Green Petrified Wood from Arizona – Geology In

Green Petrified Wood from Arizona – Geology In

A rare green variety of petrified wood has been documented in a small, now-exhausted deposit of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation near Winslow, Navajo County, Arizona. These silicified conifer logs, assigned to the extinct genus Araucarioxylon arizonicum and dated to the Norian–Carnian stages (~225 Ma), are distinguished by an emerald hue caused by trace Cr³⁺ ions incorporated into a microcrystalline silica matrix during diagenesis—unlike…