The National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument located in the

Villupuram District Viluppuram, Villupuram or Vizhuppuram is one of the 38 districts that make up the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded on 30 September 1993, prior to which it was part of the Cuddalore district. Vizhuppuram district lies in the way of the ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and is maintained by the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

. The park was established in 1940 and is located 1 km east of

Thiruvakkarai Thiruvakkarai (also spelled as Tiruvakkarai) is a village in the Vanur taluk of Viluppuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated on the periphery of Auroville global township, it is the home of National Fossil Wood Park and C ...

These trees speak, but not many hear
The Hindu ne village on the road between

Tindivanam Tindivanam is a municipality in Viluppuram district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is the second largest town in Villupuram District after the headquarters town Villupuram. Important roads from north to s ...

and

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

.wspaper, 2-Nov-2014 village on the road between

and

.Lifeless air hovers over Fossil Wood Park, The Hindu newspaper, 1-Feb-2012
/ref>

Wood fossils

The park contains

petrified wood Petrified wood (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 plant, terrestrial vegetation. ''Petrifaction ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s approximately 20 million years old, scattered throughout the park, which covers about . The park consists of nine enclaves, but only a small portion of the 247 acres (approx 1 square km) is open to the public. Officials of the GSI believe the fossils were formed during massive flooding that occurred millions of years ago. The park hosts about 200 fossilized trees. They range in size from meters in length, some of which are up to 5 meters in width. They are strewn and partially buried in the park grounds. No branches or leaves remain on the fossilised trunks. Scientists speculate that the trees did not originally grow at the site, but were transported before they had petrified. M. Sonneret, a European naturalist, gave the first detailed account of the fossils in 1781.

Quality of the fossils

The fossils are well preserved due to extensive

petrifaction In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...

. The trees' annular rings and pit structures are clearly visible, allowing their age to be determined by counting the rings.

Gallery

File:Fossil wood preserved in cuddalore lime stone.jpg, 20 million year old wood fossil from the Mio-

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is a heavy industries hub and a port city, and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important city and port during the Britis ...

sandstone. File:Fossilwoodparkthiruvakarai-2.JPG, Fossilised wood of Mesembrioxylon schmidianum (

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

) and Peuce schmidianum (

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

References

External links

Official Government Website
{{Petrified forests National Geological Monuments in India Protected areas of Tamil Nadu Petrified forests Cenozoic paleontological sites of Asia Fossil parks in India Paleontology in India 1940 establishments in British India Protected areas established in 1940

Wood fossils

Quality of the fossils

Gallery

See also

References

External links