Hobbies And Interests

How to Find Wood Fossils in Arizona

Arizona is full of ancient fossilized trees. They turned into fossils when sediment covered them millions of years ago. Minerals, mainly quartz, slowly replaced the organic wood. This petrified wood is very collectible and visitors often like to take pieces home with them. Finding it isn't very difficult but you must ensure you have permission to take it away from the site. You may prefer to take a photograph of the wood you find instead. The Petrified Forest National Park has the greatest concentration of wood fossils but to collect them you need to look on the surrounding land.

Things You'll Need

  • Permits for fossil hunting
  • Trowel
  • Fabric bag
  • Gardening gloves
  • Paintbrush
  • Camera
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Visit the Petrified Forest. It is one of Arizona's main tourist attractions and worth visiting in its own right. It will also give you an idea of what to look for if you go hunting for wood fossils outside the park.

    • 2

      Obtain permission from landowners for fossil hunting on privately owned land or permits for state- or federal-managed land. Your task will be far easier if you don't plan to take fossils home with you, since you can simply photograph the fossils you find in situ.

    • 3

      Hunt for petrified wood. It consists mostly of quartz crystals in the form of logs. Once you know what to look for, you'll be able to spot petrified wood against a background of normal rocks fairly easily.

    • 4

      Dig carefully around smaller pieces of petrified wood to loosen them, if you have a fossil-hunting permit. Brush away excess sand and dirt so you can examine your find properly. At this point, you can either photograph your find and leave it for future visitors or place it in your bag.

    • 5

      Clean the fossils with a soft brush such as a paintbrush when you get home. If you took pictures instead, print out your photographs.


https://www.htfbw.com © Hobbies And Interests