A Wander through a Colorful Landscape

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Now that the weather has officially snowed me in. I’ve gotten around to posting some trips I took during the summer. At request of my friend, I won’t reveal the exact location of this area but if you know where this is you know there’s abundant petrified wood. I can say it’s close to Capitol Reef National Park (definitely not in the park ).  

Here’s the stratigraphic column for the area.

The petrified wood we were looking for were in the Petrified Forest member and the Shinarump conglomerate member. 

The area is a long hike in. So even though we saw abundant wood, we could only take what we physically could carry for a couple miles with our camp gear.

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First a look at the (fossil-less) Navajo Sandstone. It can make these interesting shapes.

The black is streaks from minerals being leached out of the overlying layer and then deposited on the surface of the Navajo.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

First we looked at the unnamed tuffaceous beds (locally known as the Flagstaff limestone). There’s a giant fault that runs through it and we wanted to see the structures it created. We were not disappointed. Here is a rock called fault breccia. This is when a fault breaks up the rock so much that groundwater can flow through it and deposit minerals such as calcite or quartz. 

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Here’s a look at the Navajo and Flagstaff Limestone at a distance. 

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Standing atop the Flagstaff Limestone

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Some of the Carmel Formation 

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[Bobby Rico]

Beautiful landscapes indeed,  very good photos.  Thank you .

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Now for the area we’ll be hunting in

The Chinle Formation with green bentonite beds.

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Down in the valley

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Here we find the Petrified Forest member which we find is very aptly named. Absolutely gorgeous wood.

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Very abundant wood

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Just piles and piles

[Wolf89]

I would love to go there! 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

The Petrified Forest member is easy. The Shinarump Conglomerate is considerably harder. 

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We did manage to find some in the Shinarump though. It has a lot smaller wood. The largest piece is the biggest we found in this layer.

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I will end off things with this panoramic pic.

Thanks for reading!

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

17 minutes ago, Wolf89 said:

I would love to go there! 

When you get to Utah, give me a ring and we’ll have a good hunt.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

1 hour ago, Bobby Rico said:

Beautiful landscapes indeed,  very good photos.  Thank you .

Thank you! It’s easy to photograph but not easy to hike especially in the bowl where it was 110°F (44°C)!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely report with some breathtaking pictures! 

Lots of lovely wood for the winter fireplace. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

7 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Lovely report with some breathtaking pictures! 

Lots of lovely wood for the winter fireplace. 

Thanks for sharing. 

When the wood has turned to rock, it makes it a little harder to carry back to the campfire.

[Fossildude19]

Nice report!

Thanks for posting this.  

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

6 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Nice report!

Thanks for posting this.  

Thanks! It’s fun to share my hunts with you guys.

[Tidgy's Dad]

10 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

When the wood has turned to rock, it makes it a little harder to carry back to the campfire.

But worth it. 

It's much slower burning than regular wood. 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

15 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

But worth it. 

It's much slower burning than regular wood. 

Even longer than coal at this point.