Petrified Forest National Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Petrified Forest National Park |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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The Tepees
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 Petrified Forest National Park
Location in Arizona
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| Location | Arizona, United States |
| Nearest city | Holbrook |
| Area | 221,391 acres (895.94 km2) |
| Elevation | 5,436 ft (1,657 m) |
| Established |
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| Named for | Petrified wood found in the park |
| Visitors | 644,922 (in 2018) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Petrified Forest National Park |
Petrified Forest National Park is a special place in northeastern Arizona, USA. It's famous for its huge amounts of petrified wood. This is wood that has turned into stone over millions of years! The park covers about 346 square miles (896 km²). It has dry, shrubby areas and colorful, eroded lands called badlands.
The park's main office is about 26 miles (42 km) east of Holbrook. Major roads and a railway cross the park from east to west. The northern part of the park is also part of the Painted Desert. This area became a national monument in 1906 and a national park in 1962. In 2018, over 644,000 people visited the park.
The park is about 5,400 feet (1,600 m) above sea level. It has a dry, windy climate. Summer temperatures can reach 100°F (38°C), while winter temperatures can drop below freezing. More than 400 types of plants grow here, mostly grasses. You can also find animals like pronghorns, coyotes, and bobcats. There are also many smaller animals, snakes, lizards, and over 200 kinds of birds. About one-third of the park is a designated wilderness area. This means human activity is limited to protect nature.
The Petrified Forest is well-known for its amazing fossils. Many of these are fallen trees from about 225 million years ago. These trees lived during the Late Triassic period. The colorful rocks where these fossils are found are part of the Chinle Formation. This formation gives the Painted Desert its name. About 60 million years ago, the land was pushed up by Earth's forces. This caused a lot of erosion by wind and water. Besides petrified logs, scientists have found fossils of ancient ferns, cycads, and even early dinosaurs here. Paleontologists have been studying these fossils since the early 1900s.
People have lived in this area for a very long time. The first human inhabitants arrived about 13,000 years ago. By 2,500 years ago, early farmers called Ancestral Pueblo people lived here. They grew corn and built homes. Later, they built larger stone houses called pueblos. By AD 1450, these farmers moved to other communities. More than 1,000 archeological sites have been found in the park. These include petroglyphs, which are ancient rock carvings. Spanish explorers visited the area in the 1500s. In the 1800s, U.S. teams surveyed the area and noted the petrified wood. Later, roads and railways brought more tourists. Before the park was protected, many fossils were taken. Even today, stealing petrified wood is still a problem.
Contents
Exploring the Park's Location
Petrified Forest National Park is located in northeastern Arizona. It sits on the border between Apache County and Navajo County. The park is about 30 miles (48 km) long from north to south. Its width changes, from about 12 miles (19 km) in the north to about 1 mile (1.6 km) in the middle.
Major routes like I-40, the old U.S. Route 66, and the BNSF Railway cut through the park. They all run generally from east to west. Holbrook is the closest city, about 26 miles (42 km) west of the park's main office. A road called Park Road goes through the park from north to south. It connects I-40 in the north to U.S. Route 180 in the south.
The park is owned by the National Park Service (NPS). It covers about 230 square miles (596 km²). The Navajo Nation borders the park to the north and northeast. Other lands around the park are owned by the state, the government, or private ranchers.
The park's elevation changes from 5,340 feet (1,628 m) near the Puerco River to 6,230 feet (1,900 m) at Pilot Rock. The average height is about 5,400 feet (1,600 m). The land varies from gentle hills with lots of petrified wood in the south to eroded badlands in the north. Most of the park's streams flow into the Puerco River.
The Park's Amazing Geology
Petrified Forest National Park is famous for its fossils. Especially well-known are the fossilized trees. These trees lived about 225 to 207 million years ago, during the Late Triassic period. At that time, this area was near the equator. It was part of a huge continent called Pangaea. The climate was warm and humid, like a jungle.
