Some Remarkable Big Trees 

 

Dry Creek Petrified Forest (Wyoming)
Lund Petrified Forest (Nevada)
Calistoga Petrified Forest (California)
Petrified Forest, Arizona
Yellowstone Petrified Forests
Argentina Petrified Forest
Lesvos Petrified Forest (Greece)
The living big trees (giant sequoia

 

 

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." 

 

 

LUND PETRIFIED FOREST (NEVADA)

In the mid 1950s, Nell Murbarger set about to find a very large fossilized redwood stump which she had seen pictured in a pamphlet.  Nell and her traveling companion Dora not only found this tree, but many others, which she wrote about in her Natural History Magazine article “Our Largest Petrified Tree” (Murbager 1953).  The site is now known as the Lund Petrified Forest.

 

The Petrified Forest is in Washoe County of northwestern Nevada at 41°09’35”N, 119°23’27”E.  It lies along road SR 34, between Gerlach and Vya, on the northeast side of Hog Ranch Mountain.  This is west of Black Rock Desert, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Gerlach and 7 miles (11 km) north of Leadville mining site.

       

 

The site is named for George W. Lund, an early Nevadan preservationist who was among the first of modern explorers to describe the petrified forest (Earl 1999).

 

The occurrence was mentioned and figured in an introductory paleobotany textbook (Arnold 1947), and included (and figured) among the fossiliferous strata by Bonham (1969).

Early workers noted the size of the large stumps (one being 5m diameter), and the likely stratigraphic occurrence within a rhyolitic tuff regionally dated at 15-16Ma.  The wood and large size of some stumps suggest giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) grew in this ancient forest (Erwin et al., 2005).  Mapping has revealed evidence of over 250 stumps buried in place.  Sites range from pits left from past tree removal by bulldozers and dynamite to large stumps up to 4.5 m in diameter buried upright in place by a volcanic ash.

 

 

CALISTOGA PETRIFIED FOREST (CALIFORNIA)

 

The Petrified Forest is a tourist park, with a museum devoted to the origin of the fossils and geology of the area.  The advertising states "Great redwood trees turned to stone attract thousands of visitors every year to this private park in the hills of eastern Sonoma County. Rich in history from the late 1800s, the Petrified Forest is a perfect example of explosive volcanic activity.  Redwood trees up to 8 feet in diameter and hundreds of feet high were blown down like match sticks in the flow of a wave of ash ..".

 

At the Petrified Forest various large in-situ, silicified, trees are seen.  The species preserved are pine and giant redwood.  They would have lived in a cool, moist environment.  Redwoods (coastal redwoods species still live in this area).   The fossil trees are believed to be of that species, not the Californian giant sequoia or Sierra redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

 

  Pit    

   

   Monarch    Queen 

   

 Ollie Bockee at the Queen tree, 1930s

 

The Queen tree is 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter and 65 feet (19.8 m) long.  From a ring count, it was 2000 years old when it fell.  The Monarch tree is 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and 105 feet (32 m) long.  The Monarch is believed to be the largest intact petrified tree in the world.  

The trees were buried by a unit of ash flow tuff dated as 3.19-3.34 My old (within the Sonoma Volcanics).   The entombing volcanic ash is quite soft, not welded or hardened.   Dark fragments of volcanic rock and glistening shards of volcanic glass are visible in the ash.

 

Based on preservation of the tree roots and the orientations of the trees, it can be determined that most fell toward the WSW.   This can be interpreted to suggest that the paleo-surface sloped SW, or that the ash flow that buried the trees moved toward the WSW.  A westward paleoflow direction is found in fluvial gravels that overlie and are intercalated with the ash flow tuff.  Some also note that the trees 'fell uphill' - they slope upwards toward their tips, showing that it is unlikely that they just fell down a slope and more likely that they were felled facing upslope by an ash blast - blown down by a volcanic blast like Mt. St. Helens and rapidly buried deeply by an ash fall (although of course the subsequent tectonics must be considered in regard to the present slope as well).  Terry Wright, a professor of geology at Sonomo State University, favours this interpretation and expanded on it in his booklet "Volcanos in Eruption" and in "The Trail of The Petrified Forest".   

Most of the large trees that can be seen were excavated in 1910-1920.  The main trees are named as the Pit, Gully, Giant, Queen (Queen of the Forest), New Excavation, Monarch, Rock of Ages and Stevenson trees.  

Other views of Mount St Helena:

Various writers, especially Terry Wright, have considered the Petrified Forest to be a perfect past example of explosive volcanic activity and of the effects that have been witnessed in many modern eruptions, including Mount St. Helens.  Redwood trees up to 8 feet in diameter and 100s of feet high were blown down like matchsticks in the direction of flow of a wave of ash and glass from a major volcano to the northeast.      

 

Typical view of trees felled at Mt St. Hellens.  These were downed in the 1980 eruption.  Note that most point in the same direction.  Also note for scale the two human figures in the lower right.  Millions of trees over 600 sq km of prime forest were blown down or killed.  An estimated 4 billion board feet of timber trees was downed, and as soon as they were able to loggers moved in salvaging it at the rate of more than 600 truckloads per day.

 

 

 

PETRIFIED FOREST, ARIZONA 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

Root bole on base of a long trunk

 

 

 

Accumulation of log segments weathering from strata

   

 

 

The Petrified Forest National Park of northeastern Arizona features one of the world's largest and most colourful concentrations of petrified wood.  The common fossils trees include Araucarioxylon, Woodworthia, and Schielderia, along with other plants including cycads and ferns.  Bark engravings by insects and fossil bee nests been found in logs at the Petrified Forest.  Much of the wood is of the species Araucarioxylon arizonicum. 

 

All the petrified wood occurs in deposits of the nonmarine Upper Triassic Chinle Group.  Two horizons, the Sonsela Member and the Black Forest Bed, contain the vast majority of the petrified wood in the park.  Available biochronological evidence, including tetrapods, megafossil plants, pollen, and calcareous microfossils, indicates that both the Sonsela Member and the Black Forest Bed are of early- to mid-Norian (220-215 Ma) age.

 

The major concentrations of petrified wood have been termed "forests" (e.g. Rainbow Forest, Crystal Forest, Black Forest, etc.) although the vast majority of the fossil tree trunks are preserved in a prone position and have been transported at least some distance from their original growth areas.  However, in-place stumps of trees do occur in several areas, and many of the logs may not have moved far before burial.

 

Some of the soft mudrock and shale that encases the fossils is rich in weathered volcanic ash.  In places (e.g. Wolverine area with logs to 6 ft diameter and 90 ft length) the entombing stream sediments are regarded as volcanic-ash-derived.  In the Black Forest Bed, 60-65 m above the top of the Sonsela, most of the wood is concentrated in the upper reworked tuffaceous portion of the unit.  

 

 

YELLOWSTONE PETRIFIED FORESTS

 

 

 

Sequoia stump at Specimen Ridge

 

Sequoia stump at Specimen Ridge

 

 

Growth rings - The excellent preservation of much of the wood is suitable for dendrochronology

 

 

Pattern of strong concentric and radial fracturing

 

 

Thin section from Michael Arct's 1991 dissertation on dendrochronology of the forests.

 

The National Park Service describes the 35-55 million year old petrified forests at Yellowstone as the "world's largest".  These "forests of stone" can best be seen on Specimen Ridge near Lamar Valley in the Gallatin Region.  

 

Various exposed upright trees may extend up to 6m above ground level, and one which is almost 15m tall may be the tallest standing petrified tree in the world.

 

Within the Eocene Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup, petrified wood occurs in both the Sepulcher Formation and the Lamar River Formation.  The greatest sequence of superimposed fossil forest levels may be at Specimen Creek, where 65 or more levels are discerned by some (an early count was 27 levels) (Fritz, 1985).

 

At Specimen Ridge most of the trees project well above the surface, including hundreds of trunks from 1 to 8 feet in diameter and from 1 to 20 feet high, with the tallest more than 40 feet. Just beneath the largest known tree in Yellowstone (26.5 feet by 12 feet), which contains large roots, are two trees that are 9 feet in circumference and 20 feet high. Fossilized bark is preserved at this locality.  Tillman (1893) reported channeling and burrowing of worms or other insects occur in some petrified tree bark.

 

 

 

ARGENTINA PETRIFIED FOREST

 

MONUMENTO NATURAL BOSQUE PETRIFICADO - Province of Santa Cruz

 

 

 

     

 

          

 

 

The Petrified Forest National Monument area is 150 km WSW from the town of Puerto Deseado in the central steppes of northeastern Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina (Patagonia).  The area is remote and uninhabited, and the direct distance of 150 km WSW of Puerto Deseado is 260 km by road travel to reach the area.  The nearest village is Jaramillo, 135 km away.  The fossil forest has many trees that measure more than 3 m in diameter and 30 m in length.  The trees are related to present day Araucarias.  They are within late Jurassic strata and are regarded as having been preserved by burial in ash.  Tree rings suggest tree ages sometimes as great as 1000 years.  Some of the trees are in upright position but most are laying prone.  A 15,000 hectare Natural Monument reserve was declared in 1954, later expanded to 60,000 ha.

 

Some tourist references quote this petrified forest as containing the largest petrified trees on the planet ('huge petrified trees of Araucaria mirabilis more than 100 m and 3.5 m in diameter', viz. Menéndez 1972) but such is unconfirmed and may be confusing dimensions of modern trees.  Two of the largest trees are on Estancia La Paloma which belongs to Mr. Urricelqui.  These are 30 m long tree trunks with a diameter of 2 m.  Other trunks are claimed to be up to 60 m long.

 

 

LESVOS PETRIFIED FOREST (GREECE)

Taxodioxylon gypsaceum trunk measuring 4.30 m in height and 1.15 m diameter.

 

The petrified forest situated near Sigri on the western side of the Greek island of Lesvos is possibly the most extensive of the known petrified forests.  It exists over an area of 150 km² or more.  Large, upright trunks complete with root systems are found, as well as trunks up to 22 m in length.

The sub-tropical forest is of Late Oligocene to Lower - Middle Miocene age (15-20 Ma), and was buried within volcanic ash during intense volcanic activity in the area.  The first report on the petrified forest was in 1844.  Since 1979, the Division of Historical Geology and Palaeontology of the Department of Geology at the University of Athens, has been conducting palaeobotanical research in the petrified forest of Lesvos.

              

This standing trunk at left is of height of 7.02 m and perimeter of 8.58 m.  It is the largest known petrified trunk in the Petrified Forest on the island of Lesvos, and possibly the largest of anywhere in Europe.  Trunks like this are the largest plant fossils in the world.  The species of the large tree has been identified as Taxodioxylon gypsaceum.  The majority of trees in the forest are believed to be T. gypsaceum.  This species is regarded as an ancestor of the present day species Sequioa semprevirens which grows on the west coast of the USA (California, Oregon).  The two smaller trees at above right may be Pinoxylon paradoxum.  

       

   

Of the trees preserved in fallen position which have so far been encountered, the longest (above right) is more than 20m in length.  

 

 

 

 

THE LIVING BIG TREES

The Giant Sequoia -  Sequoiadendron

 

       

Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Sequoia or Sierra Redwood) is the sole species in its genus.  It is one of three species called redwoods, all in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae.  

Giant Sequoia grow to an average height of 50-85 m and 5-7 m diameter.  Record dimensions are 93.6 m height and 8.85 m diameter (although one tree at the Calaveras groove, called the 'Empire State', is stated to be about 9.1m diameter at base).  The oldest Giant Sequoia based on ring count is 3,200 years old.

The tree is slow to propagate, seed cones remaining green and closed for up to 20 years.

The natural distribution of giant sequoia is restricted to a limited area of the western Sierra Nevada in California.  It occurs in 76 scattered groves. 

High levels of reproduction are not necessary to maintain the present population levels. Few groves, however, have sufficient young trees to maintain the present density of mature Giant Sequoias for the future. The majority of giant sequoias are currently undergoing a gradual decline in density since the European settlement days.

       

Tree house and drive-trough tree, both near Leggett, California

 

 

 

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST

 

(Logs cut over 100 years ago show little or no rotting ... Giant sequoia is among the

most resistant conifer species to decay.)

Dead trees that are still standing in an undisturbed forest are called "snags".  This tree, "Muir Snag", was visited by the naturalist John Muir (1838-1914) who counted tree rings visible in a large fire scar at the base, extending past the center of the tree.  He counted slightly over 4,000 rings.  Subsequent counts have been somewhat less, but more than 3,200 years.

Muir wrote of the giant sequoia trees: “Death is due to accidents, not, as that of animals, to the wearing out of organs. Only the leaves die of old age … I never saw one that was sick or showed the slightest sign of decay. Barring accidents, it seems to be immortal. It is a curious fact that all the very old sequoias had lost their heads by lightning strokes. ‘All things come to him who waits.’ But of all living things, sequoia is perhaps the only one able to wait long enough to make sure of being struck by lightning.”

 

 CALAVERAS GROVE (Big Trees State Park)

 

 

 

 

The first record of the Giant Sequoia by Europeans was of those in Calaveras grove, seen by the explorer J. K. Leonard in 1833.  The Calaveras Big Trees State Park, located 6 km northeast of Arnold became a State Park in 1931 to preserve giant sequoias and is considered the longest continuously operated tourist facility in California.

 

         

 

   

 

The "discovery tree" (above stump, now used for weddings etc.) was felled in 1853.   The stump is 7.3 m in diameter and by ring count this tree was 1,244 years old when felled.   The tree was found in the spring of 1852 by Augustus T. Dowd when he was tracking a wounded grizzly bear.  Suddenly he found himself staring up at a monstrous tree, easily three times larger than anything he had ever seen. After spending the day exploring and finding more of the trees, he returned back to the mining camp of Murphys where he told a few people of his find.  No one believed him at first. Finally, he gathered a group of skeptics and they returned to the trees. Although Dowd was the first to publicize the existence of these trees, a John M. Wooster had carved his initials in one of the trees back in 1850 and J. K. Leonard had seen them in 1833.  Entrepreneurs later  mobilised to exploit the trees and the tree that had earlier stopped Dowd in his tracks was the first casualty.  It took five men 22 days to cut it down.  But even in those early boom-mentality years, it is thought that many people were outraged at the cutting of this tree.  The tunnelled out tree, also shown above, was modified as a tourist attraction in the 1880s.  It nearly killed the tree, but not quite. 

 

 

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