Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)

On our trip towards Sedona we visited the Petrified Forest National Park.  This park actually has several distinct sections....the painted desert and then the petrified forest section.  The standout thing to me about the painted desert were the colors and then another section where the "mountains" has such distinct lines and layers:

The petrified portion of the park included ancient logs that became stone (looked like gems) over millions of years.  Wikipedia better explains:

"Petrified Forest National Park is known for its fossils, especially of fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch of the Mesozoic era, about 225 million years ago. During this period, the region that is now the park was near the equator on the southwestern edge of the supercontinent Pangaea, and its climate was humid and sub-tropical.  What later became northeastern Arizona was a low plain flanked by mountains to the south and southeast and a sea to the west. Streams flowing across the plain from the highlands deposited inorganic sediment and organic matter, including trees as well as other plants and animals that had entered or fallen into the water. Although most organic matter decays rapidly or is eaten by other organisms, some is buried so quickly that it remains intact and may become fossilized."

First two pictures were tree cross sections that had been polished to a shiny finish.

These next two pictures were actually out in the park's fields.  The first is showing the petrified outer bark

Close up of one section of a fallen tree's interior....it is fascinating the varied colored sediment that was picked up by different portions of the trunks.