DRY CREEK PETRIFIED FOREST (WYOMING)

A large Early Eocene tree trunk about 1.5m in diameter, probably Metasequoia, weathering out of the Wasatch Formation 14 km east of Buffalo, Wyoming.  This is at the "Dry Creek Petrified Tree Environmental Education Area" which was set aside in 1878.  The land management bureau gives a description of the area envisaging: "when this area was shaded woodlands and mossy glades ... giant trees grew in a jungle-like area somewhat like the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia ... we can estimate that these petrified trees were 800 to 1,000 years old when they were buried in sand and mud."