Day 64 May 7

Today we went back to Petrified Forest National Park and visited the Painted desert side of the park as well.  We learned that tons of petrified wood was taken from the park as soon as the rail line went through.  All the plundering of the area led to its protection as a national park.   The Painted Desert part of the park is formation of layers of rock and soil of vastly different colors.  The layers we laid down over millions of years with slightly different chemical compositions.  The greens are from copper and the reds from iron those are the main ones.  The colors also show up in the petrified wood. 


End of a log sticking out of the side of a hill

Note the different colors, reds are from iron, black is from a combination of
 Manganese,carbon and iron.