WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Petrified Wood

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, Chuck, Jerry,

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<v Speaker 1>Dave Spirit go hey.

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<v Speaker 2>Can I give the quickest music shout out?

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<v Speaker 1>Making this yunger?

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<v Speaker 2>I guess I know it's a shorty, but I just

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<v Speaker 2>quickly want to say I went to see mud Honey

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<v Speaker 2>last night.

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<v Speaker 1>HM.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, And boy, oh boy, if mud Honey comes through

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<v Speaker 2>your town on this tour and you have any love

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<v Speaker 2>for that band from the old days, go go go. Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>these guys just blistered you for twenty eight songs like

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<v Speaker 2>it was nineteen ninety five and threw their stuff down

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<v Speaker 2>and Mark Arm went to the mic and said, we

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<v Speaker 2>still mud Honey and they got out of there and

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<v Speaker 2>it was amazing. It blew me away. And my expectations

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<v Speaker 2>are already high.

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<v Speaker 1>So but you can tell that they're aged because you

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<v Speaker 1>was like, this microphone's too expensive for me to drop here.

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<v Speaker 1>He really thought that through God, this guy's are killer

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<v Speaker 1>good right good good shout out Chuck.

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<v Speaker 2>They petrified my ears? How about that for a segment.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh that's a good one because we're talking about petrified wood,

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<v Speaker 1>so that's like a perfect segue. I don't know if

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<v Speaker 1>you knew that or not.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a good guess.

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<v Speaker 1>So petrified wood. Whenever I think of that, I think

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<v Speaker 1>of like the petrified forests, and I always just thought

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<v Speaker 1>it was like really hard wood.

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<v Speaker 2>I never knew the deal.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so wrong. And I should know this because we

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<v Speaker 1>did a really great episode on fossils. But what petrified

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<v Speaker 1>wood is? This just fossilized wood Rather than an old

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<v Speaker 1>crusty chylobite or something like that. It's an old crusty

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<v Speaker 1>tree that's now mineral not wood.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, it's pretty remarkable. It's you know, it's what

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<v Speaker 2>happens when the organic stuff within a tree, and not

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<v Speaker 2>always a tree, but any kind of like woody material.

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<v Speaker 2>But we like to think of trees when we talk

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<v Speaker 2>about petrified things. Yeah, but this stuff is, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>it's fossilized from the inside out and it's replaced by minerals,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of times very heavy in silica. And that

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<v Speaker 2>process is called per mineralization, and it usually takes millions

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<v Speaker 2>of years, but as we'll see in a second, sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>it can happen in decades or hundreds of years given

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<v Speaker 2>the right conditions.

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<v Speaker 1>My friend I saw that it can happen according to

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<v Speaker 1>one study.

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<v Speaker 2>Well wait a minute, two days.

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<v Speaker 1>They found between seven and thirty six years is the fastest. Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>seven years.

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<v Speaker 2>It's like incredible.

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<v Speaker 1>You might have a job as long as it takes

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<v Speaker 1>for this thing to be petrify and then you move

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<v Speaker 1>on somewhere else. And if you're like, the tree's already petrified,

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<v Speaker 1>you know.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So here's the deal. Usually when a tree dies,

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<v Speaker 2>it rots, it decomposes, and it just decays, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>like we've talked about plenty of times before micro organisms

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<v Speaker 2>get in there, break all that stuff down, and it

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<v Speaker 2>eventually just becomes part of the earth again. Sometimes, though,

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<v Speaker 2>a tree might fall and very very quickly it is

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<v Speaker 2>buried over by something that shields it from oxygen, whether

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<v Speaker 2>it be volcanic ash or mud or silt or something

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<v Speaker 2>like that or mud honey or haha, very nice, but

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<v Speaker 2>it gets buried under that such that cuts it away,

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<v Speaker 2>cuts off from oxygen. Oxygen is the big factor in

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<v Speaker 2>that natural rot to decay, and so if that's not

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<v Speaker 2>around all of a sudden, it's decomposing really really slowly,

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<v Speaker 2>and so slowly that those minerals that it's buried in

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<v Speaker 2>can seep in.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and those minerals are really important because if you

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<v Speaker 1>don't have minerals, what you end up with is coal

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<v Speaker 1>and then eventually diamonds.

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<v Speaker 2>Right.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like the decomposition is going to happen one way

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<v Speaker 1>or another. It's just going to take much longer without

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<v Speaker 1>oxygen if you have minerals. However, though, those minerals, that

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<v Speaker 1>mineral rich like mud or water, whatever that's present, can

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<v Speaker 1>start to seep into that day tree, right gets in

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<v Speaker 1>the pores, It gets in all the nooks and crannies

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<v Speaker 1>and the vascular stuff and all that. And as that

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<v Speaker 1>rot happens, as the tree itself actually decays, what remains

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<v Speaker 1>is that hardened mineral, usually silica, which eventually over time

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<v Speaker 1>forms quartz. And because it's filled up those poores so completely,

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<v Speaker 1>even though there's the trees itself is not left any longer,

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<v Speaker 1>a mineral rock version of that tree is left behind.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a petrified tree.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And you know, we mentioned that it takes a

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<v Speaker 2>very very long time normally, but you said as little

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<v Speaker 2>as seven years. And that is either one or two

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<v Speaker 2>or both things happen. Either the tree everything is basically

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<v Speaker 2>sped up. Either the tree is buried very very fast

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<v Speaker 2>instead of more slowly by this stuff, and it's cut

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<v Speaker 2>off from that oxygen much much quicker, or if there's

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<v Speaker 2>just tons and tons and tons of the mineral instead

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<v Speaker 2>of just sort of a regular amount.

