A unique type of fossil, Petrified Wood is a three-dimensional representation of organic vegetation in the fossil record. This means you can hold it and move it around, rather than seeing a thin layer of a palm leaf fossil encased in limestone.

The petrification of wood occurs when the organic plant material is slowly replaced with a form of silica like chalcedony, opal, or quartz. The slow process can allow the petrified wood to retain its tree rings, woodgrain, and bark pattern, as seen here. In order to petrify, the wood needs a zero-oxygen environment so it doesn’t rot away before it can fully fossilize. This usually means the wood would need to be fully submerged in water or buried deep under a landslide.