Theft of petrified wood remains a problem in the 21st century.Īerial view looking south from the Navajo Reservation (foreground) across the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest National Park, and Adamana, Arizona Later, roads and a railway followed similar routes and gave rise to tourism and, before the park was protected, to large-scale removal of fossils. team had surveyed an east–west route through the area where the park is now located and noted the petrified wood. In the 16th century, Spanish explorers visited the area, and by the mid-19th century a U.S. Although a changing climate caused the last of the park's pueblos to be abandoned by about 1400 CE, more than 600 archeological sites, including petroglyphs, have been discovered in the park. Later inhabitants built above-ground dwellings called pueblos. By about 2,000 years ago, they were growing corn in the area and shortly thereafter building pit houses in what would become the park. The park's earliest human inhabitants arrived at least 8,000 years ago. Paleontologists have been unearthing and studying the park's fossils since the early 20th century. In addition to petrified logs, fossils found in the park have included Late Triassic ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and many other plants as well as fauna including giant reptiles called phytosaurs, large amphibians, and early dinosaurs. All of the park's rock layers above the Chinle, except geologically recent ones found in parts of the park, have been removed by wind and water. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. About one third of the park is designated wilderness-50,260 acres (79 sq mi 203 km 2). Fauna include larger animals such as pronghorns, coyotes, and bobcats, many smaller animals, such as deer mice, snakes, lizards, seven kinds of amphibians, and more than 200 species of birds, some of which are permanent residents and many of which are migratory. More than 400 species of plants, dominated by grasses such as bunchgrass, blue grama, and sacaton, are found in the park. The park received 644,922 recreational visitors in 2018.Īveraging about 5,400 feet (1,600 m) in elevation, the park has a dry windy climate with temperatures that vary from summer highs of about 100 ☏ (38 ☌) to winter lows well below freezing. The site, the northern part of which extends into the Painted Desert, was declared a national monument in 1906 and a national park in 1962. Route 66, all crossing the park roughly east–west. The park's headquarters is about 26 miles (42 km) east of Holbrook along Interstate 40 (I-40), which parallels the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon, the Puerco River, and historic U.S. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about 346 square miles (900 square kilometers), encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands. Petrified Forest National Park is an American national park in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona.

Blue level 5 petrify