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Petrified Tree
Subtropical Yellowstone
This petrified redwood is a clue to a warmer, damper, more violent Yellowstone landscape. Anatomically, the trunk is indistinguishable from present-day redwoods in California.
When a chain of volcanoes erupted here in Eocene times 50 million years ago, they triggered massive landslides into mountain and valley streets. The rolling mix of ash, water and sand buried whole forests. Before the trees could rot, abundant silica in the volcanic flow plugged living cells, creating "forests of stone."
Volcanic ask and mudflows obliterated a living landscape yet preserved this tree for the ages. There were three redwoods standing here before thoughtless souvenir hunters chipped away the other two. |