Petrified Forest: Ancient and Spectacular - December 09, 2016

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1. 0:13This week on our National Parks Journey, we travel to the southwestern state of Arizona.
2. 0:23There we find a strange and colorful landscape.
3. 0:29Yellow, red, and even purple rocks and sand cover the hilly earth.
4. 0:37Huge pieces of ancient trees twist in unusual ways.
5. 0:46The area is the only national park that includes a part of the historic U.S.
6. 0:55Route 66.
7. 0:58Welcome to the Petrified Forest National Park.
8. 1:02The word forest may mislead visitors.
9. 1:09The park is in a desert.
10. 1:12And the word petrified, which can mean afraid, may scare visitors away.
11. 1:20But fear not.
12. 1:22Petrified forest gets its name from the trees that have, over millions of years,
13. 1:31turned to stone.
14. 1:32That natural process is called fossilization.
15. 1:39Much of the petrified forest formed from tall trees called conifers.
16. 1:47They grew over 200 million years ago, near waterways.
17. 1:54During floods, water forced the trees up from the ground.
18. 2:00Over time, the wood from the trees became petrified.
19. 2:07The Petrified Forest National Park is one of the wonders of Arizona.
20. 2:14It sits within the painted desert.
21. 2:19A Spanish explorer in the 1500s gave the place its name.
22. 2:26It is easy to see why.
23. 2:29The desert looks like an artist's canvas.
24. 2:35Brilliantly colored mudstones and clays cover the land as far as the eye can see.
25. 2:44They contain bentonite, a clay that is the product of changed volcanic ash.
26. 2:52The oldest geological formations in the park are
27. 2:58about 227 million years old.
28. 3:04Differently colored formations show different time periods.
29. 3:09The blue mesa formations, for example, have thick bands of gray, purple,
30. 3:20blue, and green mudstones.
31. 3:23They are about 220 million years old.
32. 3:28Evidence of humans in the petrified forest dates back 13 ,000 years.
33. 3:36People first came here after the last Ice Age.
34. 3:43Early Paleo-Indian groups used the petrified wood to create different kinds
35. 3:51of stone tools.
36. 3:53They used them to hunt large animals.
37. 3:58The climate warmed over several thousand years.
38. 4:03Humans began building villages here and growing food, such as corn,
39. 4:11squash, and beans.
40. 4:14In the 900s, people in the area began building above-ground houses called pueblos.
41. 4:24They also made pottery for cooking and other uses.
42. 4:29Scientists today find evidence of early pottery
43. 4:35and Pueblo homes all over Petrified Forest National Park.
44. 4:43A long and severe drought in the early 1400s forced most
45. 4:50of the people living here to move, but new groups soon arrived.
46. 4:57European explorers came in the 1500s.
47. 5:03By the 1800s, American pioneers began settling in the area.
48. 5:11And by the 1920s, American motorists were traveling on U.S.
49. 5:18Route 66. The road winds through the heart of the painted desert.
50. 5:25Long before humans entered the area, though,
51. 5:31dinosaurs dominated. Petrified Forests National Park is a world-class area for fossil research.
52. 5:41The fossil record at the park preserves some of the earliest dinosaurs.
53. 5:46The dinosaur fossils are from the late Triassic period,
54. 5:53called the Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
55. 5:57They help scientists reconstruct ancient environments.
56. 6:04The land here was set aside as a national monument in 1906.
57. 6:12Congress moved to protect it because of its unique ecosystem,
58. 6:19record of human history, and dramatic southwestern scenery.
59. 6:27It became a national park in 1962.
60. 6:33More than 800 ,000 people visit the Petrified Forest National Park each year.
61. 6:41The best way to explore the park is by foot.
62. 6:48The National Park Service maintains many kilometers of walking trails.
63. 6:56The Crystal Forest Trail is a one-kilometer path.
64. 7:02It is named for the crystals that can be seen on the pieces of petrified wood.
65. 7:09The trail is one of the best chances to see this fossilized wood up close.
66. 7:19The petrified forest includes many shapes and sizes of wood,
67. 7:27from large logs to stumps to the remains of plants.
68. 7:36Most of the petrified wood found in the park is made up of quartz.
69. 7:43Quartz is a hard, colorless mineral.
70. 7:49The wood sometimes shines in the sunlight as if covered by glitter.
71. 7:56The painted desert rim trail offers visitors a good chance to see the park's wildlife.
72. 8:07Lizards and rabbits are common.
73. 8:11So are snakes and foxes.
74. 8:15Early morning or evening are the best times to see animals.
75. 8:22These are also the times when the Sun makes the painted desert the colorful and spectacular.
76. 8:33But whenever you choose to visit,
77. 8:36the petrified forest and painted desert will awaken your senses and your curiosity
78. 8:45about this ancient place.
79. 8:49I'm Katie Weaver.
80. 8:51And I'm Ashley Thompson.