Petrified Forest - fossils trees

Petrified Forest National Park preserves one of the most remarkable arrays of fossils trees in the world. They are eroding out of the Triassic rock formation called the Chinle. This photograph shows a view of fossil logs along the Giant Logs Trail behind the Rainbow Forest Museum at the south entrance to Petrified Forest National Park. The yellow flowers are Curlycup Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa). This plant, native to the Great Plains, readily absorbs selenium and is considered a hazard to ranching in areas with selenium-rich soils. Historically, it was used for a variety of medicinal purposes (Stubbendieck and others, 2003).