Petrified Wood Branch - Madagascar

A perfectly preserved Petrified Wood tree branch from Madagascar. Dated at approximately 225 million years old, the incredible preservation of detail makes this fossil look exactly like a modern day tree branch. You can even feel the textural complexity of the original tree bark! One end of the specimen has been polished to showcase the colors and patterns inside, while the other end has a flat-cut base, perfect to allow the branch to stand proudly on a desk or shelf. Petrified wood forms when a tree falls and is rapidly buried by sediment such as volcanic ash or river sediments. This creates a reduced oxygen environment (anaerobic) which halts the usual decay process. Minerals carried through the flow of water and absorbed into the tree slowly began to replace the organic material and crystallize. Over hundreds and thousands of years this crystallization took place hardening into stone.