This region was a low plain with mountains nearby. Streams flowed across the plain, carrying mud and sand. They also carried trees, plants, and animals that fell into the water. Most living things decay quickly. But some were buried so fast that they turned into fossils. In the park, the rocks holding these fossil trees are part of the Chinle Formation.
The colorful Chinle Formation is found in many parts of the southwestern United States. It gives the Painted Desert its name. In the park, it can be up to 800 feet (240 m) thick. It's made of different kinds of sedimentary rocks. These include soft mudstone and claystone, and harder sandstone.
When wind and water erode the Chinle Formation, they create badlands. These badlands have cliffs, gullies, mesas, and rounded hills. The clay in the Chinle Formation swells when wet and shrinks when dry. This causes the ground to move and crack, making it hard for plants to grow. Without plants, the Chinle is easily worn away by weather.
About 60 million years ago, Earth's crust began to push up the Colorado Plateau. The Painted Desert is part of this plateau. This uplift caused the plateau to erode over time. In the park, many layers of rock above the Chinle Formation have been worn away. This means there's a gap of about 200 million years in the rock record!
Later, about 4 to 8 million years ago, a large lake covered much of northeastern Arizona. The rocks from this time are called the Bidahochi Formation. These rocks include silt, sand, and clay from the lake. The younger parts of the Bidahochi Formation have ash and lava from nearby volcanoes. Most of the Bidahochi has eroded away. But you can still see small parts of it in the northern park.
More recently, in the last 2.6 million years, windblown sand and river deposits covered much of the Chinle and Bidahochi formations. You can see old sand dunes in the park, some as old as 500,000 years. Younger dunes, about 1,000 years old, are found throughout the park. Grasses and other plants help keep these dunes from moving.
How Fossils Formed in the Park
During the Late Triassic period, trees fell into river channels in what is now the park. They were buried by mud and sand, often mixed with volcanic ash. Water underground dissolved silica (a mineral from the ash). This silica then seeped into the logs. Slowly, the silica formed quartz crystals, replacing the original wood. Tiny amounts of iron and other minerals mixed with the silica. This created the beautiful colors you see in the petrified wood today.
Most of the petrified logs in the park kept their original shape. But their insides turned to stone. However, some logs and animal bones have their original cell structures filled with minerals. These are called permineralized fossils. Scientists can study these under a microscope to learn about the ancient organisms. Other plant and animal parts, like leaves, seeds, and small bones, were flattened by the weight of sediments. These are called compression fossils.
Many of the petrified trees are from an extinct conifer called Araucarioxylon arizonicum. At least nine types of fossil trees have been found here, all now extinct. The park also has many other kinds of fossils. The Chinle Formation is one of the richest places in the world for Late Triassic plant fossils. It has over 200 types of fossil plants.
The park also has many different kinds of fossil vertebrates (animals with backbones) from the Late Triassic. These include early dinosaurs, crocodile-like reptiles, and large amphibians. Scientists have also found fossil freshwater snails and clams.
Park Climate
Petrified Forest National Park has a dry, semi-arid climate. This means it's usually dry, but not a true desert.
Winter winds can be very strong, reaching up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Summer winds are lighter, but the average 10 mph (16 km/h) wind causes frequent sandstorms and dust devils. Some dust devils can reach thousands of feet high!
Most of the rain falls from July through September. August is usually the wettest month. Because the park is over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) high, it can get light snow from October to March. But the snow usually doesn't stay on the ground for long. The air is very dry, with humidity often below 50 percent.
A Look at the Park's History
Early Human History
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Over 1,200 ancient sites have been found in Petrified Forest National Park. The first people arrived here more than 12,000 years ago. They were Paleoindians, and they used spear points made from petrified wood.
