Petrified Forest - petrified logs

These petrified logs are located along the Giant Logs Trail behind the Rainbow Forest Museum. The common fossil trees include the genera Araucarioxylon, Woodworthia, and Schilderia, along with other plants including cycads, horsetails, ginkgoes, ferns, conifers, and others. These trees grew on an ancient coastal floodplain and were preserved after being toppled, transported, and buried by mud during floods. The fossils preserve a record of life in the Late Triassic Period (NPS, 2007; Ash, 2003). The Late Triassic Period was 235 to 201.5 million years ago (GSA, 2009).