Petrified Forest is a national park located in Holbrook, Arizona, attracting more than 600,000 visitors each year. It currently stretches out across 135,000 acres of land, although recent legislation has actually doubled the size of the park to 218,533 acres. The park is made up of two main sections: the south, consisting of the major concentrations of petrified wood, and the north, containing the vast Painted Desert. The park was not established as a National Monument until December 8, 1906 after President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. It was not until 1962 when Congress passed a bill recognizing the Petrified Forest as a national park.
History The trees now found petrified in the Petrified Forest date back to 200 million years ago, during the Triassic Period. Around this time, the park was a floodplain crossed by many streams. It was a habitat for many species of dinosaurs, including Phytosaurs, Desmatosuchases, and Chindesauruses. Because the park provides many fossils of theses dinosaurs that are still being uncovered, Petrified Forest is one of the world's greatest resources for uncovering the mysteries of the time during the "Age of the Dinosaurs." In the mid-1800's, US surveyors brought back East stories of the "Painted Desert and its trees turned to stone." After many people began to use the wood for commercial and souvenier purposes, residents recognized that the wood was limited and, in 1906, decided to set aside selected "forests" as Petrified Forest National Monument.
        Credit to the following sites:
http://www.nps.gov/pefo/photosmultimedia/geology-gallery.htm
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http://www.petrified.forest.national-park.com/
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