Between 8,000 and 1,000 BCE, nomadic groups used the Petrified Forest as seasonal camps. They hunted animals like rabbits and deer. They also gathered seeds from wild plants. By at least 1,000 BCE, Ancestral Pueblo farmers began to grow corn. Between 200 and 500 CE, more families started living in the Petrified Forest year-round.
From 500 to 700 CE, families lived in underground pit houses. Later, they built larger villages with above-ground rooms for storage. Around 900 to 1050 CE, Ancestral Pueblo farmers began building stone houses. One example is Agate House, a small stone structure made from petrified wood that you can visit today.
Between 1050 and 1225 CE, the population grew quickly. Nearly 1,000 sites from this time have been found in the park. These sites are in many different places, like near streams and on sand dunes.
From 1250 to 1450 CE, Ancestral Pueblo families lived in large apartment-like buildings called pueblos. Hundreds of people lived together in these villages. Two large pueblos were built near the park. One was called Stone Axe, and the other was Puerco Pueblo. Puerco Pueblo had about 200 rooms around an open area. Perhaps 200 people lived there at its peak.
Over time, these families moved to other towns. Their descendants still live today in places like the Hopi Mesas and the Pueblo of Zuni. Some scientists think a long dry period caused people to move away. The last residents left Puerco Pueblo around 1380 CE.
At Puerco Pueblo and other sites, you can see petroglyphs. These are images or designs carved into rock surfaces. Most of the petroglyphs in the park are thought to be between 650 and 2,000 years old.
From the 1500s to the 1700s, Spanish explorers passed through the area. They were looking for routes between their colonies. They called the area El Desierto Pintado, which means the Painted Desert. However, the oldest Spanish writings found in the park are from the late 1800s.
Modern History of the Park
After the Southwest became part of the U.S., explorers continued to search for good routes. In 1853, a team led by Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple surveyed a sandy stream bed in the northern Petrified Forest. He was so amazed by the petrified wood that he named it Lithodendron Creek, meaning "Stone Tree Creek."
Later, a wagon road was built between 1857 and 1860. In the late 1800s, settlers and stagecoach companies used similar routes. Farmers who settled here started cattle ranches. Cattle grazed in the Petrified Forest until the mid-1900s.
The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad opened in the early 1880s. This led to the creation of towns like Holbrook. Visitors could stop at the Adamana train station and take a tour of what was then called the Chalcedony Forest. Today, more than 60 freight trains pass through the park daily.
U.S. Route 66, a famous cross-country highway, was built in 1926. It ran parallel to the railroad tracks. The park has preserved a small grassy section of this historic road. Interstate 40, which crosses the park, replaced the older highway.
In the late 1800s, more people became interested in petrified wood. This led to concerns about it being taken. In 1895, Arizona asked the U.S. Congress to create a national park. This first attempt failed. But in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act to create the Petrified Forest National Monument.
Between 1934 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, trails, and buildings in the monument. The government also bought more land in the Painted Desert area. The monument officially became a national park in 1962. In 2004, the park was authorized to expand even more.
Theft of petrified wood is still a problem today. Despite park rangers, fences, and signs, some fossil wood is still stolen every year.
Scientists continue to study the park. In the early 1900s, archeologists began excavating ancient sites like Puerco Ruin. Paleontologists also started finding and studying fossils. In 1919, a phytosaur skull was found near Blue Mesa. Since then, over 250 fossil sites have been found in the park. Research in both paleontology and archeology continues today.
Plants and Animals of the Park
Park Flora (Plants)
A survey in 2005 found 447 types of plants in the park. About 57 of these are invasive, meaning they are not native and can harm local plants. Even though the park is known for its fossils and badlands, it's mostly a semi-desert shrubby grassland. The park has been protected from too much development and grazing. This means it has some of the best grasslands in northeastern Arizona.
In the northern part of the park, the volcanic soils support many plants along the Painted Desert rim. This area is full of shrubs, small trees, grasses, and herbs. This is very different from the bare badlands below.
