Arizona Petrified Wood

Fossil plants are some of the most widely recognized fossils ever found. Coal, amber, jet, petrified wood, and some forms of crude oil are all unique forms of fossilized plant material. Fossils of some of the earliest dinosaurs, strange giant reptiles, weird-looking plants and unusual fish have been found at Petrified Forest National Park since 1981. Nicknamed Gertie, the dinosaur discovered in 1984 continues to confound paleontologists, who are still looking for clues to her place in the family tree.

Petrified wood is often used in landscaping, and many driveways and flowers beds are lined with or centered around fine specimens. Petrified wood is locally so common that some farmers find it a nuisance and pile it up along fence rows, much like their counterparts in the east pile up glacial erratics. Petrified wood is a common term used for wood fossilized by silica, where the woody structure is visible. A permit is not required to collect petrified wood for personal, hobby, and noncommercial use. Petrified wood is the brown gold of northeastern Arizona. It's a commodity that's scattered along the ground everywhere, and yet tourists will pay money to get some -- if you can get them to stop.