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I used to think the whole 'petrified wood' thing was just a tourist trap gimmick

Then I actually went to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and saw the logs. The detail is insane, you can still see the tree rings and bark texture turned to solid agate and jasper. It's not just colored rock, it's a full mineral replacement process. Has anyone else been genuinely surprised by a geologic feature they thought was overhyped?
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3 Comments
tessaw96
tessaw961d ago
But isn't it still just a bunch of old rocks at the end of the day?
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jennybailey
My old view was that it was just a pile of boring stones. Then I saw a piece where the crystal colors followed every single ring pattern, and even the cracks from drying out before it fossilized. It's not a rock that looks like wood, it's wood that became stone, atom by atom. That difference totally got me.
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nora_webb51
Thought it was just rocks until I saw the rings up close.
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