE to visit their web site.

This is a picture of Petrified wood. It is a type of fossil. It consists of fossil wood where all the organic materials have been replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the wood. The petrifaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried under sediment. Mineral-rich water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant's cells and as the plant's lignin and cellulose decay away, a stone mold forms in its place. The wood is preserved due to a lack of oxygen.

Elements such as manganese, iron and copper in the water/mud during the petrification process give petrified wood a variety of color ranges. Pure quartz crystals are colorless, but when contaminants are added to the process the crystals take on a yellow, red or other tint.

Following is a list of contaminating elements and related color hues:
carbon - black cobalt -green/blue chromium - green/blue copper - green/blue iron oxides - red, brown, yellow manganese - pink/orange manganese oxides - black

Petrified wood can preserve the original structure of the wood in all its detail, down to the microscopic level. Structures such as tree rings and the various tissues are often observed features.

The wood can be cut and polished and used for different types of things.

Happy Hunting.

Have a great weekend.


18 comments:

Lilli in Vancouver said...

Cool stuff. I'll have to show my husband because he's talked to me about petrified wood before :)

Carole Burant said...

Wow, that truly is amazing! I've heard of petrified wood but have never seen any. It was so interesting to read what process the wood goes through to become petrified...never knew it got replaced with minerals!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!! xox

kris said...

That was interesting. Many, many years ago my grandparents brought some petrified wood back from a trip for my brother and me. It was fascinating then and now that I know more about it, even more so!

p.s. I'm married to a handyman like Chris - it's very nice to have someone who can and will tackle ANY project!!

jmb said...

Great idea for the post. That's a really interesting place.
jmb

Crooked Eyebrow said...

What a place! and a great idea for this week.

Lisa said...

Great pictures and story - sounds like a great place. Happy weekend.

Vintage Papers said...

petrified wood is awesome stuff.
I had a piece in middle school - don't know what happened to it.
looks like a wonderful place to visit!

srp said...

What a great and informative piece.. and what rare and beautiful wood. Wonderful idea for the hunt this week.

GEWELS said...

That's great. I was actually trying to find my photos of the petrified forest in CA> to use for this. Never did find them, though

Unknown said...

Very nice!!!


Hope you stop by and check out the Scavenger Hunt starting Monday over at Amys Random Thoughts!

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Great post. That would be a "rare" find.

Everyone is invited to my blog to see my "rare" post. Hope to see you there.

Anonymous said...

i find this pics awesome for the simple reason i have often taken natural resources like these for granted. u have opened my eyes so to speak.

MsCarolM said...

Gorgeous shot of the petrified wood!

Rebecca Leonard said...

Natural Stone Bridge & Caves is a great place to visit! While it's been years since I've been, I'll never forget it. I'll have to bring my son, he'd love it. My son, Nick, and I have just penned our first Adirondack kids book, "Adirondack Nightmare: A Spooky Tale in the North Country". Nick did the 41 illustrations and I'm so proud of him. It's a quick, lively read which takes place in the heart of the Adirondacks, Raquette Lake. It's in most bookstores and can be found at www.rebeccaleonard.com. Thanks for the photos!

Lynn said...

This is one place I've been longing to visit, the Adirondacks. I keep my clippings of Adirondacks pictures.

Biker Betty said...

I have been to a petrified forest in Arizona, but never knew how it became petrified. Thank you for the explaination. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Andree said...

Wow! I am going to put this on my places-to-visit list!

Scrappyilse said...

WOW, these are very great! Too bad we don't have such a museum here in the Netherlands (as far as I know at least). I'd certainly pay it a visit!