(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)
Petrified wood is a fossil that is the remains of ancient vegetation, most commonly ancient trees. It occurs by a natural action known as permineralization, a process in which mineral deposits take on the shape within the cells of organic tissue. These minerals replace all the organic materials of the ancient trees, most commonly with a silicate such as quartz.
3-D Fossils
(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)
Petrified wood is a 3-D fossil representation of the original living organism. The petrification process occurs deep underground where the wood has become buried by sediments, blocking off any source of oxygen and thus stopping the oxygen-fueled decomposition or the organic matter. Petrification requires four basic materials: water, wood, mud and volcanic ash.
along the road, the trees begin, stripped even of their bark by maria piled high on to the road until they become the road. you don t walk to point michelle. you climb and clamor. these are what s left of the rainforests, giants that stood perhaps for centuries thrown like match sticks across the shore line, the rainforest now just a memory. we hear the stories of those who survived like miranda john. when i came back and i saw inside of there, everything gone. the sea was right inside there. as we venture further into the community, we find selma francis who insisted her mother leave her home next door to be with the family as marie ya boar down. this is what remains of her mother s house. these are stories repeated throughout the village. we met joan frampton further