Escalante Petrified Forest State Park (also known as Escalante State Park) is a state park of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, USA, located a half-mile (0.8 km) north of the town of

Escalante Escalante may refer to: People *Amat Escalante (born 1979), Mexican filmmaker *Bernardino de Escalante (born 1537), 16th-century Spanish writer, author of one of the first European books on China *Enrique Escalante (born 1984), Puerto Rican volley ...

. A visitor center was built in 1991, and features displays of plant and marine fossils,

petrified wood Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of '' fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. ' ...

and fossilized

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

bones over 150 million years old (Upper

Jurassic Period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

). The Petrified Forest Trail is a one-mile (1.6 km) loop, winding up the side of a mesa to the top where most of the fossil wood occurs. Logs two feet or more in diameter are seen at several places along the trail where it is eroding from the conglomerate capping the mesa. This conglomerate lies near the top of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation.Morgan, S., B.W. Lindsay and A.P. Williams 2010. Geology of Escalante State Park, Utah. Pp. 429-436 in The Geology of Utah Parks and Monuments. Utah Geological Association Publication 28 The wood is multicolored (mostly red, yellow, white, and black) and was prized by hobbyists before the Park was established. The logs are believed to be of conifers that were transported by a river before being buried and later fossilized as

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Anci ...

. A 50 foot (15m) log is displayed near the trail head and is one of the most complete fossil logs known from the Morrison Formation. The Sleeping Rainbows trail is an optional loop off the Petrified Forest Trail. This section is much steeper and requires scrambling and climbing over rocks. In 1954 Wide Hollow Reservoir was constructed to provide

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

for the town of Escalante. The reservoir is stocked with rainbow trout and bluegill, and is popular for water sports including swimming, boating and fishing. Petrified wood in Escalante Petrified Forest State Park 02.jpg, Petrified wood Petrified wood in Escalante Petrified Forest State Park 01.jpg, Petrified wood Piece of petrified wood Escalante Petrified Forest State Park.jpg, Large piece of petrified wood Balanced rock (Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah, USA) 1.jpg, Balanced rock Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic; Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah, USA) 5.jpg, Morrison Formation Fossil wood (Morrison Formation, Upper Jurassic; Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah, USA) 50.jpg, Petrified wood is made through a fossilization process called permineralization, when minerals transported by water fill in all the open spaces of an organism or organic tissue Fossil_log_at_Eascalante_Petrified_Forest_State_Park.jpg, left, Fossil log displayed at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah. This 50 foot (15 m) log is one of the longest known from the Morrison Formation

References

External links

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
{{authority control Protected areas of Garfield County, Utah Protected areas established in 1963 State parks of Utah Petrified forests Fossil parks in the United States Paleontology in Utah Paleontological protected areas in the United States