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<v Speaker 1>I say we take a break and come back and

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<v Speaker 1>talk a little more about petrified wood. How about that.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's do it, so, Chuck, I'm not sure if you

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<v Speaker 1>remember or not, but we're talking petrified wood and we

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<v Speaker 1>just explained how it works. Okay. So there are places

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<v Speaker 1>in this world that just have the right conditions for

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<v Speaker 1>petrified wood to have formed, and there's a bunch of

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<v Speaker 1>them in the United States. Most famously, there's a very

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<v Speaker 1>large National Park Fossil Forest petrified forest in Yellowstone, which

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<v Speaker 1>is pretty cool. But I feel to digress. I found

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<v Speaker 1>another one that I think is even cooler. It's in Montana,

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<v Speaker 1>which I think Yellowstone runs into Montana too, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>called Gallatin National Park, and it's a petrified forest like

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<v Speaker 1>the real deal. So in Yellowstone you got a bunch

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<v Speaker 1>of like petrified logs laying around, and what that is

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<v Speaker 1>is evidence of one way that that wood can become petrified.

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<v Speaker 1>They basically became covered by sediment and rivermuck after falling

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<v Speaker 1>into a river and going downstream and basically clogging up

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<v Speaker 1>the mouth of the river or whatever. Right a Gallatin,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a true petrified forest because the trees are still

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<v Speaker 1>upright and were petrified in place where they were growing.

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<v Speaker 1>And what's even nuttier than that is because the site

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<v Speaker 1>was so ripe for creating petrified wood, it happened again

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<v Speaker 1>and again and again. So what they found is there

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<v Speaker 1>was an ancient volcano that just kept covering the area

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<v Speaker 1>in ash every year, yeah, every several tens of thousands

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<v Speaker 1>or hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, and

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<v Speaker 1>every time it did, that forest became petrified. And little

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<v Speaker 1>by little, after you know, one forest was petrified, a

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<v Speaker 1>new forest would grow above it that would get petrified,

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<v Speaker 1>and so on and so forth. There's two thousand vertical

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<v Speaker 1>feet of petrified forests, one on top of the other

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<v Speaker 1>in Gallatin in Montana. Isn't that nuts?

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<v Speaker 2>That is unbelievable. You can't there are laws. You can't

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<v Speaker 2>just take that stuff out and take it home because

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<v Speaker 2>it looks awesome. And if you're sitting there thinking like,

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<v Speaker 2>all right, this is kind of cool, but like kind

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<v Speaker 2>of what's the big deal, guys, Well, then you, my friend,

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<v Speaker 2>have never seen petrified wood, because petrified wood is amazing looking.

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<v Speaker 2>It takes on colors because each mineral will end up,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, filling those pores in that vascular system and

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<v Speaker 2>turning that wood. So you have the like the beautiful

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<v Speaker 2>structure like when you cut a cross section of a tree,

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<v Speaker 2>and those beautiful rings in the shapes, the wavy lines

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<v Speaker 2>like that stuff remains, but all of a sudden, it's

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<v Speaker 2>green and it's red, and it looks amazing because you know,

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<v Speaker 2>depending on the mineral, it will give you a different

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<v Speaker 2>color in a different shade, and you polish that stuff

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<v Speaker 2>up and it looks like, you know, some kind of

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<v Speaker 2>a beautiful gemstone, when in fact it is fossilized tree.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So you've got things like I

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<v Speaker 1>think hematite creates pink or red tints. Native iron creates

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<v Speaker 1>the greenish color pyrite.

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<v Speaker 2>Good band name, by the way.

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<v Speaker 1>Native iron sure totally. Pyrite creates black shades. Another thing

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<v Speaker 1>that you very frequently see is you'll see a petrified

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<v Speaker 1>log and it, I mean, it looks like a log.

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<v Speaker 1>The bark is all like very clear. It just looks

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<v Speaker 1>like a log that fell over. But on the outside

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<v Speaker 1>it's sprinkled with fairy dust. This is actually just little

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<v Speaker 1>silica covered like dustings of silica. And again, if you

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<v Speaker 1>picked up that log, you'd be like, this is a

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<v Speaker 1>really heavy log because it's not wood any longer. It's

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<v Speaker 1>quartz and quarts as much heavier than wood.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, pretty amazing. Those forests that you mention are the

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<v Speaker 2>ones that are you know, well known for like having

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<v Speaker 2>tons and tons of like vertical structures. But you can

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<v Speaker 2>find petrified wood all over the world. Anywhere there's trees,

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<v Speaker 2>there's probably you know, going to be some example of

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<v Speaker 2>petrified wood that has been found there.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and one other thing. A lot of times it

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<v Speaker 1>looks like somebody came along and chopped up the petrified

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<v Speaker 1>wood into logs. That actually happens because they're so brittle.

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<v Speaker 1>Once they become fossilized, any pressure from like the earth,

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<v Speaker 1>the movement of the earth, the pressure from the dirt

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<v Speaker 1>above them, whatever can snap them. And when they snap

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<v Speaker 1>so cleanly, it looks like they were you know, sawed.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh wow.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 2>Petrified wood. Amazing mud honey, amazing.

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<v Speaker 1>There you go. We still short stuff.

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