Yesterday, I took a trip up to the Puyango Petrified Forest. It contains one of the largest collections of petrified wood in the world and is just a couple of hours from my site.
Obviously, I had to go check it out at some point. But knowing that it's been there for millions years and probably wasn't going to change too much in my two years here, I was in no particular rush to get out there.
But it was definitely worth the visit.
The wood in the forest is between 60 million to 120 million years old. Petrified wood is fossilized wood. As the tour guide tried to explain to me: The lava flow from volcanic activity at the time (There's no active volcanoes in the vicinity. Don't worry, mom.) covered the forests. The lava buried the trees, and all the organic matter in the trees was converted into petrified wood. At one point in its history, the area was also covered by ocean because there are shellfish fossils.
The largest piece in the forest is this fifteen meter trunk that has naturally broken into several pieces.
It should be mentioned that the forest has only been a protected area for about twenty years now. Before it was declared a protected area, there was quite a bit of pillaging that occurred. Many residents in the area, and some in my site, have pieces of the petrified wood in their homes.
In addition to the petrified wood, the park also contains some pristine dry tropical forest and some of its rare tree species. The most majestic of those rare species is the Pretino. These trees are babies compared to the petrified ones. They're only 120-150 years old.
It is related to the previously fawned-over ceibo (part of the bombacacae family). Whereas the ceibo flower is white, the pretino gives off a pink/red flower. This should be happening in the next month. I will try to snap a picture of that.
Each ring signals about ten years of growth.
Richard, do I have a mark on my trunk?
1 comment:
"Tommy likey, Tommy want wingy"
Very cool.
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