Monday, March 28, 2016

Visit to Petrified Forest of Namibia

What is Petrified Wood?  

It was really heave and hard!

Petrified wood is a fossil. It forms when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment replacing the original plant material with silica, calcite, pyrite or another inorganic material such as opal. The result is a fossil of the original woody material that often exhibits preserved details of the bark, wood and cellular structures. 
Some specimens of petrified wood are such accurate preservations that people do not realize they are fossils until they pick them up and are shocked by their weight. These specimens with near perfect preservation are unusual; however, specimens that exhibit clearly recognizable bark and woody structures are very common. 
The picture below is the Petrified Forest of Namibia that is situated about 50 km west of Khorixas. It is a very strange feeling when you sit on top of these "looks like wood" chunks! You walk towards it thinking that it is just a piece of wood and when you try to move it, you know nothing happens. They are amazing left overs of history.  



I was just amazed at the miracle of nature


May be it is fun to make a trial 
to move this piece of wood!!

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