Today was Pertified Forest and Painted Desert. I'll do Pertified Forest today and Painted Desert tomorrow. This part of our country was where Costa Rica is now, 280 million years ago. On the equator. The trees fell into a river or lake, became waterlogged and sank. They were buried in mud and volcanic ash. Volcanic ash has a silica component that somehow replaced the organic cell structure in the waterlogged trees. This took many, many millions of years. It actually started before Biden was born. Continental uplift occurred as did erosion. The petrified trees were exposed. Some of the trees were over 200 feet tall. All of the species of trees in the park are now extinct but some are distantly related to trees we have now. We have a long day tomorrow and will be in New Mexico.
Interesting facts about the trees. Looks like some were in a car?
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