[TICKING]
[CLOCK ALARM]
[FIREWORKS].
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CHARLIE: TODAY WE’RE IN EASTERN ARIZONA,
IN PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK,
WHICH IS A COOL PLACE BECAUSE OF THIS STUFF, PETRIFIED WOOD.
THIS IS PETRIFIED WOOD, BASICALLY IT’S A FOSSIL
OF A TREE THAT LIVED OVER 200 MILLION YEARS AGO.
IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE FOSSILIZED GROWTH RINGS
AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE YOU CAN FIND SOME PRETTY
EXCELLENTLY PRESERVED BARK PATTERNS.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO FIND PETRIFIED WOOD,
YOU HAVE TO COME TO EASTERN ARIZONA,
BECAUSE HERE IT’S ALL OVER THE PLACE.
IT’S EVERYWHERE.
BASICALLY IT’S LITTERED WITH THESE AWESOME TREE FOSSILS
THAT ARE OVER 200 MILLION YEARS OLD,
SO THEY’RE FROM A HECK OF A LONG TIME AGO.
BUT BASICALLY THIS PLACE IS ONE BIG BARREN DESERT,
SO WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TREE FOSSILS HERE?
GOOD QUESTION.
LET’S BREAK IT DOWN WITH SOME HELP FROM KIRB
AND HER PAPER CUTOUTS.
ALRIGHT SO 225 MILLION YEARS AGO WHEN DINOSAURS WHERE
HANGING OUT ON EARTH, ALL OF EARTH’S LAND MASSES
WERE IN ONE GIANT CLUMP CALLED “PANGEA,”
AND ARIZONA WAS LOCATED AROUND HERE,
ON ITS WESTERN EDGE NEAR THE EQUATOR.
NOWHERE NEAR WHERE IT IS NOW.
BACK THEN ARIZONA DIDN’T LOOK LIKE THIS.
IT WAS A TROPICAL PARADISE.
HARD TO BELIEVE, BUT YEAH.
THERE WERE RIVERS AND STREAMS AND
ALL SORTS OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS EVERYWHERE.
INCLUDING TREES THAT WERE ALMOST 200 FEET TALL.
THOSE 200 FOOT TALL TREES LIVED NEAR RIVERS.
WHEN THEY DIED, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT,
THEY WOULD FALL INTO THE WATER.
THIS WOULD HAPPEN TO A LOT OF TREES,
WHICH WOULD FORM LOG JAMS, LIKE THIS ONE.
RIGHT HERE, THIS IS WHERE A HUG LOG JAM HAPPENED.
ALL THESE LOGS WERE BURIED AND A MASS
PETRIFICATION EVENT OCCURRED.
MASS PETRIFICATION, PRETTY NEAT RIGHT?
WELL HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED.
THERE WERE A BUNCH OF VOLCANOS HAVING OUT TO THE WEST
AND SOUTH OF HERE THAT KEPT SPEWING OUT ASH.
AS THE VOLCANIC ASH FLEW INTO THE AIR,
IT WAS CAUGHT BY THE WIND WHICH WOULD SPREAD IT OUT ALL
OVER THE PLACE, AND SOMETIMES THE ASH WOULD
LAND IN RIVERS AND STREAMS.
VOLCANIC ASH IS MADE UP OF A BUNCH OF STUFF
BUT MOSTLY SILICA.
SILICA DISSOLVES IN WATER, SO BACK IN THE DAY
IT FOUND ITS WAY INTO THE RIVERS,
AND EVENTUALLY INTO THE SUNKEN LOGS.
IN THE LOGS THE SILICA RECRYSTALLIZED FORMING
QUARTZ CRYSTALS WHICH FILLED EVERY OPEN AREA OF THE
SUNKEN TREES UNTIL EVENTUALLY THEY WERE PURE STONE.
OKAY, SO, YOU GOT A LOG, YOU GOT A STREAM,
YOU ADD SOME VOLCANOES, ADD A BIT OF ASH,
MIX IT ALL TOGETHER, WAIT A COUPLE MILLION YEARS AND BOOM,
PETRIFIED WOOD, SIMPLE AS THAT.
THE COOLEST THING ABOUT PETRIFIED LOGS ARE PROBABLY
THEIR AMAZING COLORS, WHICH ARE MADE BY TRACES OF MINERALS
LIKE IRON AND MANGANESE.
THERE’S MILKY CLEAR QUARTZ, PURPLE AMETHYST,
AND YELLOW CITRINE.
CARBON ALSO TURNS THINGS A LITTLE BLACK AND CHROMIUM
MAKES THEM LOOK KIND OF GREENISH.
ALL OF THESE COME TOGETHER TO CREATE SOME
REALLY SPECTACULAR LOOKING FOSSILS.
ALRIGHT, SO BACK TO KIRBY’S ART.
MILLIONS OF YEARS GO BY, UNFORTUNATELY THE DINOSAURS
DON’T MAKE IT AND PANGEA BREAKS UP.
OVER TIME ALL OF THOSE STREAMS AND RIVERS DISAPPEARED,
GIVING US THE LUSH, RADIANT, BONE-DRY LANDSCAPE
OF PRESENT DAY EASTERN ARIZONA.
SO THESE LOGS ARE FOSSILIZED RECORDS OF TREES THAT LIVED
OVER 200 MILLION YEARS AGO.
MOST ARE A SPECIES CALLED “ARAUCARIOXYLON ARIZONICUM,”
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, BUT THE COOL THING IS THAT
EVERY SINGLE SPECIES OF TREE THEY’VE FOUND FOSSILIZED
IN THIS PARK DOESN’T EXIST ANYMORE.
THEY’RE ALL EXTINCT.
ON TOP OF THAT, PEOPLE KEEP JACKING THIS STUFF
AS SOUVENIRS, AND I DON’T BLAME THEM BECAUSE,
I MEAN, IT’S EVERYWHERE.
BUT IT’S TURNING INTO A PROBLEM.
THE PARK IS LOSING PETRIFIED WOOD VERY QUICKLY.
HOW QUICKLY?
VERY QUICKLY.
IN ONE SURVEY THAT EXAMINED JUST HOW FAST PEOPLE WERE
PULLING THE OLD STICKY FINGER MCGEE AT THIS PARK,
MOST TEST SITES WERE DECIMATED WITH A WEEK.
IT TOOK ONE WEEK FOR PEOPLE TO STEAL ALL THE ROCKS
AT THESE LOCATIONS WHICH IS KIND OF RIDICULOUS.
I MEAN, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING GUYS.
YOU’RE STEALING FROM A NATIONAL PARK.
THESE ARE LIKE THE LAST PURE PLACES ON EARTH.
HOW ABOUT YOU EXERCISE A LITTLE RESTRAINT AND
STOP STEALING FROM THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE?
I BELIEVE IN YOU.
THE NEAT THING IS, YOU CAN FIND PETRIFIED WOOD
PRETTY MUCH ANYWHERE.
IN EVERY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES AND
IN SOME OTHER COUNTRIES TOO.
SO YOU MIGHT EVEN BE ABLE TO FIND SOME
IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD.
A NICE PIECE OF TREE HISTORY FROM OVER 200 MILLION YEARS AGO,
AND THAT’S PRETTY COOL.
[FIREWORKS].