More than 100 types of grasses grow in the park. Many are native to the region. You can also find flowering plants like evening primrose and blue flax. Shrubs like sagebrush and saltbush are also common. Invasive plants like annual lovegrass can crowd out the native species.
Trees and shrubs grow along the park's washes (dry stream beds). These areas are called riparian zones. You can find willows and cottonwoods here. However, an invasive plant called tamarisk threatens native plants. It uses up most of the water and makes the soil salty.
Park Fauna (Animals)
Some larger animals that live in the grasslands include pronghorns, black-tailed jackrabbits, Gunnison's prairie dogs, coyotes, bobcats, and foxes. Pronghorns are the fastest land animals in North America. Jackrabbits have large ears that help them cool down. Prairie dogs live in big groups called "towns," which provide food and shelter for other animals. Coyotes mainly eat rodents, but they also eat fruits, reptiles, and birds.
Bobcats and bullsnakes hunt smaller animals like deer mice. Western pipistrelle bats eat insects. Pallid bats eat beetles, centipedes, and scorpions. On the Painted Desert rim, small animals find food and shelter in the thicker plants. Mule deer sometimes visit this area too.
More than 16 kinds of lizards and snakes live in the park. They eat many insects, spiders, and small mammals. The collared lizard is the largest and most often seen lizard.
Gopher snakes are common. They sometimes pretend to be rattlesnakes when they feel threatened. The Prairie rattlesnake is the only venomous snake in the park.
Seven kinds of amphibians live in the park. They absorb water through their skin instead of drinking it. Tiger salamanders are the only salamander species known in Arizona. Woodhouse’s toads are the largest toads in the park. The Great Plains toad is the most common toad.
A survey in 2006 found 216 species of birds in the park. Thirty-three species breed here, and 18 species live here all year. Many other birds visit during their migrations in fall and winter.
You can find raptors, songbirds, and ground birds in the grasslands. The Puerco River area is good for year-round birds and migrants like warblers. Birds commonly seen include the common raven and the western meadowlark. The smallest bird is Anna's hummingbird. The largest is the golden eagle, with a wingspan of up to 7 feet (2 m).
Fun Activities at the Park
Petrified Forest National Park is open every day except Christmas. The hours change a bit with the seasons. The Painted Desert Visitor Center and Rainbow Forest Museum usually open early and close late in the summer. The Painted Desert Inn, a historic museum, is open most of the year. The park always uses Mountain Standard Time.
The Painted Desert Visitor Center is near the north entrance. It has information, a short movie about the park, a bookstore, and a restaurant. The Rainbow Forest Museum, near the south entrance, also has information and the movie. It features fossil exhibits and a virtual tour. The Painted Desert Inn has a bookstore and museum exhibits.
There are no campgrounds or places to stay overnight inside the park. You can find motels in nearby towns like Holbrook. You can explore the park by car, motorcycle, or bicycle. The park roads and parking lots are large enough for big vehicles. Off-road driving is not allowed. Bicycles must stay on paved roads.
The park has seven main hiking trails. Some are paved. They range from less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to almost 3 miles (4.8 km) long. Pets are allowed on these trails if they are on a leash. Bicycles are not allowed on trails. Some popular trails are Blue Mesa, Crystal Forest, and Agate House. There are also nine "Off the Beaten Path" routes for longer day hikes.
If you want to go backpacking and stay overnight in the wilderness areas, you need a free permit. Most backpackers start at the north end of the park. Horseback riding is also allowed in the wilderness areas. Riders and hikers are asked to stay on dry washes to protect the fragile desert soil.
Park rangers offer many programs about the park. These include tours of the Painted Desert Inn and guided walks on trails. The park also hosts special events for Earth Science Week and National American Indian Heritage Month. During the summer, local artists sometimes give cultural demonstrations at the Painted Desert Inn. Rangers also offer educational materials and field trips for students and teachers.
See also
In Spanish: Parque nacional del Bosque Petrificado para